Saw the GI doc today...

[RedReiner]

saw the GI doc today...

sort of good news, sort of not. he was the only one that would see me with no insurance and I feel he genuinely wants to help me. so anyway, UTI came back sunday , got back on cipro for that, another month of metro. stay on the sulfasalazine as he suspects the pred for all the other side effects, so taper off the pred till gone. results of my colonoscopy and ct scan. he says 6 cm section of Ileum is strictured , says he could not get the scope past the beginning to see how bad it was as it was to inflamed. its only tender though and does not hurt me right now so he wants to stay on the sulfa and metro until I can quit smoking. then he would like to move to remicade or humira but says he can not until I stop smoking...he will help me with applying for free or low cost treatment. if after all that, it is still strictured he will recommmend surgery but for now as I am not in pain or flaring he wants to try and get it with meds.
I had to laugh as he was using the computer to write up my scripts, my gut was gurgling and rumbling and he stopped and laughed and said is that your gut? I said yeah, its my happy rumbling, I like to hear it cause it tells me things are going thru the tubes. he laughed and said it was a good sound.
Anyway, chuck the pred, stay on the others another month and then I go back for another check. I am good with that...hopefully I can quit smoking by then.

 

[Jennifer]

Smoking in general obviously isn't good but why is he forcing you to quit before treating you? That part doesn't make sense to me. We've had many threads on here about smoking and Crohn's and while we're all in agreement that smoking in general is harmful, no one to my knowledge has been refused treatment with any drug because they smoked.

Not saying you shouldn't quit, do whatever you want its your life, I just don't understand why you HAVE to for treatment. I used to smoke as well and quit again recently about a month ago. Good luck if that's what you want to do.

 

[RedReiner]

I want to quit anyway...cant afford it, live in washington state! pack of smokes is 9 bucks..... but will they put you on remicade or humira if you do smoke??? he says it wont work if you smoke. ??

 

[Jennifer]

I think its just an issue of COPD or other health issues that smoking can cause. If you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or other health issues, it says to let your doctor know before taking certain drugs like Remicade (and I'm sure humira is similar). So if you're still smoking then you're still putting yourself at risk of having other health problems which may interfere with treatment.

Even by googleing those drug names and entering the word smoking, you can see posts or blogs by other people saying that they do both. I know that there are smokers on this forum so maybe one of them will have more info than me. I never took either of those drugs before and never head anyone say that you couldn't smoke while taking them.

 

[Manimation]

9 bucks? Damn. Ya, time to kick it. It's easy to imagine all the chemicals in those things interfering with any medication. Glad yer getn help inspite of the insurance issue.

 

[Rebecca85]

I suppose if you are being seen with no insurance and getting free or low cost remi, the doc wants to make sure it has every chance of working, and you are doing everything in your power to help.

 

[Nica]

I am on humira and still smoke. Yes My GI comments on it whenever I see him generally a "you know thats not good for you" comment then we move on. Good Luck quitting! I need to do that... soon.. eh.

 

[Jennifer]

Keep in mind that you can quit smoking for now and get the treatment you need and start back up later on when the treatment is over. You don't have to start back up if you don't want to but having that mentality when I decide to quit really helps me.