Finally some news

I know usually "no news is good news" but for the last couple months I've just wanted to see something to give me an idea of why I've been having all the symptoms of a flare... and now I have something!

Got my pill cam results yesterday: mild to moderate inflammation & ulceration seen in ileum and mild inflammation in the stomach. My gastro is putting me on a two-week course of Flagyl and I see her next week to evaluate.

Out of all the Crohn's meds I've taken, Flagyl is not one of them. Any advice/tips on what I could expect?

I'm also wondering if seeing my doc after being on it for a week is going to be useful. I've read in past threads that a lot of people tend to feel better shortly after they start taking it but symptoms come back after they stop. Also, is it correct to assume that if the source of my inflammation/ulceration is not bacterial in nature, the Flagyl should have no impact (other than some potentially "fun" side effects?).

My doc wants to avoid steroids if possible (and I'm not complaining), so I'm interested to see what she sees as the next steps if the Flagyl doesn't work. Then again, I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself too much. :)

I'm just be happy that at this point it looks like I get to avoid colonoscopy #3!

The Flagyl may have some anti-inflammatory properties in addition to its antibiotic effect, so it may help. I took Flagyl for c.diff. At the time I was struggling big time with nausea, so I don't know if my nausea was from the c.diff infection itself or the Flagyl, but I did end out needing anti-nausea meds. Flagyl also notoriously gives you a very bad taste in your mouth, and it lasted for me for several weeks even after I finished the medication. the good news is that it worked (had to take two rounds) and the infection cleared up. I hope it does the trick for you....certainly worth a try. I hate prednisone, so I'd try anything first!

Good point with upping the Pentasa. I was surprised when she initially prescribed just 2g/day, as the last time I was on it (for about 2 years from 2006-2008) I was on 4g/day from the start. I never had any side effects from Pentasa and honestly was never convinced it had any effect (positive or negative) on my Crohn's. This time the only thing I think it may be associated with is increased D.

As for the headaches, I've had them for about 15 years, so they're not related to the Pentasa. I'm a bit young for osteoporosis (32), although I do have inflammatory arthritis associated with the Crohn's. My gastro has mentioned Entocort. I hate pred too--I've already had to take it twice this year for poison ivy and even in short courses it's messed with my mental state so that I'm crying one minute and yelling the next. My neurologist gave me a medrol dose pack last week (I went in for a migraine and got a shot for it--she said the steroids were just to make sure to really knock it out) but I decided to not take it because of everything else going on.

So fingers crossed the Flagyl does something positive!