Second colonoscopy

So I had my second colonoscopy today (my first was in March of this year). My doctor found ulcers this time, as well as what was there before, and said it was pretty red and inflamed. He's having me stop the Entocort and stay on the Pentasa... but I have to start using Prednisone. Then I need to talk with him about using Humira or Remicade. I don't really know much about those two medications, and I have searched on here a little bit about it. But if you guys could give me any personal experiences that would be great. I don't know if it matters too what age you are when you start using all this stuff, since I'm only 23.

I've officially finished my first week of law school.. well we really only had two days of class this week. It was interesting since I was doing my prep last night for the colonoscopy and trying to read for my Civil Procedure class at the same time. I'm just lucky I didn't have to run out of class to the bathroom at all.. and I even did ok when called on (they do the dang socratic method.. I just knew it would be today I was called on).

I'm still pretty gassy after the procedure (and have the weird rumbly tummy stuff going on...), and as gross as it sounds.. I'm not sure if all the prep solution is out yet. Been having little spurts.. I guess it's not unexpected since I had to drink one of the full gallons. It took me three hours! I don't remember it taking that long last time.

So that's about it for now. Start the prednisone tomorrow and set up an appointment with my doctor. He wants me to get bloodwork done next week and still thinks I might need to get the actual capsule endoscopy done. He's worried that if I'm getting these ulcers in what he can see from the colonoscopy, that it might be the same or worse where the patency capsule is getting stuck. So that might be my fun plan for winter break.

Thank you again for all your help. Without this forum I don't know if I would have called my doctor's office again last weekend. Now I really have the ball rolling and am trying to get this all figured out. Again, if you could give me any advice or anything you know about Prednisone, Humira, and Remicade.. I would really really appreciate it.

I think he wants me on something besides Pentasa since I've tried doing the Entocort for a while, and then attempted to taper off it and just do Pentasa and I really flared. So he basically said that the Pred was for just the short term (like 2 months) because he was saying he doesn't like the drug. But that I really need to do something about this. So I'm guessing that's why he wants me to go to those.

How long have you been on Pred? Those side effects don't sound so fun.. especially for someone like me who's going to be anxious, moody, etc. from law school to begin with! :) But it's got to be better than this pain. Oh and he's letting me stay on the anti-spasm medication too, if needed (the pill bottle says clidinium but I think it goes by something else too). Thanks for your response!

Hi, Well for me I have been on Remicade for 2 years and in remission. I think its a wonder drug.
You can go to Remicade's web-site and read about it. www.remicade.com You can read about the drug.

Great job Brit! Now you can breath a little easier in the class you were called on. Typically Profs call on everyone in the class once before they start calling on them again.

Thanks for all your responses! I will definitely check out the Remicade website. Is anyone here on Humira? Have any of you had the option to pick between the two, and if so, why did you pick the one you did? I'm hoping that I only get the "positive" side effect of Pred with the never wanting to sleep... as of now I feel like I could sleep forever and still not have enough energy. That was a major concern of mine for law school.

For all of you that have used, or are on, Pred.. how much do you take? I have to take two 10mg pills twice a day. Is that a normal amount? And have any of you had ulcers? I'm trying to figure out if the ulcers are caused by the CD or are caused by medication. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Well I'm back to reading for class... such a fun Saturday night. I figure I didn't do much work in the past 24 hours because of the colonoscopy so that time had to fall under my "fun free time." Thanks again you guys. Hope you're all doing well.