Glad you're feeling some relief. Stick with it. Urgency was my very last symptom to heal. Generally, most mesalamine's heal the most within a month, sometimes it takes a bit longer.
An oral pill has to travel through the various twists, turns, valves, and the length of the entire gastrointestinal tract, which is approximately 6.5 meters (20 feet). And dump it's medication in exactly the right spot, the last 1.5 meters (5 feet), completely and evenly within it. It's quite a feat, and unfortunately they're not the best at coating the rectum (better at higher up). The suppository goes straight to the source of the bulk of our troubles, the rectum. Uc always starts in the rectum, the rectum always has our strongest inflammation, and the rectum is always the very last part to fully heal. From the rectum, we get urgency, tenesmus (a feeling we need to constantly empty), blood, increased frequency, etc. Seems to make sense to treat from both ends for the best and fastest healing and symptom relief.
Rectal route mesalamine is maxed out at 4 grams a day through enemas (rowasa, mesalamine, pentasa, or salofolk enemas). They cover more area than suppositories including at least the sigmoid colon but can go up the length of your left side of the large intestine. If you have uc beyond your rectum (proctosigmoiditis, pancolitis, etc.) then enemas might be worth asking for a script
/prescript
ion from your gastroenterologist.
Trouble safely farting/passing wind is common when we're flaring. It's like Russian Roulette, a gamble that might cost us a pair of underwear and a lot of embarrassment. So, we often run to the toilet just to play it safe. As you heal, it'll get better and you'll be fine. Overconfidence while still healing has cost me a few pairs though lol. I think we all should own stock in fruit of the loom and charmin, as we're their best customers
