Which drugs are next?

After mesalamines have been given a fair trial what's next?

You can also answer what a fair trial is in your opinion.

the question i always ask is which direction are things going ? are your symptoms better or worse ? are you feeling better or worse ? do you only get out of bed to visit the white bowl 10 times a day with bloody D ? or do you go to work and still deal with bloody D ?

is something working ? if you're not making some progress, then ya, it might be time to do something else -

ByebyeUc, actually most docs reserve cyclosporine as the absolute last ditch effort to keep the colon because of how toxic it is. Usually they try the biologics first such as Remicade and Humira.

Lodi the progression is typically: 5-ASA's (oral or rectal), immune suppressors such as 6mp or Imuran, than the biologics perhaps even steroids rectal or oral thrown in there somewhere too depending on the severity of the flare.

Thanks everyone. I might be hauling myself to emerg and I just want to educate myself a bit if its offered

On top of my other stuff,I'm breaking out in pimples and the inside of my mouth is getting blisters. The pain in my hip joints is really getting bad. My other eye is starting to feel the same type of pain that i felt before the cyst formed on it. I'm surviving on extra strength Tylenol.

Byebyeuc...who did you see at my Sinai...I use to go there when things got severely bad...

It sounds like the 6mp/humira level is next. I'm feeling substantially better about it. Thank you all for being so helpful.

I'm supposed to go down to oral pred tomorrow. Doc said its a bit safer. I would also like to try stoping my mesalamine for a bit if the doc agrees. The way I've broken out in full body blemishes just. Makes me think toxin!

Good idea? Bad idea? How do you experiment with anything when you on prednisone?

As much as I hate being on indiscriminate drugs, I am going to ask to stay at a higher dose till I'm more than just a little better, like a few suggested to me before. I do have a few significant joint issues which worries me some. To bad this is such a crap shoot.

You're all so helpful and it makes things a lot easier. Thanks

I started IV pred yesterday along with cipro and flagyl. Im responding I think. It's ten pm and I've only pooped 11times compared to the 22 from two days ago and the 19 from yesterday(without food). I still have two hours to go though.

I don't know what my IV dose is but I will ask now! My oral dose I understood would be 50 mg

I'm in the unfortunate predicament where I have a family doctor taking care of these decisions. My GI is on holidays just like he was when I got sick in October. Unfortunate coincidence and I'm not sure why there's no substitute GI for him ( the likely answer to that is there is no one-under serviced area

Again, I wont have the final say in which medicine is next. Unless it is to refuse it. Our Canadian doctors tell us what were doing, not me saying what I want to take. I can make suggestions but it will be he who decides what's on the prescription

My family doc was able to read the gi's notes as they run out of the same clinic and can access inter clinic notes. I'm assuming that when the GI said the next level of drugs that he is going to follow the general status quo