It's Taper Time!

It's about this time of the month that I get to see how I'm progressing in relation to decreasing (or tapering) my meds - every month since July I've been decreasing the dosage by one tablet.

It takes between 2 to 4 weeks for the Mesalazine tablets I take to have an effect on the symptoms of my Ulcerative Colitis. Last time I tried to taper my meds it was at the end of the month that I saw changes.

During my last flare-up, I managed to get down to 1 tablet per day before the symptoms started to reappear. This was a surprise to me because every flare-up previous to that I'd been able to stop the tablets completely and carry on as normal. But perhaps that's where I was going wrong, because my 'normal' then is not good for my Colitis now.

So I'm nearing the same point again and I have to admit it's playing on my mind slightly. If I look back at the diet I had when I got down to 1 tablet, I can see it wasn't good enough and I'm annoyed that I slipped up. Although perhaps I'm being a bit hard on myself, after all, Colitis is a continual learning curve and I feel I've learnt more in the past few months than I did in the 18 years I had Colitis before that.

My tapering regime is a long process, but this time I'm staying alert and also sticking to a more strict diet - no relaxing of the rules just because there are no symptoms! So, on Friday I'll be dropping down to 2 tablets per day after successfully getting through the 3 tablet barrier.

I'm positive about my progress and even if I do see symptoms start to appear again, at least I'll have found a minimum level at which I know my Colitis can be 'controlled'. However, there are so many things for me to trial in replacement for the meds that I'm still convinced, in a glass half full kind of way, that I can get off of them fully - time will tell!

For the time being, I'm hoping my more disciplined approach to this taper will see me get further than last time.

2 tablet November? Let's be having you!!!

Maintenance Meds

Well, I thought I'd post my views on this subject as it's something I've seen referenced in some colitis forums recently.

I hope my views don't offend anyone. I say this because some UCers have no choice but to use man-made meds, which have helped them to get their life back. I'd like to state that I would not argue against anyone making that choice and I completely understand why they would continue with the meds. I've used mesalazine many times over the years to help me out of flare-ups.

Actually, my views are on the 'maintenance' aspect of meds as opposed to the meds themselves.

Last week I read a post by a UCer who questioned maintenance meds - they asked whether taking meds and keeping the inflammation down whilst in remission was better than not taking them and avoiding the side effects of the medication?

This is an interesting point and a question that can only be answered in the long term on an individual basis, after all, who knows how long term meds are going to effect them? I guess my angle is that once you manage to calm your Colitis symptoms down and regain control of your life, isn't it a good idea to start looking for natural equivalents to replace the man-made meds?

I'm not talking about making drastic changes, I mean experimenting slowly and cautiously to see if there are any adverse effects as you taper meds down and replace them with natural supplements/diet etc.

To follow on from this, and relevant to maintenance meds is a question I ask myself concerning diminishing returns. That is, does the body adapt to meds over a period of time, thus making them less effective? If so, surely it's another good reason to attempt to replace man-made meds with a natural equivalent where possible?  Then, if there is a time when you need to use the same meds again, the body will get a benefit from them because there has been a period without usage.

These two points are the reason I continue to look into natural replacements for Colitis meds and why I'm always pleased to see a post by someone who has managed to achieve a positive result using natural remedies.