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...
Are you on any meds for the psoriatic arthritis? Some of those medications can cause positive ANA test results. That doesn't mean you have lupus. Even if you're NOT on any meds that can cause a...
It happens. It's "normal" to not have either one positive. But having both does happen sometimes. It usually indicates an autoimmune disease, so that's why the rheumatologist needs to be involved -...
Yeah, her GP will definitely need to refer her to a rheumatologist. If you have input on which doctor your daughter will see, you can go ahead and start looking up rheumatologists in your area....
Is she on any medications for other conditions? Anti-Histone antibodies are often elevated due to another drug, ie, when the person has drug-induced lupus. Did a rheumatologist order the blood tests?...
Good luck figuring it out. Make sure he gets his Vitamin B12 levels checked. Also his folate levels. Also, for iron, they should do a blood test for "ferritin"...
That's a tough question to answer because my health situation is quite complicated. In addition to the UCTD and Crohn's, I also have a severe case of chronic sinusitis the last 20 years. I've had 8...
Comprehension error. LOL. More condescension for those who question your posts. So it's OK for you to have conspiratorial thinking about the motives of funding sources, but it's unacceptable...
Interesting that you start with a conspiracy theory promulgated by Dr. Pravda himself (that he doesn't get funding because his potential treatment could kill the profits of big pharma), and then you...
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that Dr. Pravda is not a gastroenterologist but rather an allergy/immunology doctor. It may be quite difficult for him to get insurance approval to do...
I use miralax. I've found that I need to use it every day or it doesn't help much. But a full dose every day is too much. So I used about 1/3 to 1/2 dose every night, and that seems to work really...
I probably spoke too strongly when I said I've never had blood. I distinctly remember in the winter 1994-1995 episode that I had black streaks and blobs in my stool. But by then I had already been...
I've never had blood. Had lots of stool tests that were always negative for infectious agents but often positive for excess of white blood cells, but no blood. I don't know why they never thought of...
Hi Charlie, My symptoms have varied over the years, sometimes non-existent and sometimes quite obvious. 1987-88: Nausea, lack of appetite, weight loss, weakness/faintness for about 2 months. Went...
I assume they have checked his vitamin B12 levels and folate levels? Do they know for sure that the anemia is caused by iron deficiency? Here is an article:...
It took a long time for me to get diagnosed, and even after I did, there was still a lot of doubt for a number of years. In 2006 I was hospitalized twice. A CT scan at the time showed several regions...
Hi GloriaD, Yes, that *could* be Crohn's, but it's certainly hard to say for sure. Crohn's ulcers in the small bowel do NOT have to be "snakelike." I have a Crohn's diagnosis and my capsule endoscopy...
Best of luck for your surgery, NCOT....