Crohn's After Antibiotics

[n123]

I was diagnosed with moderately severe Crohn's at the start of October. All my trouble started after a round of antibiotics back in May. I was prescribed 500mg of Cephalexin, 4 times a day for 10 days. Towards the end of treatment I started to have diarrhea which got progressively worse. I lost 25 pounds by July.
I suspected C. difficile but stool samples tested negative. C. Diff can be difficult to test for so I thought it was a false negative. I did some research and started taking probiotics; Culturelle and Saccharomyces. These helped dramatically. I started to gain weight and was occasionally having solid movements.
Finally I was able to see a GI and he agreed that because the probiotics were helping, my trouble might be C.diff, but two stool samples later were still testing negative. I wasn't gaining any more weight and still had bouts of watery diarrhea.
Finally I had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with moderately severe Crohn's.

Now I have a few choices of how to treat this and would like some advise. Sulfasalazine hasn't seemed to help much but it's only been 2 weeks.
My doctor wants me to consider 6MP or Azathioprine (Imuran). I'm worried about side effects and don't like the idea of suppressing my immune system...

Which brings me to another option: FMT.
I'm 31. I've been healthy all my life and have no family history of Crohn's. I believe the antibiotics caused an imbalance of bacteria in me which is why I have such high hopes for FMT. I'm tempted to jump right into this treatment and I have direct family that can donate for me. (I'm in the US and my doctor will only do a transplant to treat C.Diff)

I'm not sure what to do. Thank you for reading.

 

[Pilgrim]

I'm so sorry that you have to deal with Crohn's.

I just wanted to mention that while some people with Crohn's have had success with sulfasalazine, there are studies that have shown that it is no better than a placebo for Crohn's. It is used successfully in Ulcerative Colitis. I'm sorry I don't have a link for you. Too busy to find one, but it's out there.

My daughter was diagnosed with moderate-severe Crohn's last summer. She's a pediatric patient, but did have some success with Exclusive Enteral Nutrition (liquid formula diet). I'm not sure why EEN works, but it is used as primary therapy quite regularly in UK. She didn't use a tube at all, still isn't.

We tried Azathioprine, because we were told that the benefits outweighed the risks. This is true for some, but not for us. After developing pancreatitis, she was taken off the med. Now we're back to another round of EEN. It's going well. We are also looking into dietary therapy such as SCD, which is a personal decision.

I guess the thing is there are a lot of options and it's hard to say what will work for any single Crohn's patient. If you take medications your doctor will either be "bottom up" or a "top down" for his drug recommendations. Sounds like yours is bottom up.

I think it is very important to know where your disease is located, and what type it is. If you can get more imaging done to assess the damage, then great. If you can get labs to assess your nutrition status, and other blood markers, then that is also great. You need all the information to make an informed decision about your treatment.

I wish I had more wisdom, but I think we're at about the same place with working out treatment plans. Information is key, though, that much I have learned.

In your case FMT sounds like a good possibility. You have thought it out well so far. Maybe you can press your doctor to try this for you even with no C.Diff since he will use it in those instances. He is already past the hurdle of not using it at all.

All the best.

 

[baistuff]

N123..... this is my story as well. Exactly at age 31 as well. I am away now but when i get back i will pm you about my FMT experience. Bottom line is i am quite glad i did it, but I have had a mild case all along. Dysbiosis can trigger IBD. The big question is does the dysbiosis drive the chonicity or does the triggered immune system. Very tough to answer.we can discuss.

 

[wildbill_52280]

follow the link below. or message me for questions regarding this. for me it was amoxicillin-clavulanic acid aka augmentin which i believe started crohn's.

 

[Axelfl3333]

Hello n123 it's unlikely that one course of anti-biotics caused your crohns especially if your unlucky for it to be fairly bad as crohns can lurk a long time without a lot of obvious signs it's a common thread that another illness seems to push us over the edge in my case it was getting my hand badly burned at work,a bout of shingles and eventually no control of my backside,medicine wise don,t stress over the meds they do help,be wary of dr google he very rarely delivers good news.good luck all the best
P.s crohns is a marathon,not a sprint unfortunately.

 

[Ali29]

Cipro is what jump started my D and caused bleeding/red stools - from there it went downhill. I believe antibiotics can be a trigger - at least it was for me.

Hope you feel better!