Uceris - budesonide for UC

If the fiber is causing pain you should absolutely quit it. Try again when you're feeling better.

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50 yrs old, IBD diagnosis in spring '01. Proctitis, gastritis, ileitis.
Currently taking Pentasa (3g/day)generic Colazal (96 pills/day), Sulfazine (1.5 g/day), Prevacid, folic acid, vit. D (2K iu), flax seed oil (2 tsp/day), psyllium (1/2T daily), mesalamine enema as needed. Gluten free as of 5/30/11. Colonoscopy found no evidence of inflammation on 8/16/1

If you start having bad cramps and pain does in mean the UC is active again?

If its not working its not working. Stop it I say.

As for Uceris... Wanna try but its prob not in Canada yet

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ASK THE CAT
UC Forum Moderator
Ulcerative Colitis diagnosed Oct 2007. Prednisone for flares until Oct 2012. Half-remission from Remicade.
Currently on: Prednisone 10 mg, Imuran 50 mg, Remicade 300 mg (4 infusions)
Supplements: Ultimate Flora x 1, L-glutamine 1500 mg x 1

well it is chemically the same as Entocort. Just has an enteric time release coating.

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11/08: ischemic colitis and scope perf colon. 12cm colon/ileocecal resected. IV antib:sepsis.
01/10: Dx: Mod. UC pancolitis. Rx: Lialda 3x.
02/11: Major flare w/antib:sinus. Rx: 40mg Pred taper. 6mp.
07/11: Histol remiss rt/trans; worse sigmoid. Rx: Rowasa & hydrocort
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Curr: 3-6 loose stool w/ blood, limited urgency: Lialda, 10mg Pred (dependent), sf-Rowasa, VSL DS, Vit-D/C, Omg3

Little Buddy, how long have you been taking the fiber supplements for?

It can take time for the system to adjust to fiber (even for healthy people)...you also have to be careful with the Citrucel and other powdered forms of fiber supplements since many (if not all) contain sugar substitutes which can be the culprit in causing added discomfort that won't end due to us being particularly sensitive to sugar substitutes which is why I use the pill form of fiber supplements....it still took my system 3 months to adjust before things became much more tolerable (it varies for each person as to when it finally kicks in) once I adjust to it, no more excessive gas, bloating all gone, formed bm's and less frequency too. I've also been able to tolerate eating all fiberous foods as well with no more issues from them.

Key with fiber supplements is to drink plenty of water with it, start out with a small amount and only increase (very slowly) if you find it necessary.

I also started taking fiber supplements during a horrific flare with my crohn's colitis, as directed by my GI, best GI advice I've ever gotten to date (in 22 yrs, sad eh) out of 4 GI's.

Probiotics can be pretty beneficial for us as well, so long as you're taking the right kind and it's good quality (from my experience, refrigerated ones tend to be the best, and no less than 10 billion cultures).

