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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 9/21/2007 11:50 AM (GMT -6)
I'm on colozal started taking for 6 weeks like a good patient, then I stopped for 4 days b/c well, I really don't know why. Too much medicine, feeling a little better, started new health supplements. Anyways, started back up 5 days ago. Still bleeding, diarreah, urgency now I have a flipping cold. Lord, please help me, I'm tired of this! Ok, so should I tell my GI I'm still bleeding? The bleeding went away for a little while in the 6 weeks but came back. No formed stools (maybe one out of 20)

I tried asacol a long time ago and I thought it was giving me blisters on my lips. But I had the blisters before taking any medication for UC. So I guess it wasn't the asacol.They weren't cold sores, but blisters, tiny too.

Maybe I should go back on asacol. I don't know anymore. I feel like crap b/c of my cold. I took Tylenol last night (cold and sinus) benadryl early yesterday morning and where benadryl is suppose to dry you up all my nose did was run! Now my head is stuffy and my ears are plugged and still my nose keeps running. Urgh!

Since I was off colozal for 4 days, is it like starting over with the side effects once I started back up?

 

Posted 9/21/2007 12:54 PM (GMT -6)
Those colds sure throw you for a loop! Any time I have one I have issues with my guts :( It seems that anything that messes with my mucous membranes (nose, etc) messes with my gut too.

I would suggest lots of rest and fluids. Take ALL of your meds. See how you feel in a couple of days. If you're still feeling off, call your doc and tell him what's up - include that you didn't take your colazal for a few days. And watch that you're cold isn't a sinus infection.

Oh yah - I can't take anything with psuedoephedrin in it - makes me go nuts (rapid heart rate, etc). The Sudafed PE type stuff didn't do me any good, and THEN it threw my guts off after a few days of taking it. My best bet is benadryl and tylenol (aka tylenol pm). Makes it hard to function though.

'nough rambling! I hope you're feeling better soon!
Posted 9/21/2007 12:56 PM (GMT -6)
Just wanted to say I hear you. It can be all too much. Advice? Who knows, I just stay on my meds all the time (except Pred.), b/c if I stop or taper, eventually I end up back to the same place (eventually), increase of sx's. Hang in there.
Posted 9/21/2007 1:10 PM (GMT -6)
i stopped Colazal cold turkey once and i immediately went into a flare. If you chose to stop taking meds you need to taper to lessen the effects.

As for the cold don't let it get too bad. I tried to wait out what I thought was a cold a couple of months ago and ended up really sick. Could you use affrin for a couple of days for the congestion? That way you could at least get some relief to sleep. Hang in there!
Posted 9/21/2007 1:35 PM (GMT -6)
I been there and done that last week with the cold. I was so worn down on a physical and emotional basis from a recent death in the family and wasn't taking care of myself. I was actually still taking my meds (Asacol) but was not consuming any food throughout the day. I refused to leave my mom's bedside so sometimes going the whole day with just a couple of crackers or a snack pack of oreo cookies a nurse would bring me. The first thing to break down was I caught a bad cold, the second thing to break down was the guts went South. I were you I would go back on the Colazal and be faithful to it. Wait about 6 to 8 weeks and see how your feeling then. When I came home from the funeral I just wanted to take something for my cold and sleep. Gee, 2007 has not been a good year for us has it?
Zurich
Posted 9/21/2007 1:46 PM (GMT -6)

I really have been in a flare for 3 years b/c I took asacol when I first was diagnosed for 6 weeks and the rectal doc said all gone, so I stopped that day. Every since then 1 year without meds and now on them and stopped after 7 weeks really and 4 days later, same symptoms. Now I'm back on 6 a day the way I should have done it the first time and we'll see. My natural path swears he can fix me to perfect health by Thanksgiving. I told him I've been in hell for 3 years, he totally understood. He still thinks I have a strain of ecoli there from eating the alfalfa sprouts. I'm totally for treating the whole body thru nutrition. I just hope it works. Why a cold when I haven't had one in 3 years? Weird. Is this a true statement, that UC'ers immune system is working double time and fighting off something that isn't there? That's why our response system says "get inflammed" and it shouldn't? Ok if this true, I would like to think it's not working as hard and that's why I got a cold? Here's my added stress. I'm going to Florida on Oct. 3rd and I don't want to fly with a stuffy head. Plus, last month I got a shot of steriods b/c my ear was inflammed with fluid (not infected) so is this something totally different than my cold?

