Start 6MP?

Hey all.....
Sorry I haven't been around pestering ya'll lately. Work, family, and all that other RL fun stuff always has a way of interfering :-(. But, I always know where to come to get some advice from others who may have been in similar spots..... sooo,

After being diagnosed w/CD, I finished my first round of Prednisone. Started at 40mg x1 week, 30 mg x1 week, 20 mg x2 weeks, 10 mg x2 weeks. (Still on my Pentasa 4000mg per day as well since the beginning). Well, didn't really notice anything, except a couple of days into the 40mg, my bleeding seemed to almost stop. So, yaaa on that front!!!. Other than that, still had the big D several times a day, and oddly enough, bloating/gas. So, hmmmm.

I met w/her Friday and she actually thinks I have IBS 'and' CD. Nice, huh? lol. Soooooo, for now she increased my Prednisone dose for now, and did labs. I'm now doing 60mg x1 week, 50mg x1 week, 40mg x2 weeks. (I will be seeing her while still on the 40 range in mid Jan). She said we may want to consider moving me to 6mp, and we'll discuss it in Jan when I go back.

I got the results of my labs yesterday, and my C-Reactive proteins are in normal range. So, perhaps the 40mg actually worked, and I am jsut dealing w/a 1-2 combo punch from the IBS? lol. But, since upping to the 60, within 2 days my BM's have gained consistensy (sp?), and are less frequent, so I really just dunno what to think at this point. I do know I 'feel' better the last 5 days (well, 3 almost good days) since I started 60mg than beforehand....

Sound familiar to anyone? lol. I guess I just dunno if she gives me the option of going to 6MP if I should avoid it, or jump on the wagon (assuming she still wants to, since my C-reactive levels appear to be in check now. Not sure if there is even a need?).

Sigh....I hate this thing.

Rant/Vent over.

Hey rbp3072 (Man, does anyone consider what names like that do to someone with a spotty memory from all those IBD drugs, and AADD too?) Well, it does sound familiar. My 1st round of pred, docs kept the dosage too low. I saw some improvement, but not much. Once they upped the dosage, I got real better real quick. I know the docs are afraid of pred, of giving too much, but it takes what it takes in order to do the trick. think if you are seeing those improvements, the next hard part is to taper off AND keep your fingers crossed that your illness won't rebound when the pred is all gone. However, a friendly word of caution... don't be tooo surprised if that is exactly what happens. You may be lucky, and things do settle down. But, I think the reason your doc is talking about 6MP is that she is expecting a rebound - whether within weeks of you coming off the pred, or someday, way down the road. The 'key' thing is just what you said.. if the levels are OK, there is no need to jump on the wagon. I haven't gone 6MP route myself... plenty of others on here have. As for the combo of IBD and IBS, the one thing you didnt' mention is what type of diet your are following

some docs (pardon the phrase) poo poo the whole idea of diet and IBD, but all of us on here have learned the hard way of 'trigger' foods. Figure if the existence of 'trigger' foods is accepted, then what we eat, and when, must play a role. either do a little online research, buy/borrow a good IBD diet book, or consult with a good nutritionist who specializes in IBD patients. It just seems right that, if healthy people need to watch what they eat, us folks with IBD need to be as vigilant, if not more so. It's just common sense

Well, I've been lucky enough to not have to go the prednisone route but I've been on the 6mp for about 8 months now with no problems. It has really worked wonders for me. I think the 6mp has much fewer nasty side effects than pred and is safer long term. Also, I think it would be a good idea to start on the 6mp before you go completly off of the pred because 6mp can take about 2 months to become fully effective in your system. I, personally, have had no side effects on the 6mp but I've heard of some people experiencing tiredness. The one thing that is a pain is that you will have to get blood work done fairly frequently at first to monitor your liver and make sure everything is okay. Oh, and you won't be able to drink alcohol either....but it is a small price to pay for good health. Good luck!

I really don't think an occasional beer would hurt with 6mp

Thanks for the replies all. I go back on Jan 4th, so we'll see wht happens. As far as diet, I do the general "try and be healthy and sensible" thing. I do my probiotics, (just the yougurt and cheese type, no pill supplements). I've done the food journal thing soooo many times, but have never really been able to make any connections with when/how often anything changes unfortunately. I'm just lucky like that...lol.

welll, there's healthy food for healthy people, then there's healthy food for IBD. I can't go fibre (and yet, food makers are putting it in everything) lots of folks on here can't go dairy... I can, but I can't stand lactose (milk sugar). again, a lot of makers of everything under the sun use lactose as a cheap, 'safe' filler. I found it in major brand name vitamins, it's even found in prescription drugs. I should be consuming a lot of omega 3 rich foods like salmon... but I'm on a very low fat diet, because they think my disease has impacted my pancreas... and fat can be nasty for crohns otherwise too. The food journal is a great idea, keep it up. you just may find that if you look deeper into the ingredients of what you eat, there are triggers that are initially hidden from view. Took me a while to find the hidden milk sugars that I'm sensitive to... damn stuff is even used to make margarine.