Pluto - I've had a colonoscopy every year since diagnosis. Biopsies are always negative for CD markers, appearance is that of shallow UC-like inflammation. Terminal ileum is always clean. 55cm of...
I was retired after 13 yrs from the military due to IBD. I now work for Johnson&Johnson as a medical device rep. I'm in the OR most days of the week and see surgery such as this all day long. I have...
Gonna try and keep this short. I used to be on this site frequently but took a 5 year hiatus. Here's the skinny: 2005 - had chronic canker sores and bm changes 2007 - diagnosed w Crohns colitis via...
Glutamine is a well known preferred amino acid for epithelial cells. It has been a standard treatment for burn victims for years. I've been taking it for quite a while - plus it's cheap!...
I had them for two years in relation to Crohn's. Get a prescription for triamcinolone. It's a topical steroid and it helped me....
It cannot be administered orally or the antibody would be destroyed....
Those values aren't that bad. ESR is considered normal for women at 14-21 depending on age. CRP values are considered normal if they're 10 or less. They are non-specific markers of inflammation,...
I'm a PA and I have Crohn's. I've been on all the meds and tried the SCD without much success. Switched my diet to align more with the paleo lifestyle and I can't tell you how much better I feel....
Nanners - it is still that way. You can also take prescriptions from an approved referred dr. to participating civilian pharmacies which is what I do because I can't stand the military pharmacy even...
I would say yes, but I'm not a gastroenterologist. I have peri-anal crohn's and your symptoms are similar to mine although I have some absecesses and fistulae. Not real fun....
Unless you're going to pay out of pocket for the civilian doctor (and I'm guessing he's seeing one as it is) TRICARE requires the doc to send records to the MTF as a qualification for payment. It may...
I take 8000 - 10,000 IUs a day unless I lay out in the sun. Had levels checked and they are slowly climbing into therapeutic range. Feeling pretty damn good....
tuper - please email me (my email icon is active). I too am in the Army with Crohn's - would like to talk to you. As far as my case is concerned, I am the only one in the family with any IBD....
With those drugs, they are topical versus systemic and I would say that you would see improvement within days. I have failed all drugs, up to and including remicade....
TxMark - your AF email is returning my mail. Please email with your current email address! Hope the MEB stuff worked out!...
GIs will also tell you that diet has no clinical support for changing it and we all know this is probably false too. I continue to drink coffee and the odd soda every now and then, but on days when I...
Good timing. I have two unopened boxes of Rowasa that need to go. I'm allergic to them....
Personally, I don't think you can go wrong with it. I use it and coconut oil exclusively without issue. An article just came out today touting the benefits of olive oil and IBD....
I use Google Health, have been for years. No issues....
Tapering is always a good idea, but the speed depends on the doc. I recently talked to my neighbor pediatrician and she told me in non-IBD cases she's seen docs prescribe 60mg for a 5 day period with...
Those have been out for a while - several years. However, it will probably be years before (if) they become available. Prochymal was showing promise until last year when their Phase III trials went...
I supplement with 8-10k IUs of vitamin D on the days I don't lay out. My 25(OH)D3 test came back at 51 ng/L. Trying to get to 60 ng/L....
Do a quick search of the forums and you'll find the link for the pdf download. If you can't find it, email me and I'll send it to you....
By "topical" he meant that the medication is applied directly to the inflamed intestine versus a systemic anti-inflammatory (Humira)....
Maybe switch brands?? Sometimes if the purity isn't where it should you can get those fish burps and gastro distress. I take around 14 grams of EPA/DHA through fish oil a day and have no ill effects....
I control my Crohn's very well with the Paleo diet. I have tried everything for it, from the 5-ASAs to Remicade and prednisone. Unresponsive. I have completely switched to paleo - I do not eat...
I have one as well, but it is painless. Seems to be non-healing at this point, but it looks better now than it has in the past. There is usually a little pus with it. I seemed to start healing when I...
