Crohns or UC
Hi all, so I am new to this forum however I wanted to join as in my country there is little to no awerness about ibd and its symptoms as most people mix it up with ibs. So 3 years i did a colonoscopy and biopsies were taken by my doctor which later the lab results showed that i have UC. However recently i have had another colonoscopy as I had a flare up and the doctor said it could be crohns and not UC. Can someone explain/describe if this ever happened as I don t think i was misdiagnosed for 3 years. I was on aziothrpine and mesalazine and didn t flare for 2 years.
Hi
, thanks for joining and sharing! I'm actually in a similar situation as you. I was diagnosed with UC, but my current doctor is thinking there is chance it could be Crohn's. Sometimes these diseases can present as each other (meaning they look like the other). What's good is that the treatment is usually very similar for the two illnesses from a medication standpoint. So it's possible that you have UC or Crohn's, but that either way your doctor will likely be able to treat it similarly. Do you know if your doctor suspects that the Azathiopurine and Mesalamine are no longer working for you? Unfortunately, this can happen with UC or Crohn's, so if that's what your doctor suspects, you'll likely be moved to another medication. Have you had any discussions about future treatment? Please do keep us updated! -Eshani (IBD Team Member)
referring to our recent conversation, I had my app with my doctor and starting Remicade next week. A bit anxious however doctor said its the best way to go. I would like to ask whether you feel any different with this biologic and/or whether it affects your daily routine. I was told i will be given remicade once every 2 months so I said to myself that its not that bad. However, the doctor said it all depends on how the body responds to the treatment. Hi
, thank you for reaching out! First off, I want to say that Remicade can affect each person differently, so I can only share my own experience. In terms of me--my Remicade only affects me the day and day after I get it. I usually feel sleepy and just generally icky those days, so I try to get my Remicade on a Friday so I can just have a quiet weekend. The infusion itself is long (I get there around 8:30 AM and leave around 12 PM or so), but the nurses are always kind and they give me snacks. Other than that, I love the freedom of not remembering take pills every day, and I go on with life as normal. I've seen great benefits from Remicade and feel a lot better in terms of my illness. I should add that I am more careful about getting sick, as Remicade can increase your chance of serious illness as creates some immunodeficiency. I'm currently on an every 2 months dose (except at the beginning, where you have to load the doses, so you get them more frequently), but it's possible I'll go to every 6 weeks, depending on if I am in clinical remission (no inflammation) or not. But in terms of symptom control, every 2 months has worked well for me. The hassle of the infusions is worth how I feel on the day to day. I hope this helps give you a sense of my experience. I'd add that biologics can take some time to work (I didn't see major improvement for about 2 months) and sometimes one has to experiment with biologics. So even though Remicade worked for me, you may see better results with Humira, Stelara, etc. This is part of the process, unfortunately, and doctors can't predict it. That part was frustrating for me (I started with Humira first, and was frustrated it didn't work well), but patience and communication with my doctors were key. Let me know what else, if anything, I can answer for you about my experience! -Eshani (IBD Team Member)
many of the treatments for ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease are the same, so there's no reason to think that because you were well on those treatments, it's not Crohn's. Both are used to treat Crohn's disease as well. Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are both types of inflammatory bowel disease, and they often present with the same symptoms and can be difficult to tell apart. That's why some people are diagnosed with IBD-unclassified, because they can't tell which it is. I know quite a lot of people who have had
~ Sahara (team member)Thank you for your response. Yes its frustrating not knowing which IBD you may have however in my case all my biopsies taken from active sites in my gut have indicated UC and I have also taken an MRI of my small intestine with the results showing normal activity without any symptoms. I don t know whether these tests are enough to finally settle for UC however my doctor seems convinced now that it is UC. I started on Remicade once every 2 months however i think its still early to say whether its working as i just finished a course of steroids. When i m on steroids the symtops all leave. Thanks. fingers crossed for the Remicade and you! Let us know how you get on.
- Sahara (team member)
I was diagnosed with UC in 2008 and then Crohn’s in 2019. The GI that I saw that entire time didn’t want to go with the Crohn’s diagnosis, not positive why. But I’ve progressively gotten worse since. I’m on Stelara every 28 days and have trouble staying off of steroids. They’re thinking of putting me back on 6MP Mercaptopurine in addition to Stelara.
I’m glad you found this site and gage the internet community of support even though IBD isn’t widely known in your country.* Have not gage.
