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Very confused last few weeks.

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/3/2013 3:24 PM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone! So I'm a junior in college and I was diagnosed last February with UC. After about 5 months of pred, I switched to 6mp and Lialda. I take two 6mp and 4 Lialda a day. All summer long post colonoscopy I was perfectly fine with formed bowel movements and no pain and no blood. Maybe 2 bm's a day and that was rare, but I did eat a lot of food. Eventually it was time to come back to school, and like every other college student, I drank. Unfortunately I had a feeling this would cause a flare, but I continued on to not be an odd one out. I realize now that was immature and I have not, and will not drink. Anyway, I am having maybe 3-5 bm's a day, sometimes only 1-2...and they are not usually painful and not an immediate urge but it is diarrhea. But, there is ALWAYS blood, sometimes mucus. I don't know what to do. Seeing the blood is just nerve racking. I have seen people on here say VSL3 is helpful, even try Sodium Butyrate. I am curious if anyone has any advice or anything I can do to fix this. Thank you in advance.

Post Edited (MakeMeFly2) : 10/3/2013 9:28:57 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/3/2013 3:52 PM (GMT 0)
Well, I think you already figured out that it is just plain best for you not to drink anymore. I assume you are still taking 6MP and Lialda? I have to say I disagree with your beginning treatment plan. Pred usually works great while you are on it but after tapering low or off it hardly ever works, ever, all by itself. Your doctor should have already had you on something like Lialda so that when you tapered off the pred the Lialda would hopefully keep you in remission. I guess you can't go back in time now. Unfortunately, there are no magic pills that are guaranteed to work. Yes, VSL can help many but there are also many where it does nothing and some even get worse. I would keep up with the 6mp and Lialda and if you don't show more improvement, you might need a SHORT course or pred again. Not 5 months.
Posted 10/3/2013 3:57 PM (GMT 0)
garylouisville, I apologize for being too general with my beginning treatment. I started off on 4 Lialda a day and pred, then eventually went to 6mp, lialda, and pred. After going up in 6mp to 2 a day, continuing the lialda, I tapered off the pred. Kept me in remission for a few months, with no issues and completely normal bm's. Now I'm most definitely not back to step one, however it is not sitting well seeing blood in the toilet.
Posted 10/3/2013 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
Ok. That was a better beginning treatment plan. Obviously this treatment plan isn't working as well as it should because the desired effect is to have something that works good enough so that when you taper off the pred you will remain in remission. That isn't happening. They should be checking your blood in regards to the 6MP. You may have to take a higher dose. I recently switched to Lialda from Asacol and found my first daytime to be much better than normal, followed by a lot worse evening and night. Lialda is designed to take all at once, one time per day but it doesn't have to be taken that way. Studies show there is no difference between taking it several times per day or all at once but I noticed that when I switched to several times per day instead of just one time in the morning, I got much better. You may want to try taking 2 Lialda in the morning and 2 at night and see if that helps.
Posted 10/3/2013 6:23 PM (GMT 0)
Rectal meds could help.
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