was given these to take since i had blood in my stool yesterday but none today. have a history of ulcerative proctitis and havne't had a flare for over a year. i'm now 7.5 months pregnant and was told these are safe to take. howeve,r have never used suppositories before...what do they feel like and do they hurt or make you uncomfortable?

Hi manchak99,

I am currently using Canasa. It isn't too uncomfortable inserting them, and once it's in, you won't really feel it at all.

Could you share some info on proctitis with me? I am new to this and there isn't much info out there as to what I can expect when dealing with it. Are there things that can cause flare ups? Is it something that can go away for good? What is it like when you have flare ups? Have you looked into diet/lifestyle changes that may work to heal it?

Thanks for any info you can share.:)

the good news is that proctitis rarely spreads upwards in the colon. Usually stays localized and can be pretty easily treated with topical treatments as opposed to oral meds such as Asacol or more potent drugs with steriods in them. I have both IBS and UP. I do know that IBS symptoms can be controlled or at least helped with diet. However, don't think proctitis can be. How are your symptoms since being on the Canasa? What were your symptoms anyway? Mine were severe cramping one night with blood and mucous in my stools.....scary when you see this for the first time, huh!

good luck and really...consider yourself lucky. i do!:wave:

Well, I had one problem overlap into the other, so it was hard to tell what came first. In Dec. 05 I started having some bloody BMs and pain. Thought it was a hemmorhoid. In Feb, a rectal surgeon told me I had one of the worst fissures he'd ever treated. He did surgery for it the last week of March. By summer, I was still having some pain with BMs even though the surgeon said the fissure was healing nicely. In early July, it wasn't getting better and because of worst stress, I had some anxiety and wound up having a panic attack (I hear stress can be a cause of these things). I lost my appetite for a while, lost a lot of weight, and would have occasional bouts of diarrhea. I thought all this was stress related.

Anyway, In mid September, the surgeon did a colonoscopy. He found nothing going on in my colon, but said I have inflammation in my rectum almost an inch long. Biopsy was negative for cancer, but they confirmed his diagnosis of Proctitis.

Now, I mostly have no pain, just a little itching and enough sensation to be aware of my anus most of the time. BMs are a bit uncomfortable, and blood is sometimes present, mostly at the end.

I contacted a Proctitis sufferer who has a website about it. He believes the suppositories are not of much help. They just heal symptoms, but don't fix the cause or the condition. He believes diet alterations - including avoiding wheat and gluten - and stress relief will help the most. I may agree with him about Canasa, but my doctor would like to see me stay on it for a couple months. If it make the symptoms go away, that will be great, but I am determined to do more on my own to get over this. I respect him for not instantly putting me on oral meds, as I believe too many meds poisons our systems and actually prevents the body from healing itself.

I feel very lucky that I wasn't diagnosed with one of the many worse things this could have been, but I'm still not happy. I'm scared I will be dealing with this forever, and will eventually make it worse because I'm so stressed about it. I appreciate your positive attitude and will use it as inspiration to lighten up a bit myself. :)