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Hello.

Just thought I'd introduce myself and share my story. My name is Peter and I'm 19 years old, soon to be 20. I got diagnosed with severe Crohn's disease about 6 months ago.

So far my doctors have treated me with Prednisone, Azathioprine, Methotrexate, and they want to start treatment with Remicade asap.

I like to stay educated, so I began looking into Crohn's disease, the medications they were putting me on, and various other topics concerning crohn's disease. What was obvious is the side effects of the medication can be absolutely terrible, and in my opinion, some of them even worse than Crohn's disease itself (such as a rare type of Cancer that has an almost guaranteed mortality rate, from the use of Remicade). I stopped taking all of these medications 2 months ago.

Like most kids in highschool, I did experiment with Marijuana. It's actually kind of funny, because that's probably one of the smarter decisions I made in my life. I've likely had Crohn's disease since around my junior year in highschool. I always had these short and violent outburts, but since they never lasted longer than 3 days I never really though anything of it. They happened about every 1-2months.

It wasn't till about a year after I stopped smoking marijuana recreationally, that I had an intense flare-up that wouldn't go away, and that would eventually lead to my diagnosis of severe crohn's disease. My mom was actually the one who put two and two together, and I personally strongly believe marijuana was a major factor in keeping the Crohns disease from becoming very active during my highschool years.

It wasn't till I came across some medical publications, that I picked up marijuana again, this time medically. I've been using marijuana for 2months medically, with no use of conventional medication(such as cortocosteroids). I've had great improvement in my disease activity over this time, and all my symptoms are greatly alleviated.

As you could probably tell, I'm a huge supporter of medical marijuana as a safer alternative to treating crohn's disease.

Anyways, enough walls of text. :)
 
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valleysangel92

Moderator
Staff member
Hello

Welcome to the forum.

I know the lists of side effects can seem horrifying and while they do exist, they are actually really rare. Crohns that is under managed or not treated properly can have side effects that are just as severe if not worse, untreated crohns can cause bowel obstructions and perforations, fistulas, cancer, severe mal-nourishment etc.

While I am glad that you have found something that seems to work for you, please keep in contact with your doctor, crohns is sneaky and can fester under the surface for a long time before coming back to bite you.

Please don't completely dismiss medications, just because you can't feel the inflammation doesn't mean its not there or it won't come back, so keep your options open.
 
Hello valley, I agree with what you've stated. I was a bit rash in a couple of my statements, and if I offended anybody with them, I am sorry. This whole subject is pretty emotional at times, and it could get the best of you :( .

And yes, I do keep in regular contact with my GI specialist. They are actively monitoring my condition.

And finally, Thanks for the welcome! :)
 
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