Newly Diagnosed

[MrsCtank]

Hello!

I was diagnosed about a month ago and have been on Asacol. I am now at what my doctor says is the 'max' dosage at 1600 mg 3 times a day and am still having flares. I am very nervous about the prospect of steroids and was wondering if anyone had had luck with other non-immunosuppressive drugs. I am a third year veterinary medicine student so I am always stressed. I am also concerned how some drugs may decrease my immune system since I am around a lot of zoonotic diseases in the clinics. The last thing I need right now is to contract salmonellosis from a shedding horse. Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas.

 

[Goldfish]

Hi Mrs Crank. Sorry but I cant help you personally as I am new to this too but there are alot of people here on steroids and are doing great. Hang on in there and someone here will give you advice. Did you mention your worries to your doctor?
Best of luck

 

[veryfishdie]

Hi, i am currently taking steroids to treat my chron's, i was diagnosed with crohn's this year also. I only just found this forum and i am already finding it very useful with a lot of helpful people all experiencing the same sorts of things. I have taken steroids (prednislone) twice now to treat my crohn's and both times they have worked brilliantly to treat the pain however they seem to carry some quite strong emotional side effect which i have confirmed with my doctor, the first time i took them i felt brilliant and really energetic, however this time, they have made me feel very depressed, i do believe it depends a lot on what stage you are at with your crohn's within your head and the steroids just multiply the emotions you are feeling. the first time i took them i had been in constant pain for 6 months or so and i felt great because i was finally out of pain, however after my most recent flare up i was already quite fed up because i was beggining to come to terms with the fact that the pain was going to come back. My doctor also told me that steroids are not a long term solution due to the fact that they weaken your bones, however i am not yet able to take the non-immunosuppressive drugs because i havent had chicken pox before and cant stay well enough for long enough to get vaccinated. I'm sorry im not sure of the effect of steroids on your immune system as i have a very poor understanding because i am also new to this, but this forum is full of very helpful people.

 

[Splasher]

As far as i am aware and what my doc told me is that prednisilone actually can slightly increase your white blood cell count as mine was raised and they put it down to the steroids. I am now on my 2nd course of them and while they arent as effective this time the first they worked brilliantly and gave me such a boost. Asacol also didnt work for me at the max dose, there is a place on here dedicated to just treatments and has alot of useful information on prednisilone.