Newly diagnosed, questions about Rowasa (?)

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on these boards for some time while I was educating myself about the different kinds of IBD - you all are a wealth of great information, especially for the newly-diagnosed like myself. I was diagnosed with IBS 10 years ago which was a minor nuisance. Then two years ago, my symptoms began to change drastically - my GI insisted it was just IBS and I didn't need further testing. about 6 weeks ago, I finally had enough of being trapped in my house, running late for work, and fearing social events, so I decided to see a new GI and try to get answers about what was going on with my body.

Last week, I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy. I learned in very short order that I should listen to my gut (pun intended) when I think something else is wrong, rather than assuming it's just part of my original diagnosis. I've been diagnosed with left-sided UC, which seems to be moderate. I've not had the significant bleeding that's often mentioned here - it's mostly been severe urgency and painful (painnnnnfulllll) diarrhea for the past 10 months. (My complete blood work was also totally normal, so I'm assuming that means the inflammation is relatively moderate, just significant enough to cause the urgency and pain.)

I've been put on Rowasa for the next 3 months, nightly. I've been using it for the past week and already seeing improvement, but I'm still having an off day now and then. (Even the off days are much better than the best days were without medicine, so I'm grateful for that.) The urgency is definitely improving, although all of my BMs are still diarrhea. So I was wondering a couple of things…

1. I've never had any issue retaining the enema at all - like I don't even feel it actually going in. Is that normal or am I possibly not doing something right?

2. For those of you who have had success with Rowasa, did you notice some off/on days before you achieved remission?

3. Should I expect my BMs to become more solid or is that just a function of UC + Rowasa?

Thanks so much!

Welcome nolaUCgirl! I'm glad you found us and I hope you will stick around to learn and share too.

Do you know how far up the inflammation goes? If it extends past the sigmoid colon, you should be taking an oral mesalamine too. In fact, you might want to do that even if it is limited to the rectum and sigmoid colon.

I'm glad your new GI got you on rectal meds and glad that you are having no issues using them.

Yeah, the chronic disease thing is a bit of a buzz kill, but eventually you will figure out how to manage. At some point, everyone has "something."

The mesalamine enemas can definitely reach the descending colon, but they're really meant for the rectum and sigmoid colon. Be sure to talk to your doc about using oral meds to protect yourself against the spread of your UC.