Not absorbing Rowasa

It's not meant to be absorbed, it's topical, it fights the inflammation by being suspended in your colon directly at the site of inflammation. By holding it for ten hours that's wonderful, means the medicine was able to fight that inflammation the whole time. Sometimes I poop it out by itself and other times it's all mixed up in to my poop. Whether it stays in there for an hour or for two days I ultimately poop it out eventually.

I'm going to disagree.

Rowasa is meslamine in a liquid suspension. To use the medication fully, it should be without the liquid (liquid delivers the medication to the target site, then the liquid is absorbed so meslamine has it's anti-inflammatory affect on the intestinal wall). The liquid should be absorbed within 20 minutes, in a normal, non-inflamed colon. It will take longer if you are baddly inflammed (e.g., took me 45 minutes or more with inflammation). If you are going hours without absorbing the liquid, then I bet it's just pooling in your rectum (the rectum doesn't absorb fluid very well at all) and not being delivered as far as it should. And the liquid sloshing around, while you toss and turn can cause the urge to awake and evacuate.

How do you sleep (i.e., on your side, back, or stomach)? For optimum absorption of your enema, you should be laying on your left-side until the fluid is completely absorbed. If you don't toss and turn much, then fall asleep in that position. Otherwise, place a body pillow or multiple pillows to help you stay anchored that way. It should be absorbed fully by morning. The most I see is some white chalky color on my first few poops in the morning.

Good luck,

Mesalamine enemas do NOT absorb fully in the colon like steroid retention enemas do. If you poop clumps including evidence of Rowasa, though, that sounds like progress-- meaning your stool is solidifying a bit. Improvement while using Rowasa is not always steady, some days can be better, but one might still have a day with more bms than the day before. If you can retain the enema for 7 or more hours nightly, get adequate rest, and eat regularly to get vital nutrients like protein, calcium, vit D & B, potassium, iron, etc. while avoiding possible irritants such as spices & roughage, you will hopefully get rid of blood, mucus, & urgency; however, this can take 2-3 months. Rowasa is a relatively slow "fix" if one starts out with many bms daily + difficulty retaining the enema; the trade-off is its safety for longterm use over other types of UC med. On the other hand, if your dr. determines that you have Crohn's colitis, you may need to switch or add Rx med to treat that adequately. / Old Hat (34 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Post Edited (Old Hat) : 2/5/2015 10:49:46 PM (GMT-7)

Quincy, I have been in a flare since June. Things are much better now than they were when it started. Was very soft loose stools with blood every day, 3-5+ times/day. The stools had been fully formed and only 1-2 times a day for almost a month now, but I was still seeing blood every 3-4 days. That's why I was continuing the rowasa. I became concerned when I started just pooping rowasa solids after having held it for several hours -- wasn't sure if that was normal or not. I am trying to be patient, but now worried that I may have messed things up this week by switching from Asacol to generic Colazal (I have a separate post about that).

Had 3 very soft movements this AM (no blood thankfully!) and am not sure if it's a side effect of the colazal that will go away as my body adjusts to the different med or if I should switch back toe the asacol. The only reason I switched was because I often see whole asacol pills (not just the shells) and thought maybe the reason I could get completely healed was because I wasn't getting enough med released. Colazal has a different release mechanism that isn't ph dependent. Started it on Tuesday evening and was ok until this AM. I feel like I took a few steps backward :(

Anyway, nice to know that the rowasa doesn't get fully absorbed and it's doing what it's supposed to!

I started Rowasa in Sept 2014 after requesting it from my dr based on posts I saw here. Haven't always used it every day, but have been lately.

(copied from post above) The only reason I switched was because I often see whole asacol pills (not just the shells) and thought maybe the reason I could get completely healed was because I wasn't getting enough med released. Colazal has a different release mechanism that isn't ph dependent.

Just started on it this week. Emailed the dr about it yesterday and he said to give it 2-4 weeks ubless things got worse. Things are better today so hope that continues!