My story - your suggestions needed

[Sara Dubai]

Hi all,

Well to start with, im a 22 year old girl who was dignosed with Crohns Disease in 2006 when i was 16 years old. I took my meds at that time which were cortizone, imuran, pentasa. In 2008 till the end of 2009 i stopped taking my meds. In Jan 2010 i collapsed from the pain . I was admitted in the hospital and was given antibiotix, after leaving the hospital i started the cortizone course in addition to imuran and pentasa. After finishing the course i stopped taking my meds again and collapsed again and through a endoscopy that was made they discovered that i have a 5cm stricture in the end of the large intenstine and there was inflamation. I was admitted back again in summer 2011 with anibiotix, finished my cortizone course and know im taking my meds and not skipping them and thankfully there is no inflammation.

I weight 42 Kgs and my height is 164 cm.

My doctor wants me to start taking Inflaximab injections because of the stricture.

Im really scared from the side effects and how successful will it be and when can i stop taking the injections especially because im getting married soon and would like to get pregnant, and if it will affect me getting pregnant or the baby through my pregnancy.

and can stricture go away and becomes better like before?


i really learnt not to skip my meds, i wasnt aware of my disease and its side effects before but know i do thats why im being really carefull.

 

[Jennifer]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Congratulations on the wedding! I'm planning mine too for Sept. 22nd this year. When's yours? I also want to have children and will talk to my GI about what's safe and what's not before and during a pregnancy (I suggest you do the same as people can be on medication while pregnant just at certain doses and certain ones but unfortunately I don't have the answers to either).

There are many of us who have learned their lesson on stopping meds and the problems that can cause. I was also hospitalized when I stopped mine. Problem is that this is a chronic illness and will likely require medication even during remission to help keep you in remission called maintenance meds. I take 6MP to maintain my remission (even though currently I seem to be slipping but we've upped the dose and added Entocort to try and keep me in remission).

As far as strictures go that's a complicated one because if its caused by inflammation then yes the meds will help with that but if its scar tissue then only so much can be done. There are procedures that can try to stretch the area but that's only done if its possible due to severity or there's another procedure where it gets cut, pushed together to create an opening and resown (strictureplasty). Other than that the other option is a removal of the area (bowel resection, I've had one). Chronic inflammation is what generally causes scar tissue to form so I'm not sure what you're dealing with as you went off your meds a couple times.

Didn't mean to end on such a low note. Take a look around and make some threads asking specific questions or whatever you want.