kim123 julee-my daughter

thank you for your responses. regarding the diet i am going to try some of your ssuggesttions. on the suppositories, i understand their importance, but she tried using thecanasa a few times in the night and they made her go more and have worse cramps than whe n she didn't use them. would the rowasa suppositories be different , whay is the difference between the two. or will the suppository get easier the more you use it? just a reminder she takes the oral asacol.

Hi again.
Let's see -- you'll see that I posted this week about Canasa. At the moment, I'm feeling like I'm at the beginning of a flare, so I'm trying Canasa to stop a little bleeding. It's kinda working for me but it definitely took a few days for me to notice. I never had cramping with it.

Rowasa, as described by Trixy are liquid. I used to use them a lot and I never had problems with using them. I just found the liquid a little cold, so I'd try to warm the plastic bottle a little first. The best way I found to use them was to lie in bed, use it, and then go to sleep on my left side for better absorption. I suppose that this might not be ideal for a college student with a roommate. Hopefully she has a single room!

The last kinds of rectal meds are cortisone foam or cortisone liquid enemas. I swear by the foam, brand name Cortifoam. It's super easy to use, you don't feel it at all once it's in, you can put it in standing up in a public bathroom easily, and it works great to stop bleeding. The down side is that the cortisone/ steriods aren't good for you in large doses and in the long term. However, this is a far, far better option than prednisone pills.

My doctor says that using the Cortifoam for a few weeks (a few times a year) to quell a flare is better than letting my inflammation go on for a long time. Still, I'm trying to phase it out and use Canasa instead. But that's because I've been using Cortifoam for years on and off. It's not a maintenance drug... it's really best just for flares because of the steroids.

The Rowasa can be used as a maintenance drug... some people here use it every night and then go to every other night when they feel better. And this keeps them in a good shape.

Tell your daughter that she's not alone, if you think that will help. I swear that the other night I totally didn't want to deal with the rectal meds and I just thought, "all those people on HealingWell are doing it too" and I felt a lot better!