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UC trivia: toilet seats

I

I C Red

Non urgent, but after 20 years I have a few gripes about this disease:

1. Asacol/lialda etc stain the toilet unless its plastic. Is there a better looking asacol freindly toilet seat out there?

2. People keep inviting me out to dinner. I like getting invited but it's awkward when I can't eat or drink anything. Even the star trek robot can at least fake eating...

I'll leave it at that for now. The bigger issues will have to wait.
 
I

I C Red

If you take 5-ASA (asacol, lialda, etc), the drug cycles out of your blood into your urine, tiny droplets of which will hit the bottom of the toilet seat. The drug in these droplets generates dark brown stains that accumulate over time and can't be cleaned off.

Like I said, a minor issue but annoying.
 
Jessi

Jessi

Moderator
Ummm... that's really weird.
I didn't think the Asacol I took ever went through the blood stream at all. I swallowed it as a pill, and it came out as an empty pill shell. Was mine really that different than other Asacols? I never noticed it in my urine at all. I'm confused. Granted, I took Asacol HD, rather than the regular Asacol. Could that be the difference?
 
2thFairy

2thFairy

Pentasa makes the seat purple and Lialda makes the seat pink/brown. Women are the ones that will notice this the most since our pee splashes everywhere. I bought plastic seats for all toilets in my house and always wipe down the seat when I'm visiting someone (which is very rare at the moment). It is quite annoying!!!
 
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S

Swirl

I have this stain issue and just recently a few days ago looked this up, and we already brought a new toilet. When it came it was bright white and i was like noooooooooooooooo! lol
I hope it really can be clean off, this bothers me! Sue the drug company!
lol
 
Mountaingem

Mountaingem

OK, don't laugh, but I buy wooden seats and have my husband shellac them first, so they have a protective shell type coating over the seat. Then it can withstand any stains I make and can endure all of the bleaching and Pine-Soling I do every day.

As for going at other people's house-I dread it!
 
I

I C Red

Bleach does not seem to be effective in any case. I think its because the color is coming from oxidation of the drug, I think its the drug (and not the pill coating) because if you leave pentasa out in the air it turns the same color and people on pentasa (see Mountain Gem above) report the same issue.

Regarding bloodstream absorption: most of it stays in the gut but some enters the bloodstream so if you are on higher levels it will end up in the urine and be noticeable in this way.

Anyways, who needs the daily reminder? Plastic toilet seats work best rather than daily scrubbing but it would be nice to tackle this chemically for those who refuse to have their toilet seat choices dictated by a drug. So far I've tried various bleach formulations, detergents, vinegar, baking soda, and Comet.

A few ideas:

Buy purple seats: probably will work, but an odd color scheme for most homes.
Coat the seat with something protective: Mineral oil? Chemically resistant paint? Other Oils?
Pre-treating the water is a good concept: Maybe reformulate one of those slow release toilet cleaners (I'll share the royalties with all of you). First thing is to find out what chemical turns the darkened 5-ASA back to a white color.
 
2thFairy

2thFairy

Pretreating the water won't help since the problem is from urine splashing on the undersurface of the seat directly after leaving the body rather than from it hitting the water and then bouncing back.... or am I misunderstanding what is being said?
 
I

I C Red

2thFairy said:
Pretreating the water won't help since the problem is from urine splashing on the undersurface of the seat directly after leaving the body rather than from it hitting the water and then bouncing back.... or am I misunderstanding what is being said?
Click to expand...
I'm not certain of how the physics works, but that mechanism seems more likely now that you mention it. In this case, its back to treating the seat in some way.
 
nitty

nitty

Hi! I'm on Pentasa for Crohn's and I've noticed this, too.

I've had success cleaning the marks off our white toilet seat using a 'magic sponge' (NOT the type that they use on the football pitch!!). It's a cleaning product that's great for loads of different stains. It looks just like a fine white sponge which you cut a piece off, dip it in water and gently rub at the stain. It's basically a very fine abrasive that is good at removing surface marks without damaging the finish underneath. It even cleaned the crayon off our matt-painted walls created by my art-loving daughter when she was a toddler - saved me from repainting the whole room!

The sponges can be quite pricey in places, but I got a couple of big boxes of them from Aldi a while back for about £4.

Oops! - Just noticed you're all in America, but I'm sure they'll have them somewhere over there.
 
A

Artificial

I just stumbled upon this thread by accident and now completely understand why my toilet seat at home has gone a browny colour in places!!
 
J

johnrc

Location
Ireland
Hi
With reference to Nitty's post regarding stain removal from toilet seats of these purpleish stains,I've tried "everything" mainly becuse the new toilet has an expensive soft close seat
and I've replaced one already and recently purchased another one for when guests arrive.These seats have quick release buttons which enable them to be changed swiftly and the new one can be put back in the box when the visitors are gone.
The product mentioned by Nitty is called Doktor Power and is manufactured by JML
I recently tried it and it made a very good job of removing the stains bearing in mind that I had tried other products and remedies but nothing worked except this JML Doktor Power.
 
A

Ann Morgan

Location
Arizona
Hi I C Red: I am replying to your comment about going out to eat at restaurants. I encounter the same thing, I cannot really eat anything much from the menu. It gets very frustrating. Really, who wants to be sipping on a glass of water while the rest of the group is chowing down on delicious food that I will never be able to eat ?
 
H

Handryer

I am searching on here to see if someone had found a solution to clean the toilet seat, so I'm off to buy a 'magic sponge' from JML - thank you.

I have been on Asacol Mesalazine for ten years and have never had this problem until now. I have just had a flare up of ulcerative colitis and my doctor has increased my dose and given me an Asacol foam enema. I believe it is the enema that has caused this problem because it also ended up on my bathroom wall after shaking the foam enema before use and the foam must have splashed onto the wall.

I hadn't noticed any marks on my toilet at all but then my cleaner came and she must have treated my toilet with bleach last week and left it looking white and clean but, by the time I came home my toilet was covered in dark marks. I have cleaned off the dark marks but it has left a pink stain. I have tried everything from bathroom cleaner to car polish over the weekend. I've also called the pharmaceutical company this morning who couldn't help either.

I did an internet search as a last resort and found this forum so, thank you, I'll try the magic sponge and report back.

Many thanks
 
H

Handryer

Success! I hope. After just posting my last post, I went straight onto Google Shopping to order a magic sponge, which should arrive in a few days. But then I had a brainwave about using Astonish, which I use to clean my pans and cookware when they get stained.

It's worked!

I'm going to wait for the magic sponge before cleaning my other toilet that has a few of the same marks on it but, in the meantime, it appears Astonish works.

Now it does actually say on the packaging not to use on plastic but I have, and it appears to have worked. I applied it with one of those green sponges with a white scrubbing pad on top that I use for washing up, with just a drop of water. Worked a treat.

Now it is a British product but I'm sure you'll be able to buy it online worldwide.

Good luck.
 
B

buttER

Thanks for the comments, I noticed the toilet seat was getting stained but I was blaming it on the children. Oops.
I will have to look out for those magic sponges or scourers.
 
nitty

nitty

Hi Handryer,

Just be careful with the Astonish as it can be pretty abrasive and damage smooth 'soft' surfaces like plastics. I would only use it for the inside of the oven and other tough surfaces.

The good thing about the magic sponges it that they are very fine and can remove stains without leaving any scuff marks. I have even used them to remove children's crayon marks from a freshly painted wall with no damage to the paint!
 
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