Medication confusion

[Nicole33]

medication confusion

Hey guys,
I am still pretty new to Crohn's, diagnosed a year ago, so medication decisions are really confusing me (and by all these discussions I'm not sure it gets much better!)
I've just started entocourt, but had a bad reaction to imuran, so my doctor suggested methotrexate... have people had good experiences with this? (To be honest I don't like the idea of giving myself a shot every week forever... :ymad
Also, I am going to call my insurance and inquire about remicade, although it scares me a bit too. Besides biologics and these two immunosuppressants, I can't stay on corticosteroids, and the milder drugs (i.e. pentasa) didn't do much for me... do I have other options?
Also, maybe someone can clarify... 6mp means immunosuppressants like Imuran? what is LDN? And Cimzia is another biologic?
SO much information... sigh

 

[bry33]

6-mp is an immunosuppresent that requires significant blood to be drawn every month called promethius pannels remicade is a good choice but you can develop antibodies against it(i did) if you go with remicade let a nurse know if when you are having the infusion if you feel weird like your head is filling with liquid/pressure if you feel really hot or ears ringing that could mean you developed antibodies at least thats what i remembered feeling like injecting yourself isn't that bad its just something you get used to if you are worried about using needles i suggest humira because it comes in a pen form where you just push a button and hold it for about 10 seconds and your done it help if you ice the area for 5-10 min so you don't feel anything the first few injections sting really bad but after a while it builds up in your system so that it doesn't sting at all cimzia..so far i haven't had any complaints i've only had it 2 or 3 times supposed to have it like 4 or 5 by now but i got shingles a month or so ago so ive been off of it but cimzia is a thicker serum than humira and it requres the use of a weird looking syringe i had no formal training of syringes when my doc switched me so i tried having the nurse at my college do it for me trust me you don't need to take a shot every week with humira its every two weeks which is the downside but cimzia is once a month so you kind of have to pick and choose which one fits you. i like cimzia b/c i can take it once a month so i can line it up with my birth control which is also once a month i do really reccomend these options for people with severe crohn's and nothing else works remicade started to put me in remission(darn antibodies) i loved it...every 8 weeks if i had the choice i would go back to it but humira finished the job of putting me in remission and cimzia is an experimentation of mine...my doctor wanted to keep me on humira but i told him i wanted to experiment and learn how to use a syringe btw im 18
it is a lot of information and i could go on and on about meds but i highly reccomend the shots/remicade and now im typing too much its 2 am here....darn insomnia