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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/20/2015 2:44 AM (GMT 0)
I apologize for the long rant, but I am in a pickle.

26 year old male, Diagnosed with UC 2 years ago due to blood in stool and bowel movement urgency, never hospitalized and never anything over a 4 on a pain scale of 1-10. I have tried prednisone twice and only worked the first time. Asocol had zero effect on me so I stopped taking it. I have also tried other drugs that I can't remember the name of! 2 weeks ago I started the gluten free thing... It has dropped my bleeding down about 80% but still have around 7 BM a day. I am the first one to poke fun at the gluten free people, but i may have just converted to the dark side.

My issue is that my doc wants to start humira, to me it sounds scary and intense after reading about the struggles that some people have gone thru on this site (surgery, hospitals, and major pain). Do I continue the gluten free and healthy eating habits and see what happens, or start the Humira?

Currently I take zero medication, only probiotics, iron and omega 3's

Anything will help thanks!
Posted 6/20/2015 2:58 AM (GMT 0)
Have you tried rectal meds? Suppositories or enemas seem like they could be helpful for you. Sounds like your inflammation may be pretty low? Did you doctor tell you the location of the inflammation within your colon, and the severity?
Posted 6/20/2015 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
Yes I have tried the rectal meds. 20cm at the bottom of the colon (mild/moderate UC) just can't seem to kick urgency.
Posted 6/20/2015 3:35 AM (GMT 0)
Casey,

Along with the gluten free diet you might be interested into looking for the low FODMAP diet. Some other food reduction could help you out with the frequent BM, such as onions, garlic and other fruits and veggies.

It is no magic and it does not help every body but you never know. It won't replace medication but might help managing the symptoms.

Hope you get better soon and that your Dr. finds what will help you.

I don't know much about humira but some have had great results with it too. We have to remember that often people post more about bad experiences than good ones.
Posted 6/20/2015 1:55 PM (GMT 0)
You should take humira and continue with your gluten free diet, why choose? Biologic medications like humira sound scary at first, but they've helped many find relief from uc symptoms. It's all a matter of risk versus benefits. The odds of getting side effects from humira are less than one percent. 60+ percent of patients find relief with biologics like humira. The flipside is untreated uc inflammation greatly increases ones colorectal cancer odds. The uc medications are a lot less dangerous than untreated uc inflammation.
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