How Long?

I'm on 3600 mg Asacol and 2, 1000mg Canasa suppositories daily attempting to deal with a recent spate of rectal bleeding. I have mild bleeding, some mucus, but no cramping or diarrhea. Since the bleeding is confined to the rectum, my gastroenterologist has not prescribed Rowasa, not yet at least. He's indicated that our next step might be a colonoscopy if things don't improve. I've been on the present regimen since January 3rd, having been moved up from 2400 mg Asacol, to 3600 mg Asacol in early November, then to 3600mg Asacol plus one 1000mg Canasa in early December. How long might one expect it to take before the topical suppositories arrest the rectal bleeding? I have a complication in that the bleeding has forced me to put off an intervention to open a totally occluded coronary artery for fear that my bleeding might be exacerbated significantly by the Plavix they're certain to prescribe for me afterward. If I can get the rectal bleeding under control, I can have the intervention done without concern. What say?

suebear,

Were you on oral plus topical medications at the time?

I was on both but after several months of seeing zero improvement with rectal meds, I only did oral meds. My case is extreme but it can happen.

Sue

I know ca-ca. It's truly disturbing. I feel so bad for people who fight this fight every day. I hate when healthy people try to argue with me that I am wrong about this country needing universal healthcare. They need to pull their heads out of their back-sides & I take it quite personally when they say they don't believe we should help anyone. I always laugh because if you ever mention getting rid of public schools, they become infuriated. For some reason, it's acceptable for those services to be public but we can die on a street corner and no one cares.