Stelara

Hello,
So I had my first Stelara infusion on this past Saturday. I'm starting to taper down on the prednisone again (going from 10mg to 7mg right now). So far, I haven't felt any pain (tailbone pain or elbow pain). But, I am wondering since I don't have diarrhea as a symptom (have chronic constipation instead), how will I really know if Stelara is working for me? Is it the stool test or another colonoscopy that will show whether or not it's working? One of my biggest concerns has personally been the gas issue (that I personally think results from the constipation), but I know healing the colon is key. My doctor has not said anything about a repeat colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy to check the colon. Guess I'll find out in April how she will determine whether or not it's working for me. I would love to be relieved of the constipation (it's painful after every meal until I am actually able to eliminate). I do welcome not having the lower back/tailbone pain. Praying that others get good results too from these medications.

I do feel like I need something for anxiety (generalized anxiety). I am not a good candidate for antidepressants. But I do want something that can help in that area too.

Post Edited (RS2022) : 2/22/2023 7:16:07 PM (GMT-8)

For me, Stelara didn't help my constipation at all. Nor did it help with gas. The first thing I noticed was night sweats decreasing quite a bit. That might not be an issue for you, but it was for me, and it was the first sign that Stelara was doing something. I too didn't have diarrhea very often before starting Stelara, so it was a little hard to know how much good it was doing. But the night sweats improved a lot, then after a few months my fecal calpro went from mildly high to completely normal, then a few months later my scope showed significant improvement.