Hi Y'all,
They said I should start here, so I will - although I have perused several times as a lurker first to see if I wanted to participate. I'm not a joiner of anything but this is different for me, so here goes.
I had a long bout (several months) of diarrhea mixed with blood and was feeling week. Because I had a hip replacement surgery last year, my enormous deductible was paid for so I thought, let's give it the works. Hey GI doc, give the upper and lower. He did, found ulcers in my upper intestine, and prescribed Asacol with a diagnosis of UC and possibly Crohn's. A biopsy was taken. This was Dec 23, 2010. Since it was the Xmas holiday, I did not receive the news until Jan 11, 2011 - two week sweating it out.
OK, it positive an I have Crohn's, but a mild case and there is "no reason to expect that it will get worse".
I talked with a friend with the disease for more than 15years, and he filled me up with very valuable information based on experience. But, I thought, since I had a mild case and he was so severe, that his experience and recommendations did not apply to me.
He told me that he never knew a patient that ever benefited from Asacol, that if i didn't have relief if 6-8 weeks I should contact my doctor for the next level.
For weeks later my immune system attacked me and tried to kill me. In retrospect, I think the mechanism was trying to save me, but by the time I reach th hospital I was on the floor from dehydration and shear exhaustion from my body expelling every every ounce - or milliliter if you prefer - moisture from my body. My BP was 70/some-very-low-number-I-can't-remember, and it was... very bad, to me, with a very high threshold for pain.
Two days in the hospital, mostly to get re-hydrated, Rx for the prednisone treatment, see your Gi docs, and thanks for staying a xyz...
They said I should start here, so I will - although I have perused several times as a lurker first to see if I wanted to participate. I'm not a joiner of anything but this is different for me, so here goes.
I had a long bout (several months) of diarrhea mixed with blood and was feeling week. Because I had a hip replacement surgery last year, my enormous deductible was paid for so I thought, let's give it the works. Hey GI doc, give the upper and lower. He did, found ulcers in my upper intestine, and prescribed Asacol with a diagnosis of UC and possibly Crohn's. A biopsy was taken. This was Dec 23, 2010. Since it was the Xmas holiday, I did not receive the news until Jan 11, 2011 - two week sweating it out.
OK, it positive an I have Crohn's, but a mild case and there is "no reason to expect that it will get worse".
I talked with a friend with the disease for more than 15years, and he filled me up with very valuable information based on experience. But, I thought, since I had a mild case and he was so severe, that his experience and recommendations did not apply to me.
He told me that he never knew a patient that ever benefited from Asacol, that if i didn't have relief if 6-8 weeks I should contact my doctor for the next level.
For weeks later my immune system attacked me and tried to kill me. In retrospect, I think the mechanism was trying to save me, but by the time I reach th hospital I was on the floor from dehydration and shear exhaustion from my body expelling every every ounce - or milliliter if you prefer - moisture from my body. My BP was 70/some-very-low-number-I-can't-remember, and it was... very bad, to me, with a very high threshold for pain.
Two days in the hospital, mostly to get re-hydrated, Rx for the prednisone treatment, see your Gi docs, and thanks for staying a xyz...
I just wanted to chime in and say there's plenty of us guys around here 
