Never feel truly healthy and frustrated

I missed Liz Phair when she opened for Smashing Pumpkins here in Portland, Or. I did take my son to see The Rplacements though, we had a great time.

Good luck getting off the az. I got booted off by pancreatitis and high liver enzymes. I shoot the big H now, ha ha ha, Humira.

If Imuran bothers you so much from a philosophical level, than perhaps biologics would be better accepted? No blood monitoring needed for biologics.

Doctors are decidedly cautious with immunomodulators and will stop or adjust dosage at the first sign of potential troubles ahead, and that's a very good thing.

I think if you better understood that medication, what it does, and what your doctor is looking for then it'd put you in a much better place. Better to understand than to fear the unknown.

Ulcerative colitis is an autoimmune condition (or at least an immune deficiency) where our immune system attacks the lining of our large intestine causing inflammation and the symptoms we all know too well and loathe. The first line of treatment is anti-inflammatory mesalamine. The second line of treatment is immunomodulators, the third line of treatment is biologics, and both target the immune system to control our symptoms. When our immune system attacks, it floods our veins with white blood cells which attack and directly cause inflammation. Introduction of immunomodulators, like Imuran, intentionally lower our body's WBC count, as the less WBC we have the less inflammation can be caused. The blood monitoring ensures that our WBC count doesn't get too low. The goal of the second and third lines of uc treatment is to slightly reduce the immune system's ability to attack our large intestine, but it has to be slight. So, the dosage of Imuran can be adjusted at any time if the medication is having too powerful of an affect on you. Your doctor will be looking mostly at WBC, but also RBC and platelets. These are very slow working medications and changes in WBC take months, and slight adjustments can be made and also take months.

Biologics interfere with immune system signaling. They don't reduce WBC, so there is no regular blood monitoring. Biologics greatly reduce (or mute) the rallying/call to arms that your immune system signals for a strong attack. You're still able to have normal immune response to small environmental triggers.