Newly Diagnosed and scared to take 6mp

I am 32 and I was just diagnosed with early stages of Crohn's on 9/2007.  My first symtom was a fistula in 4/2006 for which I had surgery and a c-ton installed. I had no symptons prior to that, nothing, no diarrhea, no pain, nothing.  After the surgey I asked the doc if the fistual could be from crohn's because I was curious, and he said he saw no inflamation to indicate such and said my fistula was just bad luck and sometimes they just happen.   Well, after a month with the c-ton, the fistula healed and i was good agian. 

Then 4/2007 I was given some antibiotics for tooth surgery and I immediately started with real bad diarrhea. I stoped the antibiotics and the diarrhea got a little better, but it didn't stop completely from that point on. Some days water, some days just soft, but my bowel movements were not normal.   The diarrhea continued and in 8/2007 I started to see signs of another fistual starting and I went to the surgeon and he did immediate surgery and installed c-ton which I still have today.  The fistula continued to grow after the surgery and they had to take me back again after 4 weeks and now I have a second c-ton.

 The strange thing is that after the surgery, the diarrhea completely stoped.  Now what does surgery have to do with stoping diarrhea I thought.  Well. during the surgery, I got flagel y cipro intervenusly,,why did this stop the diarrhea? Do I really have crohn's or could I have something else? I just had my crohn's doc do parasite studies on my stool samples just to be sure.

After this last surgery the doc ordered a colonoscopy and took a biospy and they did barium xrays and this is where they saw the early signs of crohn's.  Now they want to put me on 6mp saying this will heal the fistual.  From what I have been reading here, these drugs can cause a lot of side affects and this really scares me to death.  Because my crohn's is so mild, do I really need 6mp?  Does this really cure the fustula?  Are there other drugs less strong?  Has anyone here tried the diet approach to controlling crohn's like stated in the book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle"? 

Hi Alexandra I would like to say welcome to HW and hope you find it as informative and helpful as I do. I know having CD takes some getting used to and I found learning about it helped me. Some of the meds are scarry that's for sure but so is surgery. Without maintenance we would probably need more surgery. You have the fistulizing CD so it causes some extra problems that some don't have to cope with,I too have the fistulizing kind. Your Dr. feels that you need 6mp to maintain your CD not everyone has a lot of problems with there meds. A fistula is a complication of CD and most of us find them a little difficult to cope with at times. My concern here if it were me would be getting more and perhaps in different places. Hope you find this helpful and keep in touch. lol gail

I took 6mp for several months and it wasn't the drug for me. That's not to say that it won't work for you! Your doctor must feel that the benefits outweigh the risks. Talk with your doc and ask him what to look for. Also, make sure your blood work is monitored. I had a blood draw monthly. I know a common side effect is pancreatitis. If after you've discussed the pros and cons with the doc, you still feel like you don't want to give it a shot, let him know you'd like to be made aware of alternatives! It's difficult because each person's disease is different and our responses to medication vary. Good Luck!
Claudia