Remicade vs, 6-mp

Hello, I am new to this forum. In October 2010, I was diagnosed with lymphocytic colitis after many tests and doctors. My GI said that it usually goes away on its own, but he has never seen someone as young as me (17) with this disease. He put me on Entocort and that did nothing. He put me on 60 mg Prednisone, and that did nothing except make me gain some weight and gave me GERDs as well. He tried Bentyl and Lomotil and Dicyclomine as well. After taking 8 Pentasa's a day without any improvemnt, my GI said he could no longer do anything else for me. I had colonoscopy's, upper endoscopy's, CAT scans, blood tests, and stool tests. They all say nothing is wrong. I was referred to a pediatric GI by a friend with celiac, and he is also confused. He has tried a few medication's such as Creon and Cloestrymine, which have also done nothing. He now said that it seems that my LC is drug resistant. He gave me the option of trying Remicade or 6-mp. I've done some research about both and have read some very scary things. Are there any suggestions anyone has, or any success stories to quell my fears?

Thanks for listening!

I opted for 6mp for the reasons blksteeda mentioned. I wanted a pill and I didn't want to be tied to infusions, what if I end up without insurance and can't afford the infusion? The pills really aren't too expensive and there is a generic available called mercaptopurine. The problem with all medications, as you've probably realized, is that they don't work for everyone. I think Remicade may have a higher success rate than 6mp but in my opinion, it seems like 6mp, if it works for you, is a more longterm solution. Remicade hasn't been around that long, it is hard to tell how long it will be effective for people but I've seen a lot of people on this board build up antibodies to the treatment quickly and then it stops working. Of course, it may be skewed, people tend to come here when they are having problems.

Welcome to HW :)

Hi Bookworm,

I also have tried everything and nothing works except prednisone. I cannot take 6mp as it gave me pancreatitis after 1 week of taking it. Like other people have mentioned, everyone reacts differently to medications, and you will never know if it will work for you unless you try it. I am currently working with my GI in getting authorization to start the Remicade. I hope for me that this works because if the Remicade does not work then the next step for me would be surgery.

I hope that what ever route you choose it works for you.