Coenzyme Q10

Hi I never heard of it.

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Hi, I am teddybearweiser, I am a male.

I was diagnosed with crohns disease when i was admitted to the hospital

in 1992, in Jan of 1993 I was back in the hospital for surgery for my crohns. I had part of my right colon resectioned with ilecolonstomy.

 My GI doctor has me on Asacol, Dicyclomine,Imuran,Celebrex and Remicade. B-12 injection once a month.

My Internest doctor has me on Lisnopril-HTCZ and Folic Acid. Diagnosed

with Osteoarthritis July 2007

The last thing I want to do is boost my immune system-I'm taking two different immune suppresents to try to kill my immune system.
sj

With Crohn's you don't want to boost your immune system because that's the problem with our disease; our immune system is in hyperdrive attacking our intestines. I don't know if that goes for other auto-immune diseases, but you definitely don't want to give your body any more "fuel" to destroy your intestines. That's why so many of us are on immunosuppressants.

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Pentasa 500mg/8x daily down to 6x 1/08; Entocort 3mg/3x daily down to 2x 1/08; Percocet/Ultram for pain; Protonix 40mg

Neurontin, 900mg 3x/day

Probiotic
Ferrous Sulfate 325mg/daily for anemia
Azathioprine 150mg

Currently on a Low-residue diet as of 11/26

I'm so tired, when will this get better?

Hummmm!!! Interesting comments. I've never thought about my immune system being in overdrive and it needing supressing. I always thought an auto-immune disease meant that your immune system didn't work as well and because of that you were more prone to infection and because of THAT you'd want to boost your immune system. I need to go back and do some more studying!

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Diagnosed in October, 2003 at age 31.

36/F/SC

Currently taking Colazal, Nexium, One-A-Day multivitamin

Secondary conditions: mouth ulcers, joint pain, extreme fatigue

Traditionally, researchers have thought that Crohn's was due to an overactive immune system. In the past two years new evidence shows that Crohn's could be due to a weak immune system. But most researchers seem to agree that Crohn's involves at least a dysfunctional immune system. Whatever the immune system is, under or over active, it simply isn't working the way it should.

There is no question that meds like Imuran can very effectively suppress the immune system, which does suppress the inflammation of the small bowel. But what about the rest of the body? What we are doing is suppressing the entire immune system, which we need to fight off viral and bacterial infections.

What if our immune systems are underactive? What if the theory that Crohn's is due to an underactive immune system is correct? What if the inflammation is chronic because the gut reacts weakly...it mounts an attack to something in the intestinal environment, but not a very effective one, so it never finishes the job...hence, continuous inflammation. Sagramostin (spelling?) clinical trials are now underway to test this theory.

The following link takes you to the results of a clinical trial suggesting Crohn's patients have weak immune systems. 

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTX031960.html

I guess the bottom line is maybe, "Is that probiotic, which is supposed to boost my immune system, a good idea?" I haven't found any evidence suggesting probiotics make Crohn's worse, some evidence suggesting they might be able to help, and plenty of evidence showing they offer the rest of the body (including non-Crohn's issues in the GI tract) great benefits.

Post Edited (njmom) : 2/20/2008 6:39:38 PM (GMT-7)