Am I expecting a lot??

Ive just finished reading a study on UC, what's considered mild 4-8 bm per day, and goes up with moderate to severe. I keep trying all these different remedies in hope of something, but it occurred to me that I'm at the best I can expect from this without a cure. Most days 1bm per day. Controlled with 1g pentasa supp at night. Should I keep hoping I can get off these meds?

You have 1 BM per day? Is it formed? Do you have any other symptoms (pain, urgency, blood, mucus)? If you don't have other symptoms and your BMs are formed, then yes, I'm going to say quite frankly that you are insane. Using a suppository every night is a minuscule price to pay to lead an otherwise totally normal life.

Yes it's formed. No blood/pain/ mucous unless I stop meds. Ive never had D really, but have had constipation. Mostly from
Increased fibre to help with reflux symtoms.

Thanks madcat25.

All I can say is that the worst thing you can do is stop meds. There have been many, many, many people who have come here who had been in remission, stopped their meds, and their UC came back - worse than before. The goal here is once you achieve remission to never have another flare, ever, which means to continue meds forever, no matter how good you feel and no matter how long you have felt good. This disease very often gets harder and harder to treat every time you get a flare. Many think that they can stop their meds and if the UC comes back all they have to do is what they did before and that often doesn't work out. If you look at all information regarding UC it all says that UC is a chronic lifelong condition with periods of flares and periods of remission. It is doubtful you can change that. Don't ever stop with your meds.

"Am I expecting a lot??"

what DB said -

constipation is also a symptom of inflammation...not necessarily from increased fibre. There's fibre supplementation, always should be started slowly, and an amount to match what your needs are.

extremes in supplements, treatments, etc can many times result in symptoms that are unpleasant, and the knee-jerk reaction is to stop rather than adjust.
Start slow, increase.

Regarding your expectations. you're in denial I think. not a bad thing, but your expectations have created a goal where you're not able to experience what's actually happening...and you're not able to put things in proper perspective.

My opinion...the suppositories aren't enough to give you appropriate coverage for treatment AND maintenance....I would still urge you to ask for Pentasa enemas which still have a low dosage of mesalamine, but more coverage. You can save the supps for when you're flaring for a bit extra boost, and for maintenance.

At first symptoms of loose stool (that's not attributed to food....meaning they shouldn't last if it's a one-off), medication should be increased.

You're still a newbie at this....it's not unreasonable to hope, but it is unreasonable to expect.

You're learning, you're asking questions....take the info in and don't ignore important symptoms that are obvious as to what they are....rather than creating a possibility of what they're not.

Hang tough...many of us have been through similar if not the same struggle.

q

I answered in your other post. Sydney as in Australia? or in Nova Scotia Canada?

q