Resection

Joejo, drs will only do resections as a last resort. They will try various medications, need to show the patient warrants a resection in order to get the insurance company to approve it.

GI drs will not prescribe pain medication to a patient, very, very rare these days, especially with the opioid crisis. There has been a couple of members that were seeing pain mgt drs & they were cut off by the pain mgt dr because of this mess.

If you are having a lot of cramping type pain ask your dr to prescribe Bentyl, a lot of us get relief with this. Sorry you are feeling so bad.

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Susie
Moderator in Chronic Pain & Psoriasis Forums

You can ask your gi but do not be alarmed if he says no. The usual answer is that is not something I do & out of my realm of practice. You can ask your pain mgt dr, he may or may not. You will not know until you ask either one. The opioid crisis has been a big game changer for people requiring pain medication whether it is for short term use or long term use. Some of the major university hospitals are doing certain surgeries on patients & not giving post op pain medication. Totally crazy if you ask me.

What kind of pain are you having?

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Susie
Moderator in Chronic Pain & Psoriasis Forums

The pain is right in my waist from the middle all the way to the left and then up the left side.. Took Linzess so I know its not constipation. Also have a thumping feeling.. The Dr said I have 3 things.. Crohns, Ulcerative disease and a constipation issue... He cant answer if what I feel is ulcerations or inflamation at times.. for a year and a half they told me I had jejunal jejunal intussuseption (sliding/foldinging or the intestines) because it showed that on the CT scan..Other tests showed it wasnt . I am completly lost and learning things as I go on. This started at 53yrs old, never had a stomach or colon issue ever

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took 19 months to get diagnosed with no treatment. Started with prednison and Pentasa with no effect. Just started Remicade. I am new to this disease and trying to learn as much as I can. Poor quality of life now

J, I understand how you feel all too well. I was on vacation out of the country & became very ill. They thought it was my appendix & several hours later found a surgeon along with an ultrasound xray machine. He took out my appendix to find they were normal. He was smart enough to open me up lower & found a complete blockage & abscess. My gi said he saved your life. Had I perforated in that hospital I would not be here today. Upon returning home I was seen by 4 other gi's that said, you have had surgery & you no longer have crohns. I went through 2 years of grief before finding a good gi that for was interested & wanted to help. I handed him a copy of my op report that was a page & a half in Spanish, along with a picture drawn on a scrap piece paper in pencil of the surgery. He just shook his head & said you are one tough cookie to have survived that mess. He started from scratch with my history of gi issues that I had for the past 20 years. He feels I had crohns long before the surgery. I have a lengthy history of being on steroids for something different. I had a lot of trips to the hospital over the years but was never checked for crohns.

My purpose of telling you what happened to me is a couple of things. Crohns can be difficult to diagnose for some people. Finding the medication that works is all trial & error. I am not surprised Pentasa did not work, it's an older drug that is rarely prescribed because newer meds are available. Pentasa may work for someone with very mild crohns at best. The fact that you are now on a biologic means your disease is moderate to severe, this is why Pentasas was useless for you. Do not be surprised if your gi says give Remicade 6 months, this is normal. It is not always cut & dried getting a diagnosis. Having a good dr in your corner is a must. Finding a good support forum to talk about things like here is very helpful. My gi suggested I find a good site that had a crohns forum. This is how I found HW, was joining the crohns forum. I knew nothing about crohns, I was in a lot denial too. I came here & read a lot & finally got the nerve up to post & ask questions. I learned more here than my dr could ever tell me. In all honesty, he did not have the time to tell me things I learned here from people that had the disease for years.

When I was on Remicade, I was also on Imuran. The dr said it helps enhance the effects of the Remicade & also helps prevent developing antibodies so quick. It will take time for the Methotrexate to kick in, you just have to remember these meds are not fast acting. We ended up doubling the dose & my infusions were every 4 weeks. There again, it must be tailored to the patient's needs. I did not get immediate relief either, we kept having to work with the dosing schedule. You can ask your dr to test your Remicade levels to see if you are getting enough.

Take things a day at a time, try not to get stressed out, stress is hard on the body. Did you ever ever check out the site CCFA.org? It has great info about this lovely disease.

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Susie
Moderator in Chronic Pain & Psoriasis Forums