Yeah, she's on 6-MP and a couple other scrips I don't remember off the top of my head. She's already been on, then off Humira and Imuran. Remicade side affects are pretty brutal, and the 4 week intervals aren't easy for sure.
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Hate to hear that. I'm not sure if she's tried other biologics, but there are several more out there like cimzia and tysabri if she wanted to give those a whirl before surgery. Most people start with remicade, then go to humira. I figured she'd taken that route. I also started with Humira. Surgery is always serious, but for me it was like hitting a reset button. I wish I'd have done it earlier.
Honestly, it's like I don't even have Crohn's. I can eat whatever I want, I absorb nutrients again (I've gone from 158 pre surgery to 176.5 as of yesterday at 6'2"), I have energy again, and the only recurring issue from surgery is some tightness around my scar when I'm active.
It's my understanding that UC is actually curable when removing the entire large intestine. I don't know if it returns if you only remove a section of the large intestine. I only had a fraction of my small intestine removed, but Crohn's can reoccur anywhere in the digestive tract in the future, whereas UC is relegated only to the large intestine.
There's a lot info to absorb so I'd take a long slow look at it at some point. A promising therapy is also fecal transplants which is just as it sounds, but shows real promise and does no harm as far as I'm aware. The OP of this thread makes sense as to why it may be beneficial. It's very effective for c diff infections, but may also help with Crohns:
http://www.wcvb.com/bethisrael/fecal...hrons/32398976
http://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-dise...crohns-disease
Surgery isn't used to treat Crohn's disease and can't cure it. It's used to treat the complications of Crohn's disease. Surgery can cure ulcerative colitis but it requires removing the entire colon to do it. Most patients with ulcerative colitis will ultimately come to that conclusion.
That is my understanding too. Doc said they'd take most of the colon, do an ileostomy for about year, then reattach the ileum to the anus. Fun times.
Certainly will look closely. Thanks again for the links. Fecal transplant was ruled out for a reason I can't recall, but it was specific to my wife's case.
Thanks for the move mods, sorry.
My fiance also had surgery and has been good since. She's very care full about what she eats.
I have UC, and failed with all of the major treatments, including Remicade. I was 2 Drs appts away from having my colon removed, when Entyvio was released. At first I declined to take it, but after my doctor convinced me, I reluctantly started, and have been on it for about 2 years, and it has been a god send.