Hi Sassy,
First, could you please turn off your caps lock, it makes your posts a little hard to read. Thanks!
It sounds like your husband's disease state is pretty severe right now
I'm personally not a huge fan of combining a biologic such as Humira or Cimzia with an immunosuppressant like Imuran but in your husband's case, that MAY be a good idea. It's hard to say without having all the data though. With the state of his disease, I'd also inquire about utilizing some exclusive enteral nutrition to help get the inflammation and fistula under control. Basically, at this point, I'd take the shotgun approach. For example:
- Western Medicine - I'd personally go with what your doctor recommends.
- Dietary changes -
Enteral/elemental nutrition as mentioned then transition to [wiki]paleo diet[/wiki] or [wiki]specific carbohydrate diet[/wiki]. Juicing is also growing on me a lot
and we now have a juicing subforum located here.
- Hydration - Dehydration and loss of electrolytes is common. Proper hydration and
adding electrolytes back in can help you a lot.
- Alternative treatments - I'm a big fan of
Low Dose Naltrexone. Two studies in adults and one in children have had great results (see the stuck thread when following that link) and there are very few side effects. It's also not very expensive.
Medical marijuana has been shown to help a lot as well if that's something you're comfortable with and is legally available in your area.
- Stress reduction. Do whatever it takes to reduce your stress levels. In addition, a weekly or even monthly massage if funds are tight is great.
Studies have actually shown that massage can reduce inflammation.
Give yourself self-massages as often as possible in between the professional ones.
- Exercise -
a gentle yoga is a good one
- Vitamins and minerals - find out which you're deficient in and properly supplement. People with Crohn's disease are commonly deficient in
vitamin B12,
vitamin D, and
magnesium as well as a host of others. But those three first ones should definitely be checked. Do not blindly supplement vitamin D and B12, treat these as medications and get your levels tested first. Although the blood test for magnesium is pretty useless and I strongly suggest you eat foods high in magnesium or discuss supplementation of it with your doctor.
- Supplements - there are a variety that help improve overall health. Check our our
diet/fitness/supplements forum for ideas. I'm personally a big fan of
tumeric (curcumin) and strongly suggest utilizing it if your doctor is ok with it.
- Alternative medicine - This could be stuff like acupuncture, including a naturopath in your treatment team, etc.
Bring your doctor in on the conversation for all of this. Some doctors might need a little push on some of this stuff, but we can provide studies that showcase the efficacy of all the above.
