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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 2/1/2015 12:53 PM (GMT 0)
Hi guys. I have been in a flare since June. After trials of different rectal meds and oral meds my doctor decided it was time for something stronger. A month ago I started 6mp with 40mg of prednisone. The prednisone helped with the bleeding and unformed stools. But urgency didn't fully go away. I have finished prednisone taper last Tuesday. All is good so far except urgency I think is getting worse. It's either I feel I need the bathroom all day and constipated or it's what I'm dealing with now which is going to the bathroom all day with formed stools. When and will the 6mp help this? When does the 6mp kick in? Could the urgencies really be IBS? thanks for All your help.
Posted 2/1/2015 12:59 PM (GMT 0)
6mp can take anywhere up to 3 months and sometimes bit longer to get into the system and begin to work properly. If symptoms are really bad you could ask your doctor if you can increase pred back up until the 6mp has had chance to work and then reduce pred down afterwards.
Posted 2/1/2015 1:11 PM (GMT 0)
So that's the thing. I don't want to go back on prednisone. Gained ten pounds, and covered in acne. Debating if I should wait it out.
Posted 2/1/2015 3:18 PM (GMT 0)
Are you on any other meds other than 6mp?
Posted 2/1/2015 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
If your main issue is urgency, you should ask your GI for rectal steroids (hydrocortisone or prednisolone). They wont have nearly the same systemic effects as oral steroids and they might provide you with relief until 6mp kicks in
Posted 2/1/2015 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
I am seriously considering 6mp now too. Do you or should you try to get in remission first like Sephora is doing for it to keep you there?

Because remission seems out of reach to me and I don't want to add 6mp if it is just another pill.

Sephora pls keep us updated and best of luck!
Posted 2/1/2015 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
Ditto, at least 2 months for 6mp to reach therapeutic levels in your body. Rectal steroids (enema or suppository) are 90 percent topical and 10 percent systematic. Whereas prednisone is 100 systematic (which is where the side effects come from. Might be a better than prednisone. Good luck.
Posted 2/1/2015 6:11 PM (GMT 0)
I'm also on lialda four tabs daily and that's it. Cortifoam never really helped much. But I'll definitely ask him. Thanks for a your advise. I really wonder thoughif urgency is from colitis. If I'm not bleeding and all formed wouldn't you say it's IBS?
Posted 2/1/2015 6:15 PM (GMT 0)
DMC2011, I take lialda now in addition to 6mp. My GI started me on prednisone as soon as I started 6mp. He did it side by side so the prednisone would kick the flare and 6mp would take over. Prednisone got it all besides the urgency. Wi keep you updated hoping 6mp will wipe that out as well. My GI said it deffshould.
Posted 2/1/2015 9:16 PM (GMT 0)
DMC2011. I was prescribed azathioprine (similar to 6mp) in 1995 after all other meds available at that time and surgery for ileostomy failed to get the Crohn's in small bowel into remission. I have taken it ever since and only stopped it once on advice of my GI to see if I could do without it. Well I couldn't, worse thing I ever did. Since being on it I had had 2 flares, one caused by anti inflammatories and second when I stopped it for 9 months. No side effects from being on it and it took me from severe flare when I first started to remission, so no you don't have to be in remission to start it but if flaring may need pred or such like to help with symptoms until it has had chance to kick in properly.
Posted 2/1/2015 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
Thx Sephora and Stipey. I hope you both get and stay feeling good.
Posted 2/2/2015 9:48 AM (GMT 0)

DMC2011 said...
I am seriously considering 6mp now too. Do you or should you try to get in remission first like Sephora is doing for it to keep you there?

Because remission seems out of reach to me and I don't want to add 6mp if it is just another pill.

Sephora pls keep us updated and best of luck!

if this gives you hope: prednisolone Never put me in remission or even lowered my inflammation markers to normal levels even though i was taking it for months with very high doses, imuran did and in a couple of months !

@Sephora i don't recommend you getting back to pred, add in rectal meds they will help tremendously.
Posted 2/2/2015 12:28 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not touching prednisone even if you payed me. But rectal meds never worked for me (I watched it get worse with them) so is it worth trying again? Deciding if I should go into my GI this week or give it another month and let the 6mp work a little. I don't know. I hate the urgency. I don't know life without it. It's been an annoyance every day since June
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