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bee propolis caps 500mg one cap twice/day
omegas 369 caps one cap twice/day
probiotics 10 billion cfu once/day
vitamins C-calcium ascorbate (easy on the gut) and vitamin A each once/day
Prodiem fibre supplement one cap before bed
I've also altered my diet (no junky stuff at all, processed, fast-foods, refined sugars, ect) and exercise regularly.
I went from 30+ bloody BM's/day with lots of lower back pain to an average of 5/day no bleeding no back pain and completely formed stools, still have severe urgency issues.
~~~~~~~~My bum is broken....there's a big crack down the middle of it! LOL :)~~~~~~~~

I was prescribed prednisone, entocort, and hydrocort enema's all at the same time. They all have different delivery systems. I have successfully weaned off of all 3. (It took 2 tries of pred)

Carlie

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200 mg zoloft -Therapy 2x a month
Asacol 400mg 2 tablets 3x a day
Entocort 6mg
Vitamin D3
B 12 with folic acid
Prosymbiotic
Drenamin 2 tabs in the am
Fosamax 1x week (Due to extreme bone loss from Prednisone)
4oz Activia 4oz homemade/natural apple sauce with pills every am
1 cigarette 3x a day when I take meds
Symptomatic Remission

lauren, sorry to hear about your situation. believe me, i know exactly what you're going through. sadly i've found that prednisone seems to be the only thing that effective in getting my flares to calm down. but I'm a believer in trying a variety of approaches to try and find a balance in what works.

Here's what I can say about Uceris. Uceris is brand new to the market, approved in mid january by the fda and currently they are building up distribution. my order from express scripts was supposed to be shipped yesterday but has been delayed until the 22nd. Not sure why your doctor didn't mention that it can also get you into remission, alot of people with chron's had great success with entocort, and this is basically the same thing but gets delivered to the large colon and lower.

it's typically an 8 week dosage, but additional 8 week packs can be prescribed. my GI plans on tapering prednisone and then eventually starting the uceris to get me completely off the prednisone. but honestly i think i am going to push to get on uceris asap and start a taper of prednisone when things start to get better. i'll also be pushing for cortifoam as the urgency i am going through indicates severe inflammation lower down. (sometimes it sucks knowing more than my GI, so i'm considering a top GI out of Mt. Sinai if I can't get this under control soon)

i should note that in addition to 30mg prednisone I am also on 2x3 a day of asacol hd, started the paleo diet 2 weeks ago, started slippery elm root and I take vsl#3. I started juicing also, as the fiber content is greatly reduced, i'm currently juicing carrot, apple, napa cabbage as I've read many studies indicating benefits from cabbage.

I'm surprised they launched the product this quickly. I didn't think it would be available until late March.


For those interested, they do have patient assistance program but it only covers up to $100. If you have a high deductible health plan, it's going to be really costly.

http://www.uceris.com/

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Pancolitis-- Diagnosed 3/2011
Prednisone-tapering off
Asacol-800mg x6---Humira
Canasa or Rowasa Nightly
Black Cherry Extract -1/15/13
DHEA-25mg-1/17/13

Thanks for all of the replies, I love knowing I can come to this forum when I have questions or angst. It feels great to have such support and dialogue.

PB4, I had been taking fiber since the new year (so 7 weeks); 3 on Metamucil 4 on Citrucel. 2 days after stopping I am already feeling a lot better; less agony and blood. I don't think I could have made it to 3 months to adjust - I had already changed my schedule to wake up earlier and avoid agony at/on the way to work. If I'm honest with myself it had all of the markers of a flare - pain, blood, urgency, multiple BMs, etc. I'm hoping to continue feeling better now that I'm off it, but I will talk to my MD about some other kind (Benefiber maybe, or Psyllium seed powder) that could be more gentle. What kind do you use? I take Align daily, to answer your probiotic point.

Everyone else, please keep us updated about progress with Uceris; I will get an RX in 2 weeks (I hope).

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38 YO Dx 9/2009 with left-side UC.
Meds: Lialda x 2
Supplements: folic acid, calcium, vitamin D, olive oil, melatonin

just got home from my LOVELY gi. we think i'm reacting badly to too much asacol hd, so we're dropping it from 6 daily to 4. i talked him into letting me try proctofoam because I know my inflammation and urgency issues may get much better with it.

apparently he's not letting me go on uceris until we take down quite a bit of prednisone, i'm sure i'll put up an argument once i get it though.

he let me know that since the 12th of february i have lost 10 pounds (even while on prednisone). he didn't seem alarmed by it, and i'm not either since I'm doing paleo and juicing. (i'm around 6' 172, so it's not like I am wasting away or anything)

Little Buddy.... Have you had any luck with the Uceris? I started it two weeks ago and have not seen any improvement. Just wondering if its not working OR if I have just not given it enough time.

I'm new to this group. In the midst of a flare up since September. Have done two rounds of pred, starting at 40 mg, that helped some. A round of entocort, with no help ( it has worked in the past). And doing hydrocortisone enema but not as consistently as I should. I'm starting to think I will never be "normal" again. In addition, I'm not diagnosed with UC but a rare disease called eosinophilic colitis. Acts like UC. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions I am open. At my whits end and ready to go anywhere to get help, just don't know where.

Just started Uceris today. Anyone else on this having a reduction of symptoms? My dr. Prescribed 3 pills a day and since my insurance doesn't cover it, that's 3k a month. On some free samples right now after some shameless begging. Anyone having swelling or insomnia? That's always been my problem with Pred.

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Prescribed Asacol rarely take it.
Prednisone for flares - like taking a deal with the devil
Probiotics when I flare