Tired of being in pain, tired of not living life and tired of not responding to these meds! Surgery?

I have been through the gamut of UC medicines and they only thing that has ever made me feel better is prednisone. Prednisone also gave avascular necrosis of my right hip so I refuse to take anything with prednisone.  I am going for my third treatment of remicade and not feeling much better, maybe 10% better. I still have all the symptoms except the bleeding right now. I have read about many people on this forum that are doing worse than I am but I don’t want to take these meds forever. The imuran affected my liver counts to the point where I can never go on it again, the steroids gave me AVN and I am concerned about what remicade is and will do to me. Beyond the frequent and urgent trips to the bathroom, severe abdominal pain I have tremendous stiffness and discomfort in my joints and my energy level is killing my performance at work.   I just want to be healthy for my wife and son. I'm not responding to these meds and I can’t get the thought of going for the surgery out of my head and they say the surgery has a greater success rate when you don’t let your UC get to be at its worst. Going to see my GI tomorrow what do you all think should I at least consult with a surgeon?

I think you should talk to your GI about it, and yes consult with a surgeon. It sounds like you've exhausted all the options but only you can answer the question. Better to get educated and know all your options. Many people who have had the surgery say it's the best things they have done. Consider checking out our Ostomy forum and also www.jpouch.org.

Take care, and let us know how your appt. goes.