I was right about
my symptoms and a recto-vaginal fistula has now been found and diagnosed by MRI (good thing I pushed for a test--don't ever let your doc tell you that you are imagining things!). My GI told me that there is really only one option now and that is to move up to either Remicade or Imuran. I've only ever been on Pentasa so this is quite the change for me. I've been reading about
these drugs and I'm trying very hard not to freak out. My Crohns has always been pretty mild and it sounds a little extreme to now be considering these medications.
Ok, now the complicated part. I've been a carrier of the Hep B virus since I was a kid. No idea where I picked it up but I've been really lucky in that it's been completely in-active and I've not had any problems with it at all. Remicade, Imuran, Humira and any other biological treatment has been proven to activate the Hep B virus in carriers. So to fix my fistula/Crohns problem, I will be creating another one in my liver. My GI is going to be speaking to my Hepatologist to see what they can do but it doesn't look good. So what am I supposed to do? Do I fix one problem only to create a potentially worse one? Do I refuse treatment for the fistula to protect my liver? I'm so scared about all of this and don't know what to do.