Medication (5 posts)

Good experience with Entocort

I started taking Entocort starting on September 30, 2012, and I stopped taking it on February 18, 2013 (almost five months in total). I had already been taking Imuran when I started, but I was still going to the bathroom more often than I wanted to be.

Taking the pills

I took three pills a day. They are red and white capsules. Since I can’t swallow pills, I opened the capsules, emptied the tiny white balls inside the capsules into my mouth, and then washed them down with some juice and something to eat. I couldn’t put the balls in the juice, because the balls would stick to the bottom of the cup. The balls didn’t have much of a taste, but the sensation of swallowing them was kind of weird.

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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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Good experience with Prednisone

Background: I have Crohn’s disease. I was diagnosed in winter 2009. I started taking Prednisone in summer 2011. My first dose was 40 mg for two weeks, then down 5 mg each week, so I guess about nine weeks in all.

It was amazing. The very first day, I felt like doing everything (whereas before, I felt like doing nothing). I was super energetic and super happy (whereas before, I was super tired and super depressed). I also ate a lot, which for some people, might be a concern, but I weighed 90 pounds at the time, so I was quite glad to gain another 30 pounds. There were no mood swings or acne or swelling. It was just amazing.

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I’m on drugs!: A new gastroenterologist and Prednisone

Last week, I had an appointment with a new gastroenterologist. The reason I have a new gastro doc is because back in January/February, I was doing pretty bad. I wasn’t sure if I was having a flare-up, because I also had the flu around the same time. I don’t know if I’ve ever had the actual flu before this, because this time was really bad. And frustrating, because I was missing classes, which makes me stress out, which makes me even sicker. I tried going to my linguistics class, but I had to sit down in the hallway halfway there, and then I just ended up going back home. My parents came to see me in residence just to make me scrambled eggs so I would eat something. It really, really sucked.

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Today is the greatest

I went to the gastro doctor yesterday for a follow-up on my colonoscopy. The secretary didn’t even recognize me — that’s how much better I was looking. Last week, a girl in my class mentioned that I looked nice. I thought maybe it was because I decided to wear eyeliner (and boy, must that have been magic eyeliner if strangers were complimenting me), but then my mom pointed out that I’ve been putting on weight and I’m not so pale any more. In fact, I was in the triple digits at the beginning of the month. I’ve seen I think 106 pounds once? Pretty awesome.

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