Sorry in advance for the wall of text, and thanks for taking the time to read it. I used to post here a good bit last year, but since my surgery in July, 2016, I've been in total remission. I've been on 40mg of Humira every other week and 150mg of Imuran daily for maintenance.
Last Thursday I began having fairly urgent loose/soft BMs three times a day (two in the morning and one at night, like clockwork), but no blood or mucus. I've also had a bit of cramping and aching in my abdomen. I was hoping it was just a minor stomach bug and decided to give it a few days to work its way out.
Unfortunately, by Monday, I was still having symptoms, so I decided to give my GI's nurse a call. Being the incredible nurse she is, she spoke with him that morning, and he ordered some blood tests and a stool calprotectin test. They also scheduled me for an appt. that afternoon. All of the blood work came back good. My CRP was 0.8mg/L, which is well below the levels indicating inflammation. It was 4.2 mg/L before my surgery. My sed rate was tested at 2mm/hr, which is well within the normal 0-15mm/hr range. All of my CBC, hepatic function, and basic metabolic panels came back normal. So far, so good.
Today, I dropped off the sample for the stool calprotectin test, so it'll probably be a few days before I hear back about that. They also tested my stool for giardia and other parasites, which came back negative (I went backpacking last Saturday). Lastly, they also scheduled an MRE for this Thursday and put me on 9mg of Entocort for the time being. Although my current symptoms aren't bad, it's been a stark reminder of what I've been through, and I don't want to get there again any time soon.
I'm glad my GI is taking it seriously and doing everything to find out if it's actually a flare. If it is a flare, he did mention possibly increasing my Humira dosing to once every 10 days or every week, but he wants to do the Prometheus AnserADA test to check the Humira and antibody levels. As a lot of you know, the test is $2500, but supposedly they'll knock it down to $250 if your insurance won't cover it. I spoke with my insurance before (Plan Administrators/BCBS of SC) before, and they would likely cover the test, but it would be out of network and covered at 50% after my OON $600 deductible. It sounds like I'd be better off not being covered. I did see that LabCorp has a similar test, which would be covered, but it appears to not be quite as accurate.
I'm not really looking for any advice , but I wanted to just put my current situation and thoughts "on paper." I would appreciate any prayers that this is not my CD returning, and just some minor bug that wasn't worked its way out. I'll be pretty upset if I am, in fact, out of remission.
Last Thursday I began having fairly urgent loose/soft BMs three times a day (two in the morning and one at night, like clockwork), but no blood or mucus. I've also had a bit of cramping and aching in my abdomen. I was hoping it was just a minor stomach bug and decided to give it a few days to work its way out.
Unfortunately, by Monday, I was still having symptoms, so I decided to give my GI's nurse a call. Being the incredible nurse she is, she spoke with him that morning, and he ordered some blood tests and a stool calprotectin test. They also scheduled me for an appt. that afternoon. All of the blood work came back good. My CRP was 0.8mg/L, which is well below the levels indicating inflammation. It was 4.2 mg/L before my surgery. My sed rate was tested at 2mm/hr, which is well within the normal 0-15mm/hr range. All of my CBC, hepatic function, and basic metabolic panels came back normal. So far, so good.
Today, I dropped off the sample for the stool calprotectin test, so it'll probably be a few days before I hear back about that. They also tested my stool for giardia and other parasites, which came back negative (I went backpacking last Saturday). Lastly, they also scheduled an MRE for this Thursday and put me on 9mg of Entocort for the time being. Although my current symptoms aren't bad, it's been a stark reminder of what I've been through, and I don't want to get there again any time soon.
I'm glad my GI is taking it seriously and doing everything to find out if it's actually a flare. If it is a flare, he did mention possibly increasing my Humira dosing to once every 10 days or every week, but he wants to do the Prometheus AnserADA test to check the Humira and antibody levels. As a lot of you know, the test is $2500, but supposedly they'll knock it down to $250 if your insurance won't cover it. I spoke with my insurance before (Plan Administrators/BCBS of SC) before, and they would likely cover the test, but it would be out of network and covered at 50% after my OON $600 deductible. It sounds like I'd be better off not being covered. I did see that LabCorp has a similar test, which would be covered, but it appears to not be quite as accurate.
I'm not really looking for any advice , but I wanted to just put my current situation and thoughts "on paper." I would appreciate any prayers that this is not my CD returning, and just some minor bug that wasn't worked its way out. I'll be pretty upset if I am, in fact, out of remission.
