Entyvio approved!

Good luck man. I've been on it since Oct 2016 after being hospitalized again and almost losing my Colon. Pred gave me the time to let it Entyvio work and so far it's been ok. Still not in remission and have around 4-6 BMs a day fluctuating between formed and watery stools. Still blood most of the time.
I'm doing the best I have though since getting diagnosed Dec 2015. I noticed it helping after about a month or 2 and then plateaued a bit. Little discouraged after getting blood work done a couple weeks ago havig my CRP read 60, but it was the first week I officially was off Pred mind you. My GI said they've seen ppl take turns for the best even between 6-12 months so Stay positive even it takes time to see improvements.
Hope this is the answer for both us buddy!

Good luck! Btw, it can take up to 16 weeks to work so don't get discouraged if it's not working after 6 weeks.

Lol appreciate it. Ya they initially told me to make sure I was well hydrated the day before, of and after. It's about half an hour opposed to the two hours for Remicade so that's a huge plus. I had no reaction whatsoever in terms of headaches or allergic reaction, which is always possible, but I did feel pretty tired the rest of the day after. Drink water, get a good sleep after, hope for the best and you'll be golden!
Keep us posted on how you progress.

Flowers - Thank you so much for sharing, it sounds like the entyvio has made a huge improvement​on your quality of life and that is just the kind of positive reinforcement I was hoping for going into my first infusion in a couple days! If I'm being honest, aside from relieving my uc symptoms, I look forward to nothing more than being able to get off of Prednisone for good. Really glad to hear you were able to taper off. I'm not sure what problems you were having pre entyvio, but can I ask of it helped you with sleep and weight gain? A few of my biggest issues are not being able to sleep through the night (getting up to use the restroom as well as the pred I'm sure), and weight gain. No matter how much I eat, even though it's very lean meals and low fiber, I cannot for the life of me gain weight. Have you noticed anything in these areas?

Hi, Ihatepooping (so do I!!!!). I was mostly ON steroids since developing UC in March 2016. Usually when I went below 20 mg, I'd start showing symptoms, and it wouldn't be long before I was having issues again (diarrhea, some blood, urgency, cramping, tenesmus). In the course of that year, I had 3 rounds of prednisone and 1 of Uceris (pill form). Now completely off them for the last 2-3 weeks. YAY! Sleep was MUCH improved at first -- mainly I think due to the body recovering from the steroids. Still sleeping fairly well. I still wake up 2-3 times a night to pee but am able to go right back to sleep (and waking up and being unable to get back to sleep was always an issue with me before UC even). I don't know if I'll revert once the pred recovery is over or not. I also started taking an antidepressant a few months ago. I take it at night and it's really helped with the sleep issue I think.

As far as weight -- I lost 20 pounds from UC and got to right under 100 lbs. I was unable to gain it back, even on prednisone. I am finally gaining some weight since the Entyvio, though. I'm just below 110 now!

The infusion is nothing at all. Very quick, only 30 minutes. No burning or light-headedness or anything like that. I noticed a very slight aftertaste, but it wasn't annoying. It was kind of nice because it gave me the assurance that there was something happening. And I have dry lips the rest of the day-- which is maybe just a good reminder from my body to drink lots of water!

Ask for non-drowsy claritin instead of benadryl the next time.