Colonoscopy results

[Missy_anne]

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to give you an update. The last couple of months I have had the biggest flare up i've had in 6 years. I was scheduled for an emergency colonoscopy. I got the results and 6 pictures while I was in recovery.

My doctor told me I had significant inflammation in my large intestine. I had the beggining of 3-4 ulcers appearing. Once I was fully awake-my pictures made me cringe. Close to the opening of my small intestine, my large intestine was so inflammed that my doctor told me that there was just enough room for stool to pass through. If we hadn't caught it-she said that it would cause a blockage.

I was given a prescription for 20 mg of prednisone twice a day. Once the bottle is gone (150 pills)-I have an appointment with my gastero. doctor to decide on a more "aggressive" treatment. :yrolleyes:

Sorry if I had some typos-I'm still a little funky from my procedure :runaway:

 

[My Butt Hurts]

Hi Missy Anne - glad that's over with huh?
The pred should bring down your inflammation significantly. Did the doc say what he/she is thinking about for your more aggressive treatment?
Also - did the doc tell you how to taper off of the prednisone?
When exactly is your appointment? I am surprised he/she didn't put you on something else right away. I would think if you were going to go on another new med, it would make sense to start it right away with the pred.

 

[Missy_anne]

To tell you the truth-I have NO idea. she didn't give me any instructions on how to taper off of it. We didn't realize this until we had left so I am calling right away tomorrow morning. The doctor told me that we would have to wait for the inflammation to go down and the results of the biopsies to come in. She also said once my regular gastero. gets the results-he will be in contact with me.

I'll update you as soon as I realize what the heck is going on! :confused2:

 

[My Butt Hurts]

Yeah - it is REALLY important to taper off of pred. Look up Cushing's syndrome. That can happen if you don't.
Cute picture by the way - and I don't think I welcomed you to the forum yet - so welcome!

 

[fenway1971]

hi missy -
you should ask about what "more aggressive" treatment means. probably an immunosuppressant which is what i'm going on.

prednisone is wonder drug and evil drug. it'll cut inflammation yet side effects will drive you nuts.

welcome to the forum. we're all going through what you're going through

 

[Missy_anne]

That you guys.

I woke up this morning with 2 bloody noses and my doc. said it was probably from the oxygen which was put on just in case.
My legs hurt! It feels like I just ran a mile haha. They said it was probably just from the pred. or from the procedure itself.
I was kept a little longer because I ended up having to use the bathroom after I woke up-I had a little more blood then what was expected but it went away. The pred. made it so I slept a little funky last night.

I was on pred. a long time ago because I have bursitis in my shoulder and I don't remember its effects on me. My doctor told me to contact her tomorrow if anything seems strange.

They also called me and told me that they had set up a follow up appointment in 5 days with my regular gastero doctor to get instructions on how to taper off the pred. and discuss other treatments.

We shall see! :duh:

 

[JillianB82]

First off, welcome to the forum!

I hope the gastro has some good answers for you!

I hope you feel better soon luv!

 

[Missy_anne]

Me too! Thank you!

For my first day out in four days-I get to go to work! Woo!:lol:
I work 7-3:30 and then am coming home and crashing utahere:

 

[Missy_anne]

Hi everyone!
I went and saw my gastero today and he told me that the colonoscopy biopsies looked like "partially treated Crohns." He said he was surprised seeing as though this is the first very big flare up I have had in 7 years!

My doc. set me up a schedule to ween myself off of the prednisone. I will be taking it for the next month and my last day of it is 5/31.

He wants one last chance to see if my Pentasa will cover the symptoms. He increased my dosage from 6 a day (500 mg) to 8; 500 mg capsules a day! :ybatty:
He set me up for yet ANOTHER appointment in 4 weeks, if my symptoms return-our next step is 6-MP (I believe that was the name).

Since I graduate in only about 2 months-he told me that if that doesn't work-then our extreme treatment would be Remicade but he is trying to avoid this because he doesn't want me to have injections for something that only flares up once in a couple of years. All so confusing! :confused2:

The prednisone is working well for me so far. Aside from the extreme shakes in the morning and the really bad mood swings-it has got me down from 15-20 bathroom visits a day to only about 2 or 3.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Procyon]

Glad to hear the prednisone is working for you. Hopefully that and the pentasa will do the trick.

Don't worry about remicade if he puts you on that. It's really not that much of an inconvenience -- just an infusion every 6 - 8 weeks. It sounds like he'd put you on 6MP first though, which controlled my disease quite nicely for a few years.