switched meds from asacol hd to colazol generic

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say that I saw a new GI today and she sat with my husband and I for over 1/2 hour and explained things to both of us (which most I already knew from all you great people and my internet searches) anyway she did say that colazol gets down lower in the colon than the other meds and that it was a good switch. Which I asked my prior doctor to prescribe yesterday. Thats why I decided to see another GI, because everything I am taking or have taken was suggested by me and not him, so whos the doctor. I have only been on it one day now and fingers crossed I hope the blood goes away. Things looked better this morning but I will see tomorrow. I also am on hydrocortisone enema again for 5 days and then every other day for 21 days.

I am traveling to aruba on May 10 and hope I can be a little more stable by then. Of course, I am hoping for remission, but am only hoping right now that I feel well while away.

I know drinking is something I should not do and I haven't had a drink in probably a year, but would like to have some kind of alcohol in Aruba, any suggestions?

I very rarely drank when I was flaring or if I was bleeding. I would have the weekend cocktail or two...but man did I pay for it the next day. I noticed that if I drank anything with Vodka, it didn't seem to aggravate me as much and I stayed away from malt beverages with a 10 foot pole!

I hope you have a great time on vacation!

Mojitos seem to be a good one for me. Made with rum. I stay away from acidic juices. Margaritas kill my stomach. I like them , but not a great choice.

Aruba vacation sounds terrific!!!!! I would wait to try alcohol 'til after you get settled in hotel & know where facilities are-- just in case. Colazal can be dehydrating so be sure to drink some water every hour that you're in the sun, be careful with raw produce, and you should do fine. In case you have lingering UC issues, consider trying brandname Colazal before you give up on this 5-ASA entirely. / Old Hat (33 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Really interested about colazol. I have proctitis and take mezavant at the moment. Keep seeing whole tablets coming through and have never thought it get right to the end. My nurse mentioned Basalazide last week. Does anyone else think it gets lower down. Is anyone taking it for proctitis.

I have to correct the price of brand name colazal that i would pay which i said would be $800 for 30 pills, but i was wrong it would be $201.00 for 270 pills which is a months worth. But it might as well be $800 because $201.00 a month is too much for me. I could probably do it for a few months but at that cost it would put a serious drain on my finances.

I am hoping the generic will work for me as I feel the Asacol HD did nothing for me, but again I am trying just about anything to get rid of the blood that i see everytime I go to the bathroom and although I only go about 3 times in the am with urgency, but formed stool I know the blood thing is not good and just trying to get into remission without going on prednisone.

Thanks colitis32, you are so nice. I will give it sometime, guess I should at least give it as much time as I id the asacol hd, which was started after asacol 400 mg. was discontinued.

My insurance is such a problem as the prescription has to be written just so or I could end up with less for my money. Like my previous gi wrote up the mesalamine enemas as 1 a.m. and 1 p.m. for 30 days and wrote specifically 12 boxes. When my new gi wrote up the prescription she said 1 p.m. for 28 days and all I got were 4 boxes, so I guess I have to try to get her to write it up so I get more boxes for the same price.

It is so frustrating.

ceecee600 said...
Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say that I saw a new GI today and she sat with my husband and I for over 1/2 hour and explained things to both of us (which most I already knew from all you great people and my internet searches) anyway she did say that colazol gets down lower in the colon than the other meds and that it was a good switch. Which I asked my prior doctor to prescribe yesterday. Thats why I decided to see another GI, because everything I am taking or have taken was suggested by me and not him, so whos the doctor.

I got rid of mine and next one was the same exact way -big push for biologics or surgery.

I went back to GP and kept him in the loop as I did weekly bloodwork and watched Asacal HD dramatically improve every metric I monitoring and started feeling a heck of a lot better.

That is why HD is still part of my protocol because I saw with science and my own eyes what it was doing, along with the rest of my protocol I maintain no matter how good/bad I feel, finally believe in a maintenance med and sticking with it.

Mad Martha, sorry took so long to reply, but I am presently doing the hydrocorisone enema which as i said doc put me on for 5 days nightly then every other day for 21 days, and i started the balsalazide on 4/15, the first night off hydrocortisone the next morning it seemed fine, then I did it the next night and fine, but the second night off hydrocorisone enema the next morning I had some blood, so I was naturally concerned and called doctor who said to do hydrocortisone every night for total two weeks and continue with the balsalazide. This morning I was okay, but I am not sure if the balsalazide has kicked in yet, as others say to wait a little while and not give up.

I am presently taking the hydrocortisone enema for another two nights and then rotate for another 7 days, I am going to add the mesalamine enema in the am. and keep doing that for another week. Hopefully this darn blood will not return.

I hope your well and the balsalazide works faster for you. I do want to say that you should eat something with the pills even a little snack if you have to because i noticed that If I took them on an empty stomach my stomach would make all kinds of weird noises. Which I attribute to not eating, but it may or may not have been that.

keep me posted on your progress.

Mad Martha..... It does work well for me. When I started basalazide I was also on Colocort enemas for about eight weeks. I tapered those slowly.

Since then I have also added sodium butyrate and it helps to firm up my stool.