Hubby sick

hubby sick

Hi,
I am new here. My husband has jiust been diagnosed with IBD. The doc thinks its crohns but it could also be UC and she says she can't be sure. He has inflamation through his entire small and large intestine. He has no fistulas and no other digestive track issues. She wants to start him on Prednisone tomorrow. He is feeling really confused. Any Advice?
FF

Hello Funnyface
Welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear about your husbands illness, that must be a big worry for you.
The prednisone will reduce the inflammation and he will start to feel better., in the short term.
In the longer term the doctors will likely give him other drugs to help the situation.
Differentiation of the two conditions you mention is usually made by tissue biopsy at the time of colonoscopy. The tissue is processed and examined by a pathologist (an MD) skilled in reading these biopsies.
With Crohn's the disease causes changes in the tissue and is found in the crypt cells of the intestines. Ulcerative colitis does not get into the crypts and a differentiation can be made in this way by the pathologist examining the tissue under the microscope.
Either way, the situation is pretty miserable for the patient until appropriate treatnment
is instigated.
Is the doctor a gastroenterologist? Usually a GI specialist is the one who diagnoses and treats the patient.
It is a shock to be told someone has Crohn's or Ulcerative colitis and it takes a bit of getting used to it.
Your husband will no doubt improve once on the appropriate drug regime.
There are a number of helpful sites on the forum and lots of information if you take a look around,.
There will also be other members along to help you.
Hope you both feel better soon.
Hugs and best wishes
Trysha

PS, If you click on the underlined words in my response it will bring you to a forum
wiki page that will explain the substance and/or the procedure mentioned
Cheers
Trysha

Thanks Trysha,
Yes we have a gastroenterologist she is a very good doc. She said that the lab had called it IBD without being specific to either UC or CD. I am wondering if that is common. I thought they would be able to tell for sure by the method you mentioned . I am assuming from reading other threads that the regular course of action is to start prednisone right away for both conditions. Is UC curable or does it re-occur as well?

Hi Funnyface and welcome to the forum! At this time there is no 'cure' for UC or crohns disease. With the right treatment regime people can go into long periods of remission and not have problems, there is always the chance of a recurrance (flare up) of the disease though.

The pred is good at sorting inflammation but one thing I was wondering is if you have also been given a calcium supplement to take with this? If not pls get onto you GP or the GI doc to see of they can get this sorted as well, it is important when taking this particlar steroids that you have something to protect the bones.

Lastly I would just say to have a good nosy around the forum and check out the treatment and diet forums for info on what can help with symptoms (diet) and what can be used to get the disease hopefully under control so you know what you want to discuss with the GI at the next appt.

It's great you have joined and us and I hope your hubby can feel better soon.

xxx