Greetings everyone!
My story is pretty simple compared to most but with much commonality. I am 42 years old and started having problems
a year ago. At first just some blood with my normal stool, then more blood, then pretty much all blood. After a
couple of months I met with a GI who immediately called for a colonoscopy, my first. The diagnosis was severe
ulcerative colitis in my lower colon and rectum.
I started on Asacol right away and stayed on it for a month until my next GI visit. Asacol was doing nothing but
giving me acne so my doc prescribed Colazal. I was on Colazal for about 3 weeks when I got very sick; for almost a
week I couldn't eat or drink anything without it going right through me - lost 6 pounds in 36 hours. What a rotten
week. Contacted my doctor and they started me on a mess of tests, both blood and stool. Before the tests we back
my doctor was convinced that I had C.dif and started me on Flagyl. On day 9 of 10 I was told that the tests were
negative for C.dif. Back to the drawing board! In early December I stared on Prednisone and ramped pretty quickly
to 60mg per day. So, I rode the Prednisone wagon for a few months and then had a sigmoidoscopy - the diagnosis was
the same with slightly worsening condition. Continued on with Prednisone and started getting approved for Remicade.
Around the 1st of March I started on Remicade. Near the end of April I met with a new GI and had another
colonoscopy. The remicade wasn't doing any good and I got a new diagnosis, Crohn's. After much discussion about
what "might" work and what the reality was with taking other drugs like remicade, my doctor suggested Tysabri. That
was May 20th and I just had my first Tysabri infusion yesterday.
Honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to start the Tysabri it until I walked into the facility. Up until yesterday, I
had been drug free for over a month and not suffering too badly. I am taking fish oil caplets and drinking aloe
vera juice daily and my bleeding had mostly subsided. Unfortunately, I am still going 10 to 12 times a day and have
terrible joint pain - mostly knees and elbows. So, with that in mind I went on in and got hooked up to the liquid
gold and we'll see what happens now.
That's the short version and like I said, pretty simple. Oh by the way, I almost forgot to mention that my older
brother was diagnosed with Crohn's in 1988 - his disease location and symptoms are completely different than mine.
Fun stuff.
I hope I have some good things to share with everyone down the road!
Good luck to all!
My story is pretty simple compared to most but with much commonality. I am 42 years old and started having problems
a year ago. At first just some blood with my normal stool, then more blood, then pretty much all blood. After a
couple of months I met with a GI who immediately called for a colonoscopy, my first. The diagnosis was severe
ulcerative colitis in my lower colon and rectum.
I started on Asacol right away and stayed on it for a month until my next GI visit. Asacol was doing nothing but
giving me acne so my doc prescribed Colazal. I was on Colazal for about 3 weeks when I got very sick; for almost a
week I couldn't eat or drink anything without it going right through me - lost 6 pounds in 36 hours. What a rotten
week. Contacted my doctor and they started me on a mess of tests, both blood and stool. Before the tests we back
my doctor was convinced that I had C.dif and started me on Flagyl. On day 9 of 10 I was told that the tests were
negative for C.dif. Back to the drawing board! In early December I stared on Prednisone and ramped pretty quickly
to 60mg per day. So, I rode the Prednisone wagon for a few months and then had a sigmoidoscopy - the diagnosis was
the same with slightly worsening condition. Continued on with Prednisone and started getting approved for Remicade.
Around the 1st of March I started on Remicade. Near the end of April I met with a new GI and had another
colonoscopy. The remicade wasn't doing any good and I got a new diagnosis, Crohn's. After much discussion about
what "might" work and what the reality was with taking other drugs like remicade, my doctor suggested Tysabri. That
was May 20th and I just had my first Tysabri infusion yesterday.
Honestly, I wasn't sure I was going to start the Tysabri it until I walked into the facility. Up until yesterday, I
had been drug free for over a month and not suffering too badly. I am taking fish oil caplets and drinking aloe
vera juice daily and my bleeding had mostly subsided. Unfortunately, I am still going 10 to 12 times a day and have
terrible joint pain - mostly knees and elbows. So, with that in mind I went on in and got hooked up to the liquid
gold and we'll see what happens now.
That's the short version and like I said, pretty simple. Oh by the way, I almost forgot to mention that my older
brother was diagnosed with Crohn's in 1988 - his disease location and symptoms are completely different than mine.
Fun stuff.
I hope I have some good things to share with everyone down the road!
Good luck to all!
