Fingers crossed for you, Elaine -- take care! emory...
Congratulations! One thing I ate a lot of last summer when my diet was similarly restricted was avocado. Maybe something to try? Cooked carrots and peas were also okay, and baked sweet potato fries...
pb4 -- Can you say a little more about the omegas 3-6-9 and what you do to make sure you get the proper balance? Thank you! Deacon Blues -- Yes, I definitely feel that my anxiety is a factory in my...
PC -- Since the new year, I've also been taking a small amount of magnesium every day -- about 300 mg total. If I take too much, my stool seems to get too loose. I'm taking it to help prevent...
Thanks for your replies, Sam and Joy -- I agree, I think my system is under a lot of stress, and given the amount of serotonin in the gut, it would make sense to me that stopping a drug that...
There seem to be some patterns here... Here's my laundry list: Before 2005, I considered myself very healthy, with only occasional annoyance-level ailments. Starting in 2005: 1. Choroid plexus...
I tried Lialda twice last summer, each time for 4-5 days, and each time I became very sick -- increasing anxiety with each day ending up with complete sleeplessness, severe nausea and inability to...
Christine, Even while in remission (or darn close), I have an occasional day with lots of BMs. Like you, it's about once a week, averaging 4-5 times, and they're all well-formed and otherwise normal....
Has anyone on here ever noticed a connection between tapering off of antidepressants and starting to flare? Last spring, I tapered off of Effexor, and within a month was in the flare that led to my...
Katie, Yes, you can use them at the same time, and yes, you should taper. For about four months, I used both Canasa and steroid suppositories daily -- steroid in the morning, Canasa at bedtime. I...
Avocadoes are a healthy, high-calorie food that helped me when I was flaring and had lost about 25 pounds. Also, peanut butter and sunflower butter "lollipops" -- I ate spoonfuls right out of the...
Hi Victoria, Last May I began a proctitis flare with moderate to severe ulcerations. Was diagnosed in June and initially prescribed just Canasa suppositories, which did not pull me out of the flare....
Robin, so glad you're feeling great!...
Pretty fascinating study -- thanks, Old Mike! So potentially, if they can find a way to increase the functioning of S1P, they'll have a new IBD treatment. Fingers crossed......
Chalk another one up for LonelyLane... Mine is just a play on my given name. It's the pseudonym I'll use when I finally get around to writing the Great American Novel (ha!)....
Great news! Hope this is just the first of many good days to come!...
Just wondering if any of you have used MSM for UC or any other condition, and if so, has it helped? I have been reading The Miracle of MSM: The Natural Solution for Pain (Dr. Stanley Jacob and...
I don't know if Canasa can help hemorrhoids, but the hydrocortisone suppositories I was using along with Canasa say "hemorrhoid suppository" right on them......
You should be able to look up the minimum time on the instruction sheet (or the company website); sorry I don't remember, but I think it's around 2 hours. Of course, the longer, the better. I assume...
Wow, that is horrible! I thought it was bad when Dr. McDreamy walked in to give me a sigmoidoscopy, but your experience sounds much, much worse!...
I read an article on this in the New York Times earlier this week. It's actually sort of a remote-control winding its way through your body, and it can send information back to your doctor's...
1. I first remember symptoms in October 2004, when I was 36. 2. First, I noticed mucus in my stool (didn't realize it was mucus at first). Blood appeared probably within a week, which sent me to the...
Thanks, everyone -- your experiences make me think I'm not completely barking up the wrong tree... emory...
Yes, proctitis can spread; several people on this forum can attest to that. UC is supposed to spread in a contiguous way, but from what I understand, there is a rare form, Crohn's colitis, that can...
Thanks for your replies, RyanF and pb4 -- I think I kind of muddied up a couple of questions in my initial post. I don't think the hydrocortisone suppositories were making things worse; I guess I...
Wonderful to hear! Congratulations!...
Elaine, No personal experience with prednisone, but both my mother and father have been on it numerous times for various problems. My dad gets grumpy and puffy on it, but my mom absolutely loves it....
I have only been diagnosed for a few months, but had symptoms off and on for four years prior. Every time I can remember having symptoms (blood and mucous), they came when I'd been sick. The first...
A question for people who've used rectal meds for a while: Do you think they can actually cause some symptoms to seem worse? I feel like the rectal suppositories increase frequency for me; there was...
Yuck. I get those sometimes. I mentioend them to an ENT once (before I knew they had a name), and he wasn't concerned -- said his wife got them, too. (She is a realtor, and every Sunday when I see...
Hey Wishful -- I got the Natural Calm at a local vitamin shop. I think it's pretty common; you can read about it and find it for sale online if needed. I tried it first for headaches, but had UC in...
Wishful, I'm feeling alright. (I hate even typing that -- don't want to jinx myself!) I've almost tapered off the hydrocortisone suppositories, and have tapered off klonopin. In mid-December, I...
Wow, it's a relief to read this thread and realize I'm not the only one who's noticed an increased need for sleep. I thought maybe it was just the dark days of winter plus my insomnia medications......
Hi Wishful, I haven't been reading the forum for a while, so just learned of what you've been through lately, with the hospitalization and 6MP. What a start to the year! I hope things will only...
Hi Elaine, Sorry to read of your problems. I just wanted to chime in and second a point that (I think) quincy was making about the steroids making things more delicate. I know from talking with my...
Elaine, I think you're confusing percentages with actual milligrams of steroid. The numbers I gave were milligrams; my suppositories are 25 mg, not 25%, and I think if you read in detail you'll find...
Hi Downs, Is the trazodone helping?...
Hi Elaine, I use the same hydrocortisone suppository as ComedyDork (25 mg steroid). From what I recall of my research on the web (looking at the drug companys' own pages, etc), Proctofoam has 8 mg...
Hi -- I would suggest taking it a little before bedtime (say, half an hour before you want to fall asleep), as it should make you drowsy. You may feel very groggy in the morning, but for me that...
Hi downs, sorry I can't answer your question since I haven't been on prednisone. I hope it's starting to take effect for you by now. What is the extent of your UC? How long have you been diagnosed?...
Yes, have another feeling-better day, CD! Take good care, both of you --...
That wasn't terribly long-winded, that was just an awful lot to have to endure in one year. I hope 2009 is a whole different ballgame for you!...
Just curiousity, and I don't mean to hijack the thread, but doesn't EVERYBODY get songs stuck in their head? Or am I also OCD? I have had friends with the problem you describe; they call them...
My doctor's nurse says this time of year is always the worst for UCers; could be the weather, the stress, whatever. This is also my first Christmas with (diagnosed) UC, although I had symptoms last...
Welcome! Insomnia is such a curse; I'm sorry it's part of your life, too. Please feel free to share, vent, rant...you're in the right place!...
I am using clonazepam (generic Klonopin), even though my body becomes habituated very quickly (like within a week or two of daily use) and at very low doses, and I have to taper off it very slowly....
Hi to you both -- Quincy, you're right that hair loss can be caused by so many things. I actually have a normal "shedding season" in late summer/early fall -- a dermatologist helped me identify that...
Hey ComedyDork, Just wanted to say hi and let you know I'm in a similar place regarding the hydrocortisone suppositories. I've been taking them in the morning and Canasa at night since mid-September,...
Hi kazygirl, I had several acupuncture treatments in September and October. At my last two treatments, the practitioner did moxibustion at points on my big toe. Soon after, bleeding basically stopped...
Interesting about the dairy; I've been drinking more milk than usual (it's cocoa weather). I will try reducing that. And you've just given me another reason to try omega-3s and glucosamine, both of...