So, I exhaused all of my medication options and have to have my large intestine removed now. My pre-surgery colonoscopy showed that now my rectum and ileum is inflamed, so now I have to have a temporary ileostomy. My question is, when (not if) my crohn's comes back, lets say it comes back in my small intestine this time, will I not be able to try any previous meds because I failed them all? How will they treat my crohn's if none of the meds work for me anymore? Or did I just fail medication treatment in my large intestine? I hope I am making sense.
Meds don't work, so surgery. Then what?
- Thread starter Kris
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Each flare is different and getting it under control quickly can help reduce the severity and length of the flare. Taking maintenance drugs while in remission also helps to reduce the number and severity of flares. Since each flare is different, you may have just had an extreme one that got out of control quickly. It is possible to have more mild flares. Just because medications failed in the past for various reasons, doesn't meant they will fail in the future.
Glad the stoma is only temporary. Hopefully the gut rest will work for you. From what I read, it's important to keep the skin around the stoma protected. This site http://www.colidoscope.com/patients/going_home3.html talks about how to care for it properly but there are plenty of members on this site who would be glad to help you or answer any questions on the stoma sub forum found here http://crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46.
Glad the stoma is only temporary. Hopefully the gut rest will work for you. From what I read, it's important to keep the skin around the stoma protected. This site http://www.colidoscope.com/patients/going_home3.html talks about how to care for it properly but there are plenty of members on this site who would be glad to help you or answer any questions on the stoma sub forum found here http://crohnsforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46.
good luck with the surgery, it's a tough call but if the meds have failed then surgery it is. My understanding is (from personal experience) that if the meds fail it's because the tissue has become so damaged that it can't recover however it doesn't mean that it wouldn't work in the future for an area that hasn't been damaged before. I've just had an ileo-cecal resection to remove 1 foot of damaged bowel as it failed to heal with medication, the surgeons said from the start that it was the only outcome, however I kept putting it off as I started to feel better but in reality the steroids were just masking the symptoms. Now i've had the surgery I feel a million times better nearly back to normal (whatever that is!!). I know my surgery isn't as major as yours but hopefully you too will feel much better after.
Hi Kris,
Sorry to hear about your predicament. I am also facing something similar: meds have failed, and have 'involvement' in he rectum.
My concerns are the same as yours. That they will remove (most or all of the colon) and it will just return in the small bowel.
Is the temp ileostomy because of the inflammation in the ileum? What would they otherwise wan to do?
Best of Luck.
Sorry to hear about your predicament. I am also facing something similar: meds have failed, and have 'involvement' in he rectum.
My concerns are the same as yours. That they will remove (most or all of the colon) and it will just return in the small bowel.
Is the temp ileostomy because of the inflammation in the ileum? What would they otherwise wan to do?
Best of Luck.
The temp. ileostomy is because of the inflamation in the rectum. They can't hook my rectum up to my small intestine until it has had a chance to rest and heal. Otherwise, it could fall apart and cause all kinds of infection. Is your Dr. talking about surgery for you JJOM?
Sorry to hear that you face surgery
12 months on from my 9th surgery after the complete failure of the meds i'd been given i looked for alternative ways to gain remission from Crohn's.
I had life changing success with Serovera AMP which gave me complete remission.Due to the resections i had i have a short gut so i've had to take loperamide for over 12 years.
Their is another member of this forum who gained complete remission by using Helminthic Therapy(not sure if he had op's)
Hope you find what works for you
