Lymphocyte (4 posts)

COVID-19 and low lymphocytes with Crohn’s

I know I haven’t written in quite a while, but I’ve been doing fine, so there hasn’t been anything to write about.

My last in-person appointment with my gastroenterologist was in April 2019. At that appointment, she told me she had started offering eVisits, and she asked if I’d like my next visit to be online. I said that would be great. Usually, the earliest appointment I can get for my gastro is at 9 am, and my work starts at 9 am, so whenever I have gastro appointments, I end up missing time at work, which I prefer not to do. My appointments usually take at least half an hour, because usually the doctor is running behind, so I spend a lot of time in the waiting room. Since I take the bus, I also have to wait for the bus, then spend more time on the bus. By the time I get back to work, it’s usually almost time for lunch, so I actually took the day off in April for that appointment.

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Gastroenterologist appointment

I saw my gastroenterologist today. I always remind myself to try to remember everything she says so I can write it down here, but I’m not very good at it.

She said my colonoscopy back in July looked very good. I think she said she took a bunch of biopsies, which surprised me, because I didn’t think they had. In previous colonoscopies, there were times where it hurt, and I figured that was because they were taking a biopsy, but during my last colonoscopy, it didn’t hurt at all. She said something about the left side, I think maybe there was inflammation there. But I think she basically said it looks like there wasn’t any active Crohn’s.

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Phone call from gastroenterologist and changing Imuran dosage

My gastroenterologist’s office called me the other week and left a message asking me to call back. I had something to do the next afternoon, and I decided I did not want to call my gastroenterologist first and then find out I’m dying and then not feel like doing the thing I had to do that afternoon, so I decided I’d call her after I finished my errand.

Still curious about why she might be calling, I checked my bloodwork online, and although this is only the second time I’ve gotten my results online, nothing seemed far out of the ordinary range to me.

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Good experience with Imuran

When I was first prescribed Imuran, I immediately searched online for other people’s experiences with the drug. What I found was very alarming: “my sister was prescribed this, and she got cancer!” “My cousin was prescribed this, and she died!”

Great.

Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve been taking Imuran since June 18 (three months ago), and I have not yet had any noticeable negative side effects, and I hope it stays that way.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had any noticeable good side effects either. To be fair, I wasn’t having that many symptoms before I was prescribed Imuran. The only noticeable symptom that persisted after I finished with Prednisone is the fact that I go to the bathroom a bit more often than I would like. I’ve been keeping track of my bathroom habits since a little while after I started Imuran, and some days, I’ll go five times in a row, and other days not at all. Some days the stool is loose, and some days it’s perfectly formed. Imuran hasn’t seemed to have changed any of that. It might be doing something to help the inflammation on the inside, but I guess you can’t really tell without a colonoscopy, and I don’t think I’m due for another one yet.

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