Pred... Again?!

You could try steroid enemas first...see how that goes first.

It's totally your call on the pred, but considering you've been on it 8 times in 3 years, something's not working.

q

^^ So, you mean she's doing OK and should put it in perspective of imagining that "it could be worse"... regardless of her suffering? It's not fair to compare her to anyone else's. That's basically negating her situation....

q

quincy said...
^^ So, you mean she's doing OK and should put it in perspective of imagining that "it could be worse"... regardless of her suffering? It's not fair to compare her to anyone else's. That's basically negating her situation....

q

That's certainly not my intention. That is YOUR inference and YOUR editorialising. I am simply saying that perspective can assist in the psychological and mental challenges associated with those who are suffering with UC.

Yes, it's my perspective since I commented. My thoughts are this....it's best to NOT compare people to others' suffering...to what point does it ever get when you actually will acknowledge that anyone actually is having a tough time.

No one's life is a measuring stick for another's.

I agree to try to keep things in perspective....for one to say, well "I could be worse and others would gladly trade with me" is counterproductive.

If Minnie wrote the same comment i'd tell her the same thing.

q

Huh?! Of course we will compare, people compare stuff all the time from objects, wifes, jobs, etc.

Some people have it easy with UC, some about the same, some worse than others. What is wrong with comparing?

"No one's life is a measuring stick for another's. "

and why the heck not. If I want to mesure, I'll do it. lol

Thanks all! I am just so sick of being sick.. I started having symptoms again in April/May but its only the last 10 days that have been intolerable? I always try to tell myself there are so many people that would swap places with me - but that only helps for a minute lol. They have increased my Humira to 80mg (two shots) fortnightly! Somedude, I am terrified of the big guns, and all the meds, but the idea of surgery terrifies me more! I don't even think the Humira worked for me as it was so short-lived. Once off pred, I usually remain symptom-free for as long as I was in it (in this case 12-14 weeks). I tried Steroid enemas for 3 weeks and after 1 week and there was a big improvement. During week 2 on them, this bad flare started!

I'm really struggling mentally now.. I think the whole diet is making me feel even more depressed! Especially when it's not working now! I'm going to see how I feel next week and reevaluate going back on Pred. I feel like I should just admit defeat and have surgery.. But the idea of a bag terrifies me, as does the surgery itself. I'm so young and I want to be able to have children too! Knowing my luck at this stage, I will end up having Crohns and would be unable to reverse the bag! They are thinking there is slight possibility of Crohns :-/ But then again I need to get on with my life and get a teaching job and travel etc!

JaneC, I went to the doc this morning. I have to do the sample on Mon morning at home and drop it back to the docs. It will take 7-10 days for the results to come back. I'll keep you updated.

Minners, have you tried Remicade? Aren't there still some other medications you can try before going for the colectomy?

"Whilst on this debate about comparing, I'm totally envious of all those normal, healthy people out there haha... How lucky are they!"

yeah, dem fakers. I bet they speak behind your back. *** is wrong with that girl running to the washroom like that.

At my dad's place some guy got in trouble cause he was using the bathroom too much. Even if you bring a doctor's note they still grumble and complain ... Some people want to complain for complain regardless of reason.

"Why laugh at that? I learned that lesson when I was hospitalised during a flare, and I met an interesting man who had very advanced MS. He was almost blind and virtually paralysed (he had a catheter, could not wash himself or feed himself), even his speech mechanics were severely impaired (he spoke very slowly) and I asked him if he ever got depressed... he said no, and spoke to me of all the things with which he had been blessed. If you haven't yet learned that lesson, it's not my problem."

Too much to debate here and it's loaded. I'm not going to touch this one.

I'll add an appeasement. Yes, it could be worse, but it could also be faaaar better.

ks1905 said...
I just started Pred 2 days ago, I am/was actually happy (excited) to be taking it because my flare was getting out of control and was to the point where I was totally debilitated and was about the check into the hospital.

The last time I took Predisone was 9 years ago, I've always tried to avoid taking it but it need to be done this time. I've been asking my 2 GIs for months now to prescribe Predisone but they really didn't want to and I didn't push it, in hind sight I really should have.

I've been off and on Hydrocortisone enemas the last 9 months and they were not reaching the areas that I needed treated. Uceris wasn't working either. Remicade stopped working and Humira never did anything really for me. Simponi worked well for a week but now it is not working (might be c.diff though).

The Predisone started working within about 12 hours and I felt alive again. It's not perfect yet but I feel so much better right now on 60mgs of Predisone. I am very happy that I made the decision to take Predisone this time, my Summer was really sucking.

The first morning after taking the Predisone I woke up I was basically screaming in pain from a cramp in my calf, it felt like someone stuck a knife in my calf (never felt anything like that before) at least I didn't have to go running to bathroom because that would have made things so much worse. I will still trade the Predisone side effects for my UC symptoms.

Nine years is a great run without prednisone. I wonder if you'll still feel this good once you begin tapering, though. Time will tell.

"Robert, I will try Remicade if I see no improvement after upping the Humira, and if Remicade then fails, i'll try some other biologic my gastro mentioned. I'll try everything so that if it comes to surgery, I'll know I will have tried everything I could!"

I'm proud of you. That is the way!

Dude...you already touched it, you just didn't read the initial comment I replied to until after you commented to mine.

While it's "healthy" to be objective and possibly have a tally of pros and cons....anyone who has cancer or MS or is dying or starving or beaten or raped or whatever else isn't my life at this point. While I have fears of all of those, I can be as empathetic as I'm able and learn as I go through life. But I cannot and refuse to carry the burden of so much to minimise or boost my life. And I never will say that to anyone to "make them feel better"....

Loaded for sure...


q