Ive been out of remission for a couple months now. I think it been since December around my birthday and Ive lost about 50 lbs during this period. My doctor put me on entocort and im generally on Asacol all the time. But im starting to realize that things are getting much worse I havent been able to be at work for the past 5 days because of severe pain and just not being able to keep anything down. Ive also been severly fatigued and its been hard to get out of bed or even eat. So I was forced to take a medical leave from work. I have an appointment with my GI on monday and Im hoping to ask him about possible other treatment plans besides steriods, but my problem is that I haven't been put on anything else besides steriods to get me in to remission. I was wondering what other possible treatment plans you guys have been through when steriods didnt work or they just werent an option.
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Alternatives to steroids for Crohn's Disease
- Thread starter MikesAngel21
- Start date
D
Donna
Guest
I had been on steroids since 2/2004 with a total of only 7 months off of it. Recently, being on them made my blood sugar go nuts, as high as 298 without eating! And it wouldn't come down.
Entecort is a steroid that about 90% of stays within your intestines, and therefor has less side effects than does Prednisone. That is why they tend to use it as a maintenance drug. Prednisone however, is absorbed through the intestines and goes thru the entire system, thus causing all of those lovely side effects.
Maybe, if you are beginning a flare, you should take the steroids that I am sure your doc is going to prescribe until it is under control. Then talk to your doc about trying Remicade infusions, and maybe something like Imuran along with your Asacol. Both of those are for maintenance. Imuran does take like 3 months to get into your system to start working, and most people have little side effects from it.
Just a thought. I have only been in remission for a couple of months since 2002, and I am also coming into remission now, thanks to the Remicade and Imuran.
Hope this helps!
Donna
Entecort is a steroid that about 90% of stays within your intestines, and therefor has less side effects than does Prednisone. That is why they tend to use it as a maintenance drug. Prednisone however, is absorbed through the intestines and goes thru the entire system, thus causing all of those lovely side effects.
Maybe, if you are beginning a flare, you should take the steroids that I am sure your doc is going to prescribe until it is under control. Then talk to your doc about trying Remicade infusions, and maybe something like Imuran along with your Asacol. Both of those are for maintenance. Imuran does take like 3 months to get into your system to start working, and most people have little side effects from it.
Just a thought. I have only been in remission for a couple of months since 2002, and I am also coming into remission now, thanks to the Remicade and Imuran.
Hope this helps!
Donna
Wish I could help ya out on this one.
Entocort did exactly nothing for me, unfortunately.
I currently take pentasa and imuran. Those two failed me, and now I am on a lot of prednisone too.
I am going back to remicade, hopefully it will work again.
All you can do is just keep trying meds I guess. The whole diet thing seems to be nearly useless for me. Only diet that makes my crohns better, is not eating. Which I resorted to about a month ago, before I cried out for help.
Entocort did exactly nothing for me, unfortunately.
I currently take pentasa and imuran. Those two failed me, and now I am on a lot of prednisone too.
I am going back to remicade, hopefully it will work again.
All you can do is just keep trying meds I guess. The whole diet thing seems to be nearly useless for me. Only diet that makes my crohns better, is not eating. Which I resorted to about a month ago, before I cried out for help.
K
Kate
Guest
I think the next steep will be pred to get you under control and if that dosnt work from there its genrully something like remicade. If that still dosnt work and you are getting much much worse then they tend to look into an illostomy but those are very very extreem cases so dont worry im sure the right meds will work for you. He could just up the dose of what your on. My speicalists prefers pred over entocort becuase of the fact that they cant be sure how much gets absorbed into the system to reduce the inflamation. So i think the next possible choice is the dredded pred for you but who knows lol im not a dr.
Good luck hun and keep us posted
Kate
Good luck hun and keep us posted
Kate
I realize this thread is all about the drugs but diet along side the drug use may help you come off the drugs sooner. I try to avoid them if possible. When I get really bad I fast on a chicken broth diet. It's gelatin therapy. The gelatin heals the intestinal lining. In the 1950s, my mum was fed jell-o to treat her daily bloody noses and it was the only thing that helped. Though for colitis you want to avoid the sugar part. (Gelatin therapy is real - not just my name of my jell-o story.) I follow a cookbook with loads of natural health tips like this - Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Anyone else using gelatin? Day 1 for me. Great lakes brand.
If sugar is an issue, I know you can buy gelatin product touted for joint issues and put in coffee. It's tasteless and does clump up.