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Drugs other than Asacol
- Thread starter kirkland
- Start date
My Butt Hurts
Squeals-a-lot!
Yeah - I would have said 6-mp or Imuran too.
The trouble with those is that they typically take 3 months to start working.
It is possible that a similar drug to asacol would help you. Sulfasalazine was my first drug, and then I was moved to asacol. When asacol quit, I took pentasa with good results for a few years. There are several different 5-asa (I think they are called that) drugs.
Maybe you could try entocort instead of prednisone? It's similar, but a bit weaker I guess? My doc wouldn't let me take it instead of pred becasue it wasn't as strong, but many members here have had good luck with it.
The trouble with those is that they typically take 3 months to start working.
It is possible that a similar drug to asacol would help you. Sulfasalazine was my first drug, and then I was moved to asacol. When asacol quit, I took pentasa with good results for a few years. There are several different 5-asa (I think they are called that) drugs.
Maybe you could try entocort instead of prednisone? It's similar, but a bit weaker I guess? My doc wouldn't let me take it instead of pred becasue it wasn't as strong, but many members here have had good luck with it.
it seems worth mentioning that these drugs being discussed are very different in the approach to treatment.
The 5 ASA drugs are a fancy aspirin. They reduce swelling at the site of absorption. 5ASA drugs were hopefuls that turned out to be less effective than expected. Asacol/Pentasa/Salofalk
Steroids like Prednisone suppress the immune system a bit by limiting the abilities of white blood cells. They reduce inflammation fast and are suitable for short term treatment to get a flair under control quickly.
Imuran/6mp is a long term immune suppression drug that reduces your ability to produce white blood cells. Very cost effective treatment.
Humira/Remicade are TNF blockers that use modified biological agents to reduce your bodies ability to produce inflammation. These are comparatively expensive long term treatments.
The 5 ASA drugs are a fancy aspirin. They reduce swelling at the site of absorption. 5ASA drugs were hopefuls that turned out to be less effective than expected. Asacol/Pentasa/Salofalk
Steroids like Prednisone suppress the immune system a bit by limiting the abilities of white blood cells. They reduce inflammation fast and are suitable for short term treatment to get a flair under control quickly.
Imuran/6mp is a long term immune suppression drug that reduces your ability to produce white blood cells. Very cost effective treatment.
Humira/Remicade are TNF blockers that use modified biological agents to reduce your bodies ability to produce inflammation. These are comparatively expensive long term treatments.
I am currently tapering off of entocort and I'll keep taking the asacol. I still have blood in my stool, but my GI doesn't seem concerned about it as long as I am not in pain. I guess he thinks the entocort will not get rid of the blood. I was only on the entocort for about 6 weeks, he doesn't want me to take it longer than that, I really don't know why.