Anyone please advice!

So I was diagnosed in January and put on prednisone taper. I was not put on a maintanence med. Then last week I tapered down to 10 mg and started having the D! I called my doc and he said oh that is normal just finish the pred and I will see you in a month. Well 2 days ago I had D like 5 times so I called him and he said oh I expect you have a stricture or fistual and we may need to remove the disesased part of your bowel. (Mine is in the bottom of the small intestine.) Ok then I said no I would like to maybe try something first because my 13 year old son has it and is on pentasa and 6mp. So my doc called in pentasa for a two week trial then wants me to call him. I am going to look for a new doc. I called another doc but he does not like to step on toes.... Shouldnt it be my choice of docs?... So anyways my gi has never taken my blood and seems wierd to diagnose a stricture or fistula over the phone. So my question is do I trust he knows what he is talking about or should I seek another gi? And the D started when my pred tapered does that mean i need those pentasa or is it a stricture or fistula? Surgery seems drastic as a first line of treatment.
Any advice would be appreciated :)

How can a doc diagnose a stricture over the phone? It sounds very weird for me. I used to have D whenever I was tapering pred. When this happened, I used to call my GI and he used to up the dose to 2.5 mg or if things did not get better to 5 mg and then I would go down again until I could get off it. Having D means that you are flaring. So, how could you continue the tapering and what was the use of pred from the first place. You also need a maintenance drug. I'm too on Pentasa. So, how many gms are you going to take?
IMO, you have to find another GI asap.
Hope you feel better soon:)

Go find another doc?

I had a colonoscopy done in 2009 so my GI feels there is no need. I did have a small bowel follow through in January that diagnosed me with Crohns. But never any blood work or anything like that. He sent me a letter stating to stay on the 10 mg of pred and call him in two weeks when I finish the pentasa. I just think it is so odd . I feel he is very imnpersonable and maybe needs to retire.  :)

4g of Pentasa a day is a good dose, despite what 73Monte has said. While there is little evidence that Pentasa is going to get anyone in remission, it seems to work well enough that many of us on this forum have used it successfully for years as a maintenance drug. Unfortunately, you are not quite in remission if you are still having diarrhea. How bad is it? many times a day? Are you losing weight and feeling fatigued as well?

I do agree that you need a different doctor. Do it now, while you have the two week prescription for Pentasa (although it might be hard to get an appointment with someone in that timeframe). Your GI should absolutely be taking blood - first to look at your inflammatory markers, 2nd to see how you're doing nutritionally. It's pretty common to have deficiencies if you have Crohn's - our intestines don't always absorb nutrients like normal folks' do. So you should be tested for iron, b-12, vitamin D at a minimum. And 3rd, blood work should be done periodically to make sure the meds aren't causing any unwanted side effects, like hurting your liver function or kidney function.

Get on the phone Monday morning and start looking for another GI. One who sees a lot of IBD patients. I'd start by asking your PCP or your friends.

Not sure about remission, and I do not use it for maintainace as the cost is too high, but it seriously helps decrease the severity of my symptoms.
Unfortunately, the drug that works best is Pred, which can be a devil to get off of. Rebound flares are very common when getting to a low dosage (for me 5mg & then 2.5mg doses).

Sincerely,
Matthew

lol...ufnurse, you are just like me. You felt bad for years. SCD changed your life, now you want everyone to give it a try. Cause you want good things for everyone here. Just like me. I ssy, good for you and good for this forum
Dave