plasmacytosis in this situation means plasma cells were found between the base of the crypts and the muscle layers in the biopsy. Plasma cells are a type of white blood cell (lymphocyte). This is a...
Some recommendations from various sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6700690/ https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(21)03093-6/fulltext...
Where is her Crohn's disease located? Colon? Small bowel? Both? How severe was it at diagnosis. How bad are her symptoms? It seems to me that the doctor is doing the right things so far. I know it...
For me, Stelara didn't help my constipation at all. Nor did it help with gas. The first thing I noticed was night sweats decreasing quite a bit. That might not be an issue for you, but it was for me,...
Your doctor should check your progress by doing fecal calprotectin at maybe 3 or 4 months into Stelara treatment, along with blood tests and a review of your symptoms, followed by a colonoscopy at 6...
Youtube is full of con artists and misinformation, whether the topic is medicine/health, or political, or financial, or other science, or even lots of hobbyist content. It truly saddens me that this...
Hi Lottie, sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but at least now you know what you're dealing with and you have started a good treatment plan. What kind of symptoms were you dealing with when you were...
Did you respond initially to Humira and then lose response, or did you never have a good response at all? There was a study done for people who didn't respond at all to anti-TNFs like Humira. It...
The blood test for TOTAL IMMUNOGLOBULIN A is very non-specific. High levels just indicate *something* is going on with the mucosal surfaces of the nose/throat or digestive tract. But it can't tell...
OK, good that you've had a nasal scope and CT scan of the sinuses. The food allergy testing isn't reliable, so it's ok that you skipped out on that. Have you tried antihistamines? Steroid nasal...
What exactly was the celiac test? Your value there looks out of range. Your fecal calprotectin looks within normal range. Your CRP is high, indicating inflammation somewhere in your body - but that...
When was your last scope? Have you had recent blood tests?...
What stool test did the GI order? Did they do a stool culture to check for infections? I'm assuming they did and that it was negative? Have you had any blood with bowel movements (either fresh red...
What was your eosinophil % relative to total white blood cell count? Eosinophils can elevate for a number of reasons, with allergies being one of the most common reasons. Do you have any allergies or...
Get your primary care doc to take a look inside your nose and at your throat. Maybe see an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist to get a better look at your nasal passages and sinuses. A sinus CT scan might be...
I've had lots of constipation over the years with Crohn's. I started Stelara about a year and a half ago. It hasn't changed the constipation at all. I eat a lot of fiber already, so things like...
I've been on it for about a year and a half. I had one injection where I must have hit a blood vessel. The tiny hole from the shot bled a little, and then I got some dark swelling a couple inches...
Have you had blood tests done to check for antibodies to Humira? Also, have you had blood tests done to check for ANAs (anti nuclear antibodies) and anti histone antibodies? Sometimes people on...
For the past several decades, the usual advice for IBD patients is to avoid all NSAIDs due to increased risk of flare or worsening of existing inflammation. However, some recent studies have shown...
fruitgirl, what exactly did the biopsies show? Do you have a copy of the results? Did they find it throughout the colon or only in a limited region? Have you still been on Apriso daily the last few...
OK, good to know they ran those tests. Have you tried mesalamine enemas or suppositories? Give the pred a little more time, try mesalamine enemas or supps if you haven't already, and see what the...
OK, sounds like you've had a good workup from the rheumatology point of view. For any of the biologics, one concern is lung infections - tuberculosis especially, but also pneumonia that comes after...
Any time you have a flare after a long time of stability - and any time you have a flare that doesn't seem to be responding to steroids - you should start with stool tests to make sure there aren't...
Oh, by the way, Stelara isn't really more gut-specific. It's also used for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Entyvio is the one that is highly gut-specific. But I'm not sure if Stelara is useful for...
The tailbone and lower back pain *might* be nothing but the all-too-common pains that many people have, but it also could be something called sacroiliitis or another type of spondyloarthropathy...
The finding of granulomas in the biopsies is a strong signal that this is likely Crohn's and not UC. The history and symptoms you describe (more constipation than diarrhea, mucus, and not all that...
LOL,he's a self-promoting con artist. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Shawn_Baker...
Had he been taking any medications (prescription or over-the-counter) before this all began? Things like acid-blockers (PPIs like Nexium), or antibiotics, or pain meds like Advil? Has he had any...
It's understandable to be a nervous wreck right now and to be overwhelmed with all this new info. Just take it easy on yourself and get some sleep, then call you doctor in the morning and get...
Colonoscopy requires you to do a "prep" the night before, which means drinking a lot of a laxative, so much that you go to the bathroom over and over again until your colon is completely empty before...
Colitis just means inflammation in the colon. That's what was seen on the CT scan you had done. It shows some "thickening" of the bowel wall on the right side of your colon (the colon starts on the...
OK, first thing I would do is contact your primary care doc in the morning, tell them you were in the ER with diarrhea and had some tests run, and that you need to have stool cultures done. I...
Any blood in the diarrhea? Urgency to go? How frequent? Any fever? Any family history of Crohn's or ulcerative colitis or rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis or other similar things? Did they order...
Smoking is much riskier than any of the UC meds. Even surgery would be better than smoking....
OK, maybe the actual report gives a little more detail about the location each biopsy was taken, whereas the info provided to you in the patient portal is missing that. The two results must be from...
Are these two results for the left and right sides of the colon? Is the first part the right side and the second part the left side?...
What have biopsies shown? Sometimes they are key to differentiating between UC and Crohn's. Location of disease activity is a factor in distinguishing the two, but it's not the only thing that...
Hi Wendy, Sorry to hear of your son's issues. Some questions: How old is he? (Never mind, I just saw in the title that he's seven.) For the capsule endoscopy, were any of the ulcers seen to be...
MAC just means Monitored Anesthesia Care. It means you'll be sedated and there will be monitoring of your vitals all the while. Twilight sedation is a form of MAC, ie, a form of anesthesia. You won't...
I think he was prescribed dicyclomine (bentyl), the anti-spasmodic, not the antibiotic doxycycline....
Statistically speaking, Stelara has a really good side effect profile, ie, most people have few if any side effects. But for any individual, it's possible to have some unusual or rare side effects....
Yep, agree with straydog - that's a good thing that your doctor is so responsive. Good luck with the procedures and definitely let us know how it goes....
No on the prednisone. You very well may have infectious colitis. That's what the ER must have been thinking as they prescribed you antibiotics. Did they order any stool tests? You should have stool...
Without oral contrast, the CT scan doesn't get good images of the bowel walls....
Did your blood tests include CRP (C reactive protein)? Did your stool tests include fecal calprotectin? Those should be done. Frankly, the CT scan would have been much better if they had included...
I read your other posts to get some background. Who ordered the CT scan? Was it primary care doc or GI? Was it with oral contrast (drinking a lot of a liquid before getting in the machine)? Was it...
Understood. That's why I mentioned a sigmoidoscopy. It might take a while to get a colonoscopy scheduled. Sigmoidoscopies can often be done sooner. But always start with the blood tests and stool...
As suggested above, she needs blood tests (including CRP and ESR), and stool tests for infectious agents and for fecal calprotectin. A primary care doc can probably order these. Then she needs to see...
Can you look at her past results for blood tests and see what her platelets count has been before? It's not low enough to be very worrisome. I agree with the suggestion to monitor it, ie, get it...
The test is pretty accurate - sensitive and specific. I think it would mean your odds of having celiac are over 90%. But the biopsy is the final determinant. You will need to continue to eat gluten...