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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 7/20/2009 5:36 PM (GMT 0)
So I went to my doctor today, and I'm feeling pretty down. Turns out the pain I have been having last week seems to be a combination of both a stomach ulcer and my Crohn's getting worse. I was only diagnosed in February, have been on Entocort since then, but a couple of weeks ago, I started to get worse again. Now I'm on Prevacid and I'm starting Prednisone for the first time tomorrow, which terrifies me. I am just waiting for a call back about my blood tests, my doctor wanted to check my CRP levels to confirm first. When I first got diagnosed, I was at 105, then I went down to 25 on Entocort, and she said that if it's over 75 to start taking the Pred. On top of that, she wants me to go to an IBD specialist (she specializes more in stomach problems, not so much in IBD, but I love her), so I'm a bit nervous about switching doctors.

Anyway, I just have a few questions for you guys, since most of you have a lot more experience with this disease than I do.

First off, how bad exactly is a 105 CRP level? I'm curious to see what it's at now, but it sounds high to me, so that scared me a bit (I never heard the numbers until today).

Second, with pred, if you are going to have the weight gain/moonface, how quickly does it usually happen? I'm going on it for 2 months, so I was just wondering if there was a certain amount of time between when you start and when that type of thing begins to show if it's going to. I'm a bit worried because I just started dating again after a bad breakup, and I'm not feeling so great about having this type of thing happen at the same time. For whatever reason, the moonface/weight gain actually scare me more than the other potential risks, which probably makes me kind of weird. Right now I basically feel like avoiding everyone until I see how the drug affects me LOL.
Posted 7/20/2009 6:27 PM (GMT 0)
CRP over 100 means yes yuo definitely have active inflammation. 105 is not sky high, but surely within the positive range. As for roid affects, I think it depends on dosage, length of time on pred and how each person metabolizes the drug. Generally the more obvious physical signs like moon face take a while to develop in most folks. Hopefully you can do a short course of pred without serious physical impact and get on a stronger maintenance drug with the new GI and avoud all that hassle. Also, the meds for your ulcer may bring the CRP down as well, since you are probably showing some CRP effects from that alone.

Posted 7/20/2009 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
It agree it all depends on the dosage. When I am only on for 2 months I don't get the moonface. My face gets a little fuller but not even noticiable to anyone else. I actually look healthier. The weight gain is the most difficult for me, but I did really well this last time. I only gained about 4 lbs. If you keep flavorful healthy food around it makes it a lot easier. The most important thing is to get healthy. The moonface and weight will all go away over time so try not to worry.
Elizabeth
Posted 7/21/2009 12:07 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks both of you. I'm going to be starting 40 mg pred tomorrow depending on how my test results come back, so I just really hope that I get lucky and don't get the whole moonface thing. I don't gain weight easily anyway, so hopefully that'll stick. I guess the last thing you need when you're sick is to have a bad body image on top of it. I can afford to gain a few lbs without getting "fat" (I only weigh 105 right now, I'm 5'3), but I don't want anything drastic because I'm really happy with the size I am right now.

Also, Mike - the CRP of 105 was from when I was diagnosed, so February. I'm not sure what it'll be right now, the pain is worse this time around but I don't have as bad of symptoms, so I guess we'll wait and see.

It's definitely a bit upsetting to get switched to a new doctor though, especially considering how much I like this one.
Posted 7/21/2009 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
Another update - my doctor called me this morning, my CRP is where it was in March so it ISN'T my Crohn's! YAY!! No pred for me! haha. I'm really happy about that.

The Prevacid was awful though, around 8:00 last night I started getting these awful pains in my legs. It kept me up all night, finally went away around 8:00 this morning. Super annoying, so definitely not something I can deal with hah. Anyway, so my doctor called in a prescription for Pantoloc so I'll start that instead.

So anyway, I'm very relieved!
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