Dr. starting me on Humira and Imuran

Hello! I’m 42 years old and I have been dealing with UC issues for only about 1 1/2 years. My initial symptom was primarily just loose bloody stool. I was referred to a GI, who diagnosed my with left sided uc after a colonoscopy. She started me on Lialda and Canasa, which seemed to help, but as soon as I was taken off the Canasa I flared like nothing I had experienced before. I don’t generally have symptoms of diarrhea that I read of others having. My frequent trips to the pot are generally to evacuate blood and mucus. I tried all the diets that are recommended, but nothing had helped. I was then put on hydrocortisone enemas, which seemed to help for a short while, but my symptoms came back and got worse after I was weaned off. I was on nothing for a few months and was just trying to use diet restrictions to alleviate symptoms, but to no avail. My symptoms seemed to only get worse. I started this nightmare with only loose bloody stool. I’ve progressed to horrible rectal pain while using the toilet, 10-15 trips to the bathroom per day and lower abdomen pain. I’m very thankful that my symptoms aren’t as bad as others that I read about on here, but very frustrated with my plot. The Dr started me on Ucerin, but after a few weeks there was no change. I was then started on Prednisone, but again...no change after a few weeks. I only experience relief foe 3-5 hours after taking the Prednisone and then I seem to pay for the relief with a spike in symptoms. The Dr. is now talking about starting me on a combo of Humira and Imuran. Reading about the side effects scares the crap out of me. I’ve always been a very healthy guy until all this. Is this a common journey with this crap? And, is anybody having luck with the Humira Imuran combo? All the change in symptoms is so frustrating!!

It sounds appropriate to me as well. It is a good thing with your symptoms that your doctor is not playing around. I had some fear about the new classes of meds as well, but it's so much better than the misery of severe flares. It's no good to get stuck on steroids, either.

If you are not responding to prednisolone, ask your doctor about another stool test, to double check that there is not some other cause. I also have left sided UC, not as severely, and have been helped greatly by retention enemas. Again, ask your doctor. Humira has been around a long time...as has imuran. I'd be much more afraid of the UC than the meds.

Thanks ipoop! That’s very helpful info. I’m not as apprehensive. I read a lot about different treatments for this crap, and read about what other people take and how it works for them. I was hoping that something less aggressive would have worked, but oh well.

TroubledTurds...My diet before wasn’t bad. I’ve always been a very healthy guy. Up until this crap I’d never even met an insurance deductible. I get a cold maybe every couple years. I’ve always had a really strong stomach too. I workout and run and live a pretty active life. There is no other members of my family with any type of IBD. I usually eat what I want, but it’s normally pretty healthy. I’m not a “health nut,” but pretty close.

I’ve been on a low residue diet and a low FODMAP diet. Some paleoish, but that was hard to balance. I tried paleo a while back. It didn’t really work for my lifestyle. What I have learned from the different diets is that some things effect me more that others. But, that is hard to balance too, because nothing with this crap seems to stay consistent.