Heeeey my fellow chronies, i'm Julian from Australia, Melbourne and 21 years old. This is my first time posting here, and i'm desperately in need of some advice with how i should approach this. Before i started remicade i was taking azathiorpine and allopurinol. My gastro doctor told me i have a severe case of crohns disease based off my inflammation via colonoscopy , and my crp levels being around the 80 mark, and Faecal calprotectin being just a little over 1000. My results did not change with this treatment so my doctor was considering remicade because i was battling severe malnutrition, and all the other nasty common symptoms of crohns disease. I was then put on remicade because of how desperate i was, and oh has it been a "miracle drug" for me. It has been 17 months and im almost in complete remission with scopes, crp and faecal calprotectin levels all back to normal and clear. I have experienced little side effects with remicade, so i consider myself lucky. For the first couple of months my doctor recommend i take remicade with a 6mp, because it prevents your body from building antibodies sooner, but this combo effected my liver levels, and my doctor wanted to have a mri of my liver, and found a mild case of PSC (Primary sclerosing cholangitis) a form of liver disease. My doctor took my off 6mp, and my liver levels went straight back to normal, so i stayed on remicade alone. It has truly worked wonders for me and i cant be more thankful for it so far. But i cant help but think about the scary side effects of taking this medication long term. Which bring me back to the title of this thread, im almost in complete remission with my scopes results being clear as normal and with no symptoms. I was hoping i could talk to my doctor about lowering the dose just to minimize risks of long term use of remicade or another alternative someone can give me here :ysmile:. anyone that can reply to this, it would be greatly appreciated, god bless everyone battling this terrible disease.:heart::heart::heart::heart:
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