- Joined
- Nov 14, 2008
- Messages
- 152
Hi all
Crohn's since 1987 but the past 6 years have been great since my last duodenal bypass surgery. They reattached my small bowel to a new hole in my stomach to bypass bad scarring in my duodenal. But since March it's been downhill. I had been having discomfort etc. In March my GI ordered an x-ray and it didn't show anything obvious. A short dose of Pred late March seemed to help get it under control and by mid-april seemed ok again. I went to Hawaii for vacation late April/early May and was feeling great. I ate a lot and didn't stop.
So I get home May 5th and that day had my annual CT scan to check for reoccurring cancer (small bowel cancer survivor, 7 years). The results said the resected part of the bowel was showing a little more thickening than in past scans but nothing to be alarmed about. But it was suggested another scan in 3 months to be safe. A few days later, one evening, I get bad bloating out of the blue and I'm back to feeling discomfort. I saw my GI again (May 27) and at the same time started getting cramps. Up to seeing my GI, I was having a BM every morning and the stool was light brown. Once the cramps started, they turned dark brown. My blood iron was also after dropping a lot. So that Friday my GI says shes bumping up my CT scan (June 13) and ordered another xray. Also put me on 40mg of Pred, taper 5mg/week. I get the xray done Monday and the only thing that showed was I was constipated, which made sense because I hadn't gone since that Friday morning. She ordered a bunch of laxatives and I did that Thursday last week and it took 20 hours! for it to work (pico salax in AM, ducolax noon, pico salax 6pm). I've had a couple of BMs since and it's still dark brown. I can't eat normal foods as I get cramps. I've stuck with Ensures and Scandishakes which don't cause pain. I had a bowl of Cheerios this morning and had cramps right away for about an hour then they subsided.
So the Pred doesn't seem to be working well like it did years ago for me. Drugs like Remicade are out because I've had history of cancer. I suspect I have bad ulceration at either the new hole in the stomach or the resected site a little further down. Through all this I've lost 11 lbs, 7 since May 27.
What other options are there when oral pred doesn't work? I know there is IV pred but doesn't seem like a real alternative.
Thanks
Crohn's since 1987 but the past 6 years have been great since my last duodenal bypass surgery. They reattached my small bowel to a new hole in my stomach to bypass bad scarring in my duodenal. But since March it's been downhill. I had been having discomfort etc. In March my GI ordered an x-ray and it didn't show anything obvious. A short dose of Pred late March seemed to help get it under control and by mid-april seemed ok again. I went to Hawaii for vacation late April/early May and was feeling great. I ate a lot and didn't stop.
So I get home May 5th and that day had my annual CT scan to check for reoccurring cancer (small bowel cancer survivor, 7 years). The results said the resected part of the bowel was showing a little more thickening than in past scans but nothing to be alarmed about. But it was suggested another scan in 3 months to be safe. A few days later, one evening, I get bad bloating out of the blue and I'm back to feeling discomfort. I saw my GI again (May 27) and at the same time started getting cramps. Up to seeing my GI, I was having a BM every morning and the stool was light brown. Once the cramps started, they turned dark brown. My blood iron was also after dropping a lot. So that Friday my GI says shes bumping up my CT scan (June 13) and ordered another xray. Also put me on 40mg of Pred, taper 5mg/week. I get the xray done Monday and the only thing that showed was I was constipated, which made sense because I hadn't gone since that Friday morning. She ordered a bunch of laxatives and I did that Thursday last week and it took 20 hours! for it to work (pico salax in AM, ducolax noon, pico salax 6pm). I've had a couple of BMs since and it's still dark brown. I can't eat normal foods as I get cramps. I've stuck with Ensures and Scandishakes which don't cause pain. I had a bowl of Cheerios this morning and had cramps right away for about an hour then they subsided.
So the Pred doesn't seem to be working well like it did years ago for me. Drugs like Remicade are out because I've had history of cancer. I suspect I have bad ulceration at either the new hole in the stomach or the resected site a little further down. Through all this I've lost 11 lbs, 7 since May 27.
What other options are there when oral pred doesn't work? I know there is IV pred but doesn't seem like a real alternative.
Thanks
