What other meds could I possibly try?

Hi Everyone...

I have a feeling that there's not really an answer to this question -- and I'll call my doctor on Monday -- but maybe someone here has an idea...

In the past year, I've been able to get a flare under control when it first starts. It would take about 2 weeks, but I was able to be pretty much back to normal. At the first signs of flare (mucus, D, a little blood), I take Tylenol/Codeine at night which has a the great effect of constipation. I know a lot of people here probably think that's whacked out but it has REALLY worked well for me and I'm very careful about it. The second thing I do is use Cortifoam at night.

So... that has worked now a few times and maybe I was getting too assured about my new ability to keep things generally OK. I thought I'd try Canasa this time around so that I wouldn't be using Cortifoam so much this year.

Well... this morning I'm just worst than I've been in a long time. I added Cortifoam in the morning to the Canasa at night. And now I've got worse bloody D. Geez. I'm just fed up.

I take 6MP and my recent blood tests says my dose is perfect for me. For the first time in a year I even have a normal white blood count. I feel fine for most of the day, except for the 2 or 3 times I have to run to the bathroom.

My last c-scope was in 2006 and it was pretty much the same as my last ones -- mild inflammation only the bottom 15-20 cm. My doctor says I "feel worse than I look" -- my inflammation isn't that bad. I'm supposed to have another c-scope in April, but I could bump up the date if I want. (ugh.)

Can anyone think of other med combos I might try? Maybe I should go with the Cortenema for a while. I don't know what Entocort is that people have mentioned here. Rowasa has never really worked for me and I tried on and off for years.

I'm just sad that I can't get this under control. I'd thought I finally had a "system" that worked for me and it kept me from panicking when I first saw blood after 8 months of remission.

Thanks for listening.

Hi Red,

Over the past 10 years I've tried nearly every 5ASA and none of them worked. Hence, the 6MP. I hadn't thought about Remicade because I really thought that the 6MP was making a big difference.

Do you think that Remicade makes sense for someone who having minor but stubborn flares periodically? It could be that my sense of what's "minor" is skewed. I'm not running to the bathroom all day and I haven't lost weight. (I'm pretty thin.) It's just that having some blood on and off for nearly 2 months is annoying the heck out of me.

I guess I should look up more info on Remicade since I don't know how it compares to 6MP in terms of potential toxicity.