Is mesalazine fine to take daily?

How do you guys track your symptoms and flaires?

I have always had heavy and nasty periods but about 7 years ago I started having constant left sided pain that got worse around my period, as well as real bad poops. I went to a GP who did a stool test (don't know what was tested exactly but it wasn't done when I was in a flare) who sent me to gynae who said it was probably endo. It took 6 years to get an MRI which showed adhesions on my bowel and issues there which got blamed on endometriosis. Fast forward and I had a laparoscopy done which was negative for endo and apparently ruled out all gynae issues. So I started looking into misdiagnosis and IBD seems to match my symptoms. They are:

Either constant diarrhea or constipation, no in-between.

Fatigue

Weird rashes

Joint pains

Vitamin D deficiency

Low folate

Horrible left sided pain which can also sometimes show up on the right

"Lightning bum"- feels like being stabbed in the butthole.

No ability to control when I poop- when it's happening it's happening.

Hair loss in flare ups.

Pain that's worse around my period but always there.

Random food intolerances.

Total NSAID intolerance.

So does this sound like something I need to query with my GP? Has anyone been misdiagnosed like this?

I was diagnosed with UC nearly 12 years ago after serious flares and eventually getting a colonoscopy in my mid 20s. I switched health insurance which forced me to see a new gi doc who wanted to get a ct scan after mentioning that I have pain after eating and acid reflux. My ct scan shows matted small bowel loops and I assume that’s where the pain is coming from along with the past issues of nausea, vomiting, severe pain with larger meals, etc. Has anyone with UC experienced matted bowel loops because that seems more related to being diagnosed with Crohn’s. I’ve always wondered if it’s really Crohn’s given my other symptoms but previous doctors didn’t really care because it was basically the same treatment with Humira at the time. I feel like I caused irreparable damage cause I wasn’t treating that area since I was only using mesalamine suppositories for the other problem areas. My dad’s sister had Crohn’s which always made me think it was weird for me to have UC, not Crohn’s, but that’s another thing. Anyone’s diagnosis change after a CT scan?

Hi everyone,
I have steroid-refractory lymphocytic microscopic colitis. I also have multiple sclerosis and I’m being treated with Kesimpta, so my treatment options are quite limited.
I received my second Entyvio infusion 3 days ago, but I still feel exactly the same. The diarrhea and abdominal cramping are absolutely awful, and I haven’t noticed even the slightest improvement yet.
If anyone has experience with Entyvio and would be willing to share their story with me, I would be incredibly grateful. It would really help me to hear from people who have been through the same thing.
I wish everyone the very best, and I hope you’re all doing well. ❤️

Hi everyone. I’m 29M and I’m hoping to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar.
About 7 months ago, I suddenly developed uncontrollable diarrhoea and ended up going to the ER. I tested positive for C. diff and was treated with antibiotics. After that, everything returned to normal for about 3 months. During that time, I was extremely careful and avoided anything I thought could trigger a C. diff recurrence.

Then I got a cold/flu, and shortly afterwards the diarrhoea came back badly — around 12–18 times a day. I went to my GP, who did stool tests, and C. diff came back negative. He then referred me for a gastroscopy and colonoscopy with biopsies to try to figure out what was going on.

The biopsies came back inconclusive, but there were clear signs of inflammation in my bowels. My CT scan showed mesenteric fat stranding around the terminal ileum, and during a laparoscopic procedure a few days later to remove my appendix, the surgeon also saw inflammation/fat changes around that area.
Because I smoked for over 10 years and Crohn’s disease runs in my family, the surgeon suspected I might have a mild case of Crohn’s. She started me on budesonide 9 mg daily.

For the first few weeks, I improved quite a bit. I was still going about 3 times a day, but it was no longer watery diarrhoea — just soft stools. Then the stomach pains started again, followed by diarrhoea again, this time with mucus and streaks of red blood. Keep in mind I also followed a strict diet the dietitian in the hospital gave me for Chrons patients.

I contacted the doctor, and she advised me to continue budesonide for another 3 months and also prescribed mesalazine 800 mg daily. Unfortunately, that hasn’t really improved anything.
I’ve now seen a gastroenterologist, and he wants me to stop the budesonide and mesalazine and repeat the colonoscopy with new biopsies. He said it does look like Crohn’s, but it could also be something else, such as a bacterial infection or virus mimicking IBD.

