I was diagnosed with crohn's colitis at a charity hospital in 1996 by a doctor who is now a state senator interestingly enough. At the time, I had an abscess perianal fistula. It was very painful. I thought I might die. I've been on all the usual medication since then without seeing much in the way of results. I got pregnant and had a child in 2003. My health went downhill very quickly and in the first year of my child's life, I had two surgeries. The first surgery removed a lot of my colon and small intestine and an abscess formed. I was in and out of the hospital all year. You would think that because an abscess is something that can be expected as a result of surgery, that my case would have been handled differently. They would shrink the abscess and see that it was "gone" on the CT scan and send me home. It would fill back up with infection and I'd be back at the ER. There were accusations of drug seeking that entire year. Well, guess waht? It hurt! I was in the hospital at least part of every month that year. I had endoscopes shoved down my throat with no anesthesia. I had a very painful enema that finally revealed what was wrong and where the situation was. I had drains put in, you name it. My surgeon finally found out what was wrong and did another resection with an ileostomy. I had it for two years. Never really saw a decrease in my symptoms. It's always been flaring. Didn't realize how much pain I was in until the cimzia started to work. I've been on remicade before and it did not help. In fact, during the year I was in and out of the hospital every month, they tried the remicade again and I had an anaphylaxis. I am fortunate that a family member was there at the time and was able to call the nurse because I could neither breathe, nor reach the nurse call button. As a result of all of this, I have very little faith in the medical community and it took me a long, long time to seek treatment again. I have been off the grid with regard to any kind of treatment. I've had skin problems, kidney stones, joint pain, fiery inflammation, acid butt, all the problems you experience when you get no sleep at night, work full time as a single mother and use the bathroom up to and maybe over 35 times a day. I decided it was time to try something and I'm so glad I did. Thanks for your encouragement. I looked at the cimzia board while I was contemplating getting the treatment. I'm so glad I did for now. I'm cautiously optimistic.