The A1C does not fluctuate with time of day but reflects the percentage of glycated hemoglobin. Higher percentages equate to poorer blood sugar control in the preceding 120 days or so. Are you...
It's typically a LOW FODMAP diet, not zero. Try it in moderate amounts and see what happens. FODMAP has helped me, but I stick to a paleo approach....
I was recently put on prednisone for the first time. I have had Crohn's for 5 years and been on everything from the 5-ASAs to 6MP to Remicade. Nothing was helping so I started Pred 4 weeks ago. I...
The 5-ASA meds are the aspirin-like lower level crohn's drugs: Asacol, Colazal, Canasa, Pentasa, etc. I took Colazal and Canasa for several years to treat my colitis until I developed an intolerance....
I've had chronic canker sores since my Crohn's started in 2005. I mean, 5-20 at a time, ALL the time. Once I started on the 5-ASA meds they decreased in severity and frequency to the point that I...
I stick to a 90% compliance with the paleo diet. Not only is my crohn's the best it's been in three years, I've lost 3% body fat in 2 weeks. I eat lots of lean meats, veggies, moderate low GI fruit,...
If there's one thing Crohn's has taught me, it's that doctors and professionals are in just as much disagreement as the patients on these threads. As to the implication of sun and skin cancers, I...
Why don't you think the sun will help? You'll produce 10,000IUs with about 20min of sun exposure on 40% skin surface area versus your 2400IUs of supplementation. The big difference between solar...
Just out today: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20350569 ...
You should be fine, but always monitor. I know that IBD research shows that most people have a favorable response to treatment if the WBC is <5.0. Not sure for lupus. I'm on 100mg of 6MP (similar to...
Since Vitamin D is fat soluble you can potentially overdose on it, but it would take many months at fairly high dosages. You can probably get away with 5000 - 10000 IUs a day, especially if in the...
I took Canasa for over 2 years. Initially it really helped but never found remission. After a while it started causing more inflammation and bleeding, but I kept upping the frequency of the...
Those books are a good start. The SCD is the Specific Carb Diet. Many IBDers find success with it. Personally, I improved but not to remission. Doing better with Paleo....
Crazy Harry - I'm with you on many of the points. Personally, I like and adhere to the Paleo diet. No grains is hard to do, but the results have completely eclipsed those from pharmacological drugs...
Crazy Harry - are you still med free? I would suggest Life Without Bread for starters and then possibly moving on to Good Calories, Bad Calories (heavy reading). I've recently committed to Paleo...
1. 3-9 months is probably the range of time to build up to a therapeutic dosage. 2. No side effects noticed in terms of how I feel. Started this drug in June of 2009 at a dosage of 50mg. Dosing is...
Hellish is a good word to describe these diseases. I have been doing the Paleo Diet for several weeks now and have had the best couple weeks since my diagnoses - this despite every drug up to and...
I had toradol after shoulder surgery. Knocked my CD into a short term remission. It was totally gone. The only time since my diagnosis that I felt 100% normal....
Both can potentially inflame the liver, however you should be monitored closely while on each med for liver issues. I'm on both Remicade and 6MP. Recently my liver enzymes came back elevated. Dropped...
txmark - I've seen your posts here and a peb forums. I'm an Army helo pilot (or was) and probably headed to the MEB in April or so. My flight doc seems to think I can get a 40-50% disability rating...
Curcumin is a well known anti-inflammatory as is boswellia serrata and several others. THere is a supplement called Inflammatone which I take that seems to help. There was a recent article published...
I'm currently active duty in the Army. You should probably check over in pebforums.com for your answer - it's all military MEB/PEB oriented. It all depends on how you are rated against the VA...
Just had mine yesterday. I did the dulcolax/miralax prep which was fine - better than the old GoLytely!! I don't think they'll have an issue getting to your terminal ileum. You should get a full...