Has anyone else had a similar experience after C. diff, where symptoms returned but C. diff tests were negative? Did it end up being Crohn’s/IBD, post-infectious IBS, another infection, or something else?
I’m honestly exhausted and stressed. It feels like an endless battle with no clear answers or proper treatment plan yet. Any advice or similar experiences would be really appreciated.

Doctor suggesting biologics as next line of treatment just want to know monthly cost of biologics or biosimilar.

Well after a rough week things settled a little for 24 hours.

Now today started off good managed to get out for shopping. On way home stopped at traffic light I had the worst cramps and sweats come over me. I knew what was coming managed to get about half a mile from home when all hell erupted been so long since I have had an accident embarrassed doesn't cover it

im not diagnosed with anything yet, just rectal inflammation and hemorrhoids, but its likely I have something along the lines of UC or Crohns. anyways, I was originally put on mesalamine suppositories, they made me not able to function, now im on cortenema twice a day.

its only been 2 days but I cant for the life of me retain it. I administer it laying on my side and its fine until a couple minutes in and I have terrible cramping and bathroom urgency.

I guess my question is, is it always like this? does it get easier? any tips?

Hi guy, had a laparoscopy 6 days ago, and confirmed endo on pouch of Douglas, excised and ablated. Don’t have more details yet. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease last year, yet I wonder (consider Crohn’s symptoms), of anyone’s experiences with both? Or if endo can cause Crohn’s like symptoms.

Hey guys I’m fairly new to the whole UC disease, just having over 6 months now diagnosed in January. I started having severe urgency so ended up doing a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with proctitis. The urgency has been the worst part for me as I end up going around 15 times a day which blood and mucus, mostly in the morning and then it starts to taper off. Medications wise I have tried mesalamine oral, enema, and suppositories, hydrocortisone enemas, and one course of prednisone. I am currently starting another course now as my urgency has been quite severe still. I am a bit frustrated as I just tapered off a course of
prednisone two weeks ago and it really didn’t do anything for me (which was quite odd to me as I still had urgency and blood). I have tried entyvio for 12 weeks and am currently transitioning to stelara when my insurance approves it and likely remicade after if stelara doesn’t work. I am gluten free now and have cut out most sugar and carbonated drinks and have tried low fodmap but to no avail. I am just extremely exhausted and sick of having accidents driving to work. I am an ICU nurse so my job is fairly stressful. I just wanted to share my experience and see if anyone has had anything similar symptoms wise and/or any advice on how to manage this urgency as it has been severe for the last six months. Thanks guys!

25 yo female, 5’5”, 133 lbs.

About a year ago I began dealing with blood and mucus in my stool. It was treated as hemorrhoids initially with fiber and stool softening medication, but did not improve after 11 weeks.

So a year later, I have gone through two colonoscopies (one without a biopsy, and one with — biopsy was clean), one upper endoscopy, one capsule endoscopy and preliminary CTE scan, a SIBO breath test, and countless stool/blood tests. With these they’ve ruled out celiac, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s, food intolerances and allergies, various bacteria/viruses/parasites.

However, my capsule endoscopy came back saying the bowel looked normal, they just found approximately 18 small ulcers in the last two sections of my small intestine. And my CT scan showed a completely normal small bowel as well, no thickening or strictures anywhere.

During this time of over a year, I have dealt with NONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

NO abdominal pain, cramps or bloating.

NO diarrhea, constipation, nausea, or vomiting.

NO hemorrhoids or polyps found.

NO fever, weight loss, or loss of appetite.

NO sudden urge to use the bathroom, or pain when going.

NO anemia/iron deficiency.

NO systemic issues like swollen or painful joints, eye or liver issues, or skin rashes/ulcers.

Over this year I have had consistently elevated calprotectin in stool, from 70-230 (To specify, I’ve been told these levels are due to the blood in my intestinal tract interfering with the tests, I don’t know if that matters). But I’ve been tested for CRP levels and they’ve been entirely normal. And my CTE scan I had recently into this year of issues showed a completely normal small intestine, aside from constipation (stool in the small intestine that shouldn’t be there, in my case). My CTE scan also showed I have an umbilical hernia but it’s unclear if this is causing this and the hernia subreddit did not think so either.

My ONLY symptoms all year have been blood and mucus in stool. I would not say a lot, but it has been consistent.

