New treatments for Colitis

Hello Alternatives!
When did you get the stem cell treatment? Are you still in remission after it? I am participating in a study an am getting a stem cell infusion this Friday. Do you think it will help me get out from steroid dependence and take my colitis into remission?

I thought (was hoping actually) that stem cell treatment would actually be a cure for us, not just a remission...so I take it that this stem cell procedure would have to be done repeatedly?

What all does it entail?

Where do you live? I've heard about stem cell therapy being used for another disease (just can't think of which one off the top of my head right now) in Canada, where I live....I'd be racing to see my GI if this therapy was available here.

But what all does this entail though, I'm curious of the procedure... afew years back when stem cell therapy was being discussed, it was mentioned that they have to wipe out your entire immune system (very risky as it would leave you quite vulnerable to death if they were not careful with what they were doing) and then proceed with a painful stem cell treatment.

Sounds really promising. But it will only be an actual cure if works on everyone. I would be interested to see how this plays out. With UC being so strong in my family, I worry for my kids that someday they may be diagnosed with UC. Would be nice if there is a real and safe cure in the future. Still, having gone thru surgery for me is a million times better than living in the UC hell I was in.

I'm Hungarian, both my parents were born there, but I was born in Canada...I figured if I was cured from this horrible disease I could finally go to visit Hungary because I sure couldn't go there with being sick like I am.

I hope this procedure comes to north america very soon, do you happen to know how long has it been available in Hungary for?

Köszönjük, hogy megosztotta velünk ezt az információt, akkor tartsa meg nekünk hogyan működnek a dolgok a postára ment el a kezelést.

Really?Then why are you using google translate?:)
But trust me, you dont wanna live here:)

I think the therapy has been available for 2 months maybe..

I agree, it's immensley frustrating to read about this being fairly available in Mexico, Eastern Europe, Israel, etc, but not even hearing a peep about it in America. I've watched several Youtube videos from World Stem Cells (or something close to that) of CD'ers being treated at their facility in Mexico. There is another facility in Mexico called Curismo that a Californian had great success with right before they were going to succumb to a colectomy.

I would gladly fly to any of these places and go through the treatment if I knew it had a moderatley high success rate, especially considering not only isn't it available here, it doesn't even seem to be on track to be available here at any point in the future. WTH?

Hey Ima.

Prochymal had a badly designed study and basically had to kick everybody out and restart the trial. That put them behind a LONG time. I think I read somehwere that the solution the placebo was in was eliciting a positive response (wonder if they investigated that furthur.) or something to that effect.

It was approved for Graft vs. Host disease very recently in Canada though, so Crohn's would be next.

Sorry i didnt mean to offend you its just easier to understand english than google translated text:) its so bad...

Its hard to explain why its not good living here.. you only see decline in everything here. But thats really OT

Meanwhile, I've found a thread mentioning it, so i guess its okay: the stem cell therapys name is multistem and is made by Pfizer if you want to look for trials in your area.

I think this is all on track in the US. There is one line of trials using bone marrow cells (hematopoietic stem cells) that focus on the immune system. There is another line of trials using the sub-dermal stem cells (mesenchymal stem cells) also sometimes called adipose stem cells. I know MUTISTEM is in trials. It is a bone marrow stem cell that does not have to have your immune system nuked first. I think someone posted above that some mesenchymal stem cell trial had to start over, but it is ongoing too.

I understand the key to which kind of stem cell therapy might lead to a cure will be whether the underlying problem is in the stem cell of the mucosal lining, or in the stem cells that renew the immune system.

There seem to be a bunch of clinics in Ukraine that use fetal stem cells, but I think the trials in the US are using adult stem cells.

I see a few clinics in the US that say they are offering stem cell therapies, but I am unclear about the cost or how experienced they are with UC. For example, http://www.stemcellmd.org/treatments/stem-cell-treatments/

I really think that possibly within 2-3 years there will be something safe and affordable.

pb4 said...
Thanks for the link Sibby...I have crohn's colitis, so I was a little sad to read this; Exclusion Criteria:
•Subjects with a diagnosis of indeterminate colitis, or clinical findings suggestive of Crohn's disease.

I hope they look into this for crohn's disease as well, it would be so nice to have an actual cure for all IBD.

I was disappointed that they are only looking for active IBD patients. I may be in remission but I'm trying to find a safer medication to keep me here.