Questions?? about the meds and UC

Ive posted here before and had some got some good info... so here it goes

I was just upped from 2400mg to 4800mg of asacol hd.... took about a week to see some results... Results being no blood to trace amounts of blood.... I also take 15mg of pred which has been tapered from 50mg since may 2013 from june 2013 to about the first of september no blood.... Sometime in september i started bleeding again but not as bad as the original before diagnosis i would say a mild blood in the stool.. So i called my GI told him what was going on he upped me to 4800mg of asacol hd have been taking for about a week in a half or so been doing alright with it i usually have a BM once a day everyday ill have a streak of BM's that are fine no blood.. then ill have one with specks of blood by specks i mean if you were to to drop a pen on a piece of paper from 12 to 16 inches and hit the paper thats what i am talking about very trace.. i was diagnosed with an very mild form of UC very small part of my colon and very unlikely to spread. These specks of blood or blood in general are they something i should expect with this disease? Im also diagnosed with OCD ( Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) soo this checking my BM every time is something i have to do. i just would like to hear from some of the community on here on more steps i can take to prevention and remission of this. I was on mesmelane eniemas (SP?) from june to august and i have suspect that i might need those back to heal.. Is there a certain time for healing. Does it take weeks? months? years? for this to remiss? I know i read where people go into remission? Is this a trail and error disease where certain things work and certain things don't? Is there a diet i need to follow? I'm full of questions i have no idea where to start on my end to start bettering myself?

Thanks all
Jonathan

Jonathan,

Welcome to the forum.
Do you feel like the increased dosage 4800mg is helping?

IMO, you should start doing other things to complement your healing:
probiotics, slippery elm powder, l-glutamine, vitamin d supplementation which you probably need as well.

Here's my list, and I hope it helps you:

Some meds work for some and not for others.
For me, the traditional meds failed me and the mesalamines I became intolerant of.

And when the doc gave me a choice of surgery or remicade, I balked and had to find my own way.

He also told me diet has nothing to do with UC, but I found that it has a great deal to do with exacerbating its symptoms!

I found that by doing these things it helped control my symptoms by 75%:
1) adequate high intake of vitamin d3 ( need to get your levels checked first)
2) probiotics are key, are you on any?
3) slippery elm powder to coate the intestinal tract helped greatly
4) l-glutamine amino acid powder for long term colonic repair
5) food combining
6) diet modification as in gluten and dairy free, PALEO diet
7) rectal meds help lots of folks out

The Last 25% was taken care of by LDN, low dose naltrexone, which put me in remission.
If any of this interests you, there are things IMO that you can control, which will have a direct impact on your disease, the symptoms you experience and their severity.

I was able to control my UC into remission through various supplements, probiotics, diet modification, and LDN , low dose naltrexone.

For more info on the protocol which has put me into remission, please go to this link: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=1666318 , and look at the 11th post.

I hope you feel better and let us know how we can help you.

The enemas are worth a shot as they may continue your healing. Many of us, myself included, take enemas on an ongoing basis, as part of our maintenance medication regime. You might only need them a couple times a week on an ongoing basis. But initially using them daily may clear up the occasional blood you are seeing. Uc starts at the butt hole and goes up the large intestine, so it makes a lot of sense to use an enema or suppository, as it is the quickest and most direct route to get medicine to the problem area.

You don't have any hemorrhoids do you? As those can cause signs of blood even if your uc is healed 100%.

Definitely get back on the enemas and use them nightly until you've had zero symptoms for 2-3 weeks. Then go to every other night for a couple of weeks, and assuming everything is ok, drop to taking them twice a week, and stay there. Studies show that those who use mesalamine enemas twice weekly (in conjunction with oral meds) stay in remission longer than those who only use oral meds.