I have had persistent fatigue as well, but my doctors have been unclear on what to attribute it to specifically as i dealt with this problem long before i had issues with blood and mucus — I also have an IGA deficiency that was causing me to deal with the same respiratory infections over and over. (And I have been told having an IGA deficiency makes me more susceptible to developing Crohn’s and Celiac which is why I had extensive testing for both.) and they felt that was also contributing to fatigue, but it is still here after taking immune boosters to successfully give me the antibodies I was not making naturally.

I have chronic low lymphocytes as well, but that’s also been hesitantly attributed to my IGA deficiency at this point. I do not know if Crohn’s can also cause this though.

I suppose my question is, has anyone else with Crohn’s dealt with this in the beginning stages? Could this be Crohn’s, even if everything else has come back relatively negative for it a year into these problems? Can early Crohn’s possibly look like this a year into things, with no other symptoms present?

I do not and have never smoked or vaped, and never drink either if that matters. NO radiation either. I also do not deal with long term/heavy use of NSAIDs.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can answer this.

I want opinions on if you believe I have been blown off by my GI.

I went to my initial appointment today regarding 10 months of bright yellow stools with lots of mucus, I also have extreme full body itching and really bad fatigue which has caused me to be on leave from work for 6 months.
I have to use the toilet 10-20 times a day and experience intense cramping and pain with every bowel movement.
I have low vitamin D, b12, iron, fecal IgA of 1089 and low healthy cholesterol and regular symptomatic hypo episodes of blood sugars below 2.5mmol.

Today I went in for my initial consultation (which lasted 5 minutes) expecting him to really look at my symptoms and hopefully start getting some answers. He told me that I was constipated?! And to take a colonoscopy prep and see him again in 3 months. I explained that I have already done this and it did not help, he said sometimes you don’t do it right and need to go again?!

Can someone tell me if this sounds correct, can constipation cause this? Do I need to go see another GI?

I felt like I was made to feel stupid and that it’s all in my head. I understand I am young (24 years old) but to me this doesn’t explain my issues.

Does anyone have any recommendations on what I should do? Do I go back to my GP and get another referral?

Just had my fecal results back, one of the tests qFIT has come back abnormal and now I'm being fast tracked for signs of bowel cancer. Just curious how common this is for others to go through? I know the odds are pretty low, but cancer is quite prominent in my family, so of course it makes me worry slightly. I'm a 29F

I’ve had my colonoscopy in March 2025. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. And started Octasa in October 2025 and then Azathioprine in January 2026.

I’m laying on the floor when I shower. I’ve been sitting on the floor to shower, every shower since about March and it’s now July. I’m started laying flat on my back semi regularly in addition to sitting. I’m 23 years old. I should be standing to shower.

I’ve started dry heaving. Like all the time. For weeks now. I just want to be okay. I had an allergic reaction to an iron infusion so that didn’t help me.

I’ve the opportunity to move countries in the near future but the USA’s health care system and food makes me nervous.

I’ll call my IBD team this week. I just want to know if anyone has any advice for the symptoms or even the stress.

Cause laying on the shower floor is a new low both literally and physically.

My 23 year-old daughter has ulcerative colitis and her G.I. doctor just recommended Envytio going forward. Looking for any information about how this treatment has helped you? Or other side effects to be aware of.

I have recently been/am being investigated for several autoimmune conditions, and everything has come back normal UNTIL I had my calprotectin (600+). My only symptoms are joint pain in my hands and fatigue, and I've been referred to a gastroenterologist under suspection of an IBD (my dad has ulcerative colitis + anklyosing spondylitis and i have the HLA B27 gene too), but its to my understanding that this isnt very typical of IBD to present this way without ANY nausea, atypical stool, weight loss, or literally anything feeling/looking wrong. I know this could just be me looking in all the wrong places, but i can't find any similar experiences online, and im not really sure what to expect. I feel like I'm going in the wrong direction. Anyone experience this?

! NOT LOOKING FOR DIAGNOSIS, JUST A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE!

Hi everyone,
I’ve had c diff three times within the last two months. Each time I was treated with vanco, but unfortunately it kept coming back.
Yesterday I had an fmt in capsules at the hospital. Since yesterday I’ve been having diarrhea. My doctor told me this can happen after FMT, but I’m still feeling a bit worried.
The thing is, during the week before the FMT I wasn’t having any diarrhea. I had to do a full bowel prep the day before the procedure, and I feel like that’s what really threw my gut out of balance.
Has anyone else experienced diarrhea right after capsule FMT? If so, how long did it last?