Tagging so parents group
@crohnsinct
@Tesscorm
Group here
If you are a parent or guardian of a child who is suffering with any kind of IBD condition, please feel free to post in here.
crohnsforum.com
Crohns is autoimmune meaning your child immune system is on hyper alert - inflammation throughout his system -mainly the gut but crohns patients get extra intestinal manifestations as well which may be the skin , joints , vascular System , heart , lungs etc...
Ds was dx at age 7
He is now 16
He started biologics at age 8 after trying Pentasa (5asa ) 6-mp (no longer recommenced causes lymphoma at higher rates ) and methotrexate
All of these suppress the immune system
They are immunosuppressants
Biologics also suppress the immune system
that said that is different than immunocompromised
Immunocompromised is folks who have had organ transplants -they may take meds but at a very very High level
We were told for ds that it is far better to have inflammation under control in his body if he were to get covid then to be severely inflamed from uncontrolled crohns/arthritis.
they know covid is bad when it creates systemic inflammation.
biologics such as humira do not make you more likely to get sick - when the kiddo gets any infection the biologics or immunosuppressants is stopped until the infection is cleared
Ds was on remicade at age 8. Humira from 9-14 and now Stelara from age 14-16.
No extra infections he is actually my healthy kiddo
Blood work such as wbc etc is monitored closely
His is right in the middle of normal
He is also on immunosuppressants-methotrexate and has been for years
covid is scary for anyone right now
Kids fair better
Ds specialists are more concerned over his asthma than being on biologics since that to them is a greater risk .
It’s hard
Steroids like pred are much higher risk than biolgics during covid which is why they want the inflammation down under control so extra doses of steroids are not needed
Hugs