Lot of Medications..whoa!

[CrohnsNewbie2]

So I've been on pentasa for about two months or so and it's gotten rid of the spasms but I'm still having flare ups and not feeling well. He just put me on canasa, uceris, and zfron (for nausea). Any thoughts? Pros or cons? Little nervous to be taking all this medicine.

 

[alex_chris]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

From your name I would guess you have been diagnosed with Crohn's and not with UC, right? Has your GI talked you through all the options to treat Crohn's? Pentasa, unfortuately, has been shown in several studies to not be much (or at all) more effective than a placebo - there are quite some threads on the subject here.

I have also never heard about canasa, uceris or zfron, maybe others can talk about these. They do not seem to be the standard medications used for long-term management of Crohn's (which are biologic drugs such as humira or remicade or cimzia and immunosuppressives such as 6mp or azathioprine) or for short-term treatment of flare ups (most notably corticosteroids such as prednisone or budesonide).

As an overview of the medication treatment, I recommend the recent treatment tree for physicians released by the American Gastroenterological Society: http://campaigns.gastro.org/algorithms/IBDCarePathway/ which provides a clear path on what treatment is recommended for high and low risk patients.

 

[Clash]

I know uceriris is another form of steroid often used in UC, but probably also for CD located in the colon, Crohns colitis. Canada is another 5ASA like pentasa isn't it? Although probably with adjusted ph values to facilitate release in a different area of the bowel.

Sorry I'm not familiar with these type of meds, honestly. The 5ASAs like pentasa have proven helpful for UC but studies have shown they generally aren't enough for CD.

It is my son that has CD and he hadn't taken any of these meds but I'm sure other members will be along shortly who have experience with these.

 

[CrohnsNewbie2]

Thanks Alex and Clash!

Yeah a all of the medicines I'm taking are for UC apparently so I don't really know what my doctor is doing. The pentasa got rid of some of the spasms but I don't think it's doing anything else. I don't know if taking medications for UC are going to help with crohn's. My case of crohn's is mild at the moment. Just worried about taking all this medication at the same time. :shifty-t:

 

[juggys69]

I wouldn't worry to much about the number of meds you are taking, your primary knows if they cross effect before you even are prescribed them. As for that being a long list, LOL, trust me, it can be longer than that easily.

The big thing is seeing how each effects you, and reporting that back to your primary if you are having bad side effects so they can switch out to something else.

 

[CrohnsNewbie2]

Thanks Juggys!

Yeah I know but I don't like taking pills in general it freaks me out
I hate crohn's so much right now...It's seriously messing up everything!

 

[alex_chris]

Thanks Alex and Clash!

Yeah a all of the medicines I'm taking are for UC apparently so I don't really know what my doctor is doing. The pentasa got rid of some of the spasms but I don't think it's doing anything else. I don't know if taking medications for UC are going to help with crohn's. My case of crohn's is mild at the moment. Just worried about taking all this medication at the same time. :shifty-t:

Just one quick point about the categorisation of "mild", "moderate" and "severe". These categories are being abandoned by GIs these days. The reason is that the actual goal of treating Crohn's is to avoid complications such as surgery and keep symptoms down as effectively as possible. As Crohn's, if left untreated, gets worse in most cases (or in the old terminology it goes from "mild" to "moderate/severe"), GIs these days classify patients into high and low risk groups based on certain factors, especially age and where the inflammation is located (that is how much it has spread) and whether there are constant symptoms or not. Principally for everyone who experienced Crohn's symptoms below the age of 30 and has noticeable problems (flares) is put into the high risk group - for which the most important goal is to avoid inflammation in the intestine and thus scaring that could lead to all kinds of problems down the road.

The decision on the drugs front usually is immunosuppressives vs. Biologics, with docs favoring biologics for high risk patients.

Lastly, have you had any discussion about supplemental long term management through avoiding vitamin and mineral deficiencies, using stress relief (yoga etc.) and endurance sport - plus of course diet.