I just wish doctors would take the time and talk to you, not rush you out the door. There are no options with doctors, ti's take this and take that.

Posted 9/21/2007 1:59 PM (GMT -6)
I don't think nutrition is a bad thing, but I would be very uneasy if someone told me he could "fix" me. Keep taking those meds - even when you feel better. Those meds will help keep things from spreading or keep the spreading from happening as quickly. Heck, if the natropath can make you feel better - great! But still take the Colazal or Asacol.

Hmmm... Don't know about the shot of steroids for the ear... Sounds like this could have been brewing for a while... Usually when there is fluid in the ear, something is blocking it up there...

Feel better soon!
Posted 9/21/2007 5:14 PM (GMT -6)

Can you set up an appointment with an ENT? just to get your sinuses and ear and eustachian tubes checked out thoroughly?  Can you take Sudafed PE?  That's a decongestant, and it works well for me.

e.coli can be tested for....assuming it's there doesn't do you any good.

I don't want to totally rain on your parade, but your idealistic goal of beating and fixing and whatever your UC seems (from my perspective) to be creating more suffering and disappointments for you.

I'm not getting why you don't just give the 5ASA meds a fair chance.

Try not to hang on too long to what's past.....make plans for the now and future.  You're obviously still flaring, and I believe the other infection (sinus/ear) is possibly creating your body to go into overdrive.

Are you taking probiotics?

Do you have a list of exactly the stuff the naturopath gave you to take?  You might even be sensitive to one or more of the products.

quincy

Posted 9/23/2007 7:31 AM (GMT -6)

Hi Quincy, I haven't heard from you in a while

I've been faithly back on colozal for 2 weeks now(6 pills a day, that's what was prescribed to me)  (I was just off for 4 days) before that I was tapering also. I'm going to the bathroom 6-10 times a day, the morning is the worst. Sill urgency, diarreah, the whole shebang. I have blood (pink) with tissue. I know it's tissue (skin from inside the colon walls, I think)  and not mucus although at times there's mucus. Why does this happen? Where's it coming from? I took a canasa (funny how they name it was assa at the end) and I went poop about a hour later so the some of the canasa came out. I did notice canasa work real well for me.

With my supplements, I'm no different as if I weren't taking them. All the same signs and the looks of my stools are the same. So I can't say (two weeks into them) there's a change.

My sinus was actually a cold. I couldn't believe it. I've been taking benadryl for the past 3 nights and nothing during the day. I just want to be fine to fly next week weds. Every day I'm getting better.

I once read on here that a guy runs to keep his uc a bay and running put him to remission. I love to run, but really can't b/c of my guts. BUT yesterday I did 3 miles in 40 mins (run/walk) so that's a start. I've always worked out, so even having energy is plus.

Can anyone take the EMERGEN-C product you add to water for a vitamin C? I took it yesterday and it does give me energy (not nervous energy) but how bad is for you?

How should I take the canasa, as needed you think? Gosh I wish I could just take the canasa without the oral. Can anyone do this and be fine? The oral meds are giving me a dry patch on my chin on my face Thanks for you input.

Posted 9/23/2007 9:53 AM (GMT -6)
Hello - if you look on the Canasa insert, it says what the maximum daily dosage is. I think 3. You could use them all day - one in the AM, one in the afternoon, and one before bed.

If you're still having 6-10 bms per day, you definitely need something more than 6 Colazal. Time to talk with your doc. Perhaps he could advise you better on the Canasa too. Maybe short term you could use more?

What about Rowasa? Maybe Rowasa at night and Canasa during the day? Just an idea I thought I'd throw out!
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