New meds recommended by doctor since colonoscopy results

Uceris is not a long term med, but 6mp is. From what I understand 6mp takes a while to reach a therapeutic level so perhaps the Uceris + 6mp is the way to go.

Uceris is usually only prescribed for two months and then stopped. Assuming it works perfectly and puts you into remission then once you stop it there is nothing left to keep you in remission and then it is only a matter of time before you are back to square one all over again. On the other hand, it is impossible for the doctor to tell if 6MP will work for you or not based on the pathology report. Even though it could be your best option right now, I don't know where he came up with that. Try not to box yourself in by being given only two choices by the doctor when there may be more. What meds have you been on?

Gary, I have been on Canasa, Rowasa, Asacol 800 hd and Colazal. It has been just about 3 years and I have not gotten better and the colonoscopy was a bit worst. Not sure what my choices are otherwise since he gave me my choices in the office today. I still only go once or twice a day and don't have blood but it seemed to spread and there are small ulcers forming.

Thanks

seems like you have quite a few options - maybe too many, huh ;-)

Kaz, The immflamation goes up to 30cm and is patchy but he didn't call it crohns this time and stated it is hard to say. But there was some small ulcerations this time with mild immflamation according to the pathology report. The rest of the colon is normal. My understanding of Uceris is it treats entire colon. Do I really need that?

Soy what other options do I have?

Post Edited (twiggs) : 11/26/2014 9:47:05 AM (GMT-7)

ks, I am thinking the same with the steroids and will avoid them at all costs. I just don't know of my other choices at this time or do I do what he recommends which is 6mp alone and Rowasa for a while until it kicks in.

I vote for doing both Uceris and 6MP as it can take two months for the 6MP to kick in and they usually only prescribe Uceris for two months only. This means that the Uceris can hopefully help you right now and then when you are off it in two months, hopefully the 6MP will keep you in remission.

twiggs said...
Kaz, The immflamation goes up to 30cm and is patchy but he didn't call it crohns this time and stated it is hard to say. But there was some small ulcerations this time with mild immflamation according to the pathology report. The rest of the colon is normal. My understanding of Uceris is it treats entire colon. Do I really need that?

Soy what other options do I have?

It's patchy which is indicative to Crohn's, because it's affecting your colon but it's still crohn's colitis (CD affecting your colon) you can get polyps/ulcerations with CD as well. CD doesn't turn into UC or visa-versa. I don't get why so many docs have trouble giving a proper DX when there are obvious patterns that point to one or the other. They just happen to use the same meds used to treat ulcerative colitis so they can treat you with meds that will target the colon inflammation....I'm either allergic or non-responsive to those meds and prednisone stopped working for me decades ago the more I went on it the less effective it became...

It wasn't until I ended up developing an RV fistula that forced me on to biologics, my GI said pick either Remi or Humira, I chose Humira and it healed my colon inflammation as well as my RV fistula (from what we can tell so far, going back for another MRI to check it in a few months)

Now if only I could get a handle on my stupid irritable bowel syndrome issues.

Twiggs,

You might want to take your colonoscopy results and get a second opinion from a GI that specializes in IBDs. The GI might be able to answer a lot of your questions and maybe give you a clear dx. It's always nice to have a second opinion and maybe it can help with your decision on your chose of medication.

I didn't know if Twiggs's first colonoscopy was before treatment started or not. I was just throwing that out there.

Diva2014 said...
Important difference between Caron's and u.c. Is that in u.c the inflammation is continuous throughout the colon but is only mucosa deep. Whereas in crown,s inflamed parts are separated by normal mucosa (patches). Also, crohns involves mucosa as well as sub mucosa. Another big difference is that small intestine or ileum is also affected in crohn,s. In u.c. ,rectum is involved whereas in crohn,s rectum is not involved. That's why you see fresh blood in stools in u.c but you don,t see fresh blood in crohn,s. As for, Ulceris. It is fundamentally a. Steroid which only releases in colon and thus has less side effects. Ulceris is not used more than 8 weeks and is not a maintenance medicine.

Diva2014, there are a few misleading/incorrect descriptions in your reply regarding some of the differences between Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colits...

Crohn's can affect any part of the GI tract from mouth to anus, therefore the rectum can very well be involved (I have scaring in mine, I have Crohn's) and you certainly can see "fresh blood" in crohn's just as you can in UC when Crohn's is affecting the colon (crohn's colitis) and/or affecting the rectum as well. UC is limited to the colon/rectum...
Crohn's can also affect more than one part of the GI tract at the same time, making it harder to treat.
Crohn's can go deeper into the intestinal lining (which can also make it harder to treat) where as UC stays on the surface only, but with Crohn's it doesn't necessarily always go deeper. Crohn's is patchy inflammation, with UC the entire area involved will be inflamed with no patches of healthy tissue.
There are 5 subtypes of Crohn's disease because Crohn's can affect any part of the GI tract from mouth to anus (and can affect more than one area at the same time). Crohn's doesn't always affect the small intestine, which is why there are 5 subtypes of Crohn's disease, to help break down the most common areas in the GI tract that Crohn's typically can affect.
Many of us that suffer with crohn's colitis don't always have rectal involvement but when Crohn's is affecting the colon the risk of rectal involvement can increase the risk of Crohn's affecting the rectum.
Crohn's typically starts in the small intestine but it's not written in stone, my Crohn's started with perianal crohn's skin tags on the anus well before it ever started to affect me intestinally.

Hi there. I have to put in my two cents and maybe it will help. First of all. I HATE steroids ESP pred!!! I took it once for five days and stopped cold. You can do that at that point but must taper if you stay on longer. Anyway I hated it. dr won't go there again. But, this last flare I agreed to Uceris. My dr gave me 9 pills and I took them and I was shocked and very pleased. No side affects what so ever. After the samples ran out I just stared businide on thanksgiving and today first fully formed BM. No blood and it seems like flare is calming. Knock wood. My next step is 6mp as well. I think you should try uceris. It works for some but not all, just like all meds. These are kinder, gentler steroids imho. Good luck!!!