Hello everyone! I should first apologize for lurking here so long without contributing to the community. I have to say these forums have been useful to me the past several months. I also want to mention that I understand ultimately my Doctors know best... however I need some advice.
March/April of this year I was diagnosed with Chron's. After experiencing the symptoms and side effects for about 9 years it was somewhat bitter sweet to finally know why. Since then I have been experimenting with my doctors to try and find the best medication combination to treat my problems and I feel that its less that ideal at this point. I am looking to hear from some of you with Chron's what else I could try and suggest with my doctors to reduce the number of meds.
* Humira
I was very nervous about this drug in the beginning, but Saturday will be my 9th injection and I think I am finally seeing improvements. It seemed to take quite a while for it to start showing signs of improvement but pain and other issue wise things are better than prior.
-The next two are a combination that one of my doctors gave me to help fight two big issues Chron's has created for me. Fatigue and a lack of concentration. These two I would really like to try and combine into one pill because it probably would allow me to get rid of 3...
* Viibryd 40mg
This is some new hybrid anti depressant SSRI medication. I might have minor depression issues but that was never the intent with this medication. Supposedly this is supposed to help with concentration, and I would say it has helped some. The problem I had was I would get this clouded feeling in my head where I didn't want to think anymore, just stare off at nothing. It would happen several times a day and made it difficult to concentrate on large complex projects at work. This now isn't an issue but my daily concentration level hasn't really returned to the pre-chrons state either.
* Nuvigil 150mg
This is pretty straight forward. Its a wakefulness promoter commonly used in people with narcolepsy. It works, some bad days I have had to take two so that I didnt feel exhausted but it does its job.
Like I said I would really like to find something to combine the anti-fatigue and concentration piece into one medication. Maybe I am asking too much? However if I can I can drop:
* Wellbutrin 100mg SR
My doctor added this somewhat recently due to some sexual side effects of the Viibryd. Which is another reason I wouldn't mind seeing it go. More than likely this could as well.
* Lialda 1.2 GM 2xdaily
This is where's it all began. I didn't see any drastic improvements with it (hence Humira) but it did help a little. My GP wants me to keep with it since it can assist in getting into and prolonging remission.
* Ambien 10mg
They gave me this since sometimes the effects of the nuvigil are so good that I am not tired and can't fall asleep until 3-4AM. Probably could also be ditched if the nuvigil went, I suppose depending on the alternative.
The biggest reason I came here for advice is because we're all going through the same thing. Sure I can ask my Doctor but they don't have the disease and probably only have a small number or no other patients with Chron's (Except my GI). I would rather have an informed list of potential alternatives to bring up and discuss with my doctor rather than her making educated guesses. Any advice is much appreciated!
March/April of this year I was diagnosed with Chron's. After experiencing the symptoms and side effects for about 9 years it was somewhat bitter sweet to finally know why. Since then I have been experimenting with my doctors to try and find the best medication combination to treat my problems and I feel that its less that ideal at this point. I am looking to hear from some of you with Chron's what else I could try and suggest with my doctors to reduce the number of meds.
* Humira
I was very nervous about this drug in the beginning, but Saturday will be my 9th injection and I think I am finally seeing improvements. It seemed to take quite a while for it to start showing signs of improvement but pain and other issue wise things are better than prior.
-The next two are a combination that one of my doctors gave me to help fight two big issues Chron's has created for me. Fatigue and a lack of concentration. These two I would really like to try and combine into one pill because it probably would allow me to get rid of 3...
* Viibryd 40mg
This is some new hybrid anti depressant SSRI medication. I might have minor depression issues but that was never the intent with this medication. Supposedly this is supposed to help with concentration, and I would say it has helped some. The problem I had was I would get this clouded feeling in my head where I didn't want to think anymore, just stare off at nothing. It would happen several times a day and made it difficult to concentrate on large complex projects at work. This now isn't an issue but my daily concentration level hasn't really returned to the pre-chrons state either.
* Nuvigil 150mg
This is pretty straight forward. Its a wakefulness promoter commonly used in people with narcolepsy. It works, some bad days I have had to take two so that I didnt feel exhausted but it does its job.
Like I said I would really like to find something to combine the anti-fatigue and concentration piece into one medication. Maybe I am asking too much? However if I can I can drop:
* Wellbutrin 100mg SR
My doctor added this somewhat recently due to some sexual side effects of the Viibryd. Which is another reason I wouldn't mind seeing it go. More than likely this could as well.
* Lialda 1.2 GM 2xdaily
This is where's it all began. I didn't see any drastic improvements with it (hence Humira) but it did help a little. My GP wants me to keep with it since it can assist in getting into and prolonging remission.
* Ambien 10mg
They gave me this since sometimes the effects of the nuvigil are so good that I am not tired and can't fall asleep until 3-4AM. Probably could also be ditched if the nuvigil went, I suppose depending on the alternative.
The biggest reason I came here for advice is because we're all going through the same thing. Sure I can ask my Doctor but they don't have the disease and probably only have a small number or no other patients with Chron's (Except my GI). I would rather have an informed list of potential alternatives to bring up and discuss with my doctor rather than her making educated guesses. Any advice is much appreciated!
