On the fence medication fears
Thank you so much. I am fairly new here. I am diagnosed with left sided UC/proctitis . After a highly stressful, life event I began bleeding in 2022. I experienced two wonderful years of remission only to recently fall back into the same condition of a flare reminiscent of 2022 and, this time it started after a betrayal in my relationship. I’m still in that relationship trying to find a higher ground or at least self focus to get through this in the meantime .My quandary at the moment is that I Am on four pills mesalmine n suppository/ enema at night. My Cal protectin went from 394 to 136. To me that is trending towards the right direction where I need to give the medication a little bit longer .However, my doctor is pushing for biologic after I wasn’t able to tolerate evinature. I absolutely am phobic about injections. I don’t want IVs absolutely none so I told him that’s not a route for me. He’s talking about these other medication‘s that are oral. I’m just absolutely terrified of going on anything stronger. I have a highly reactive system to multiple chemicals so it’s tough. How do you all face your fears with medications that are stronger than mesalmine.
Hi
. I responded to you a little earlier in a different thread. I asked about your treatments, but now that I see more of your story I better understand. It does seem like you are making progress on mesalamine, but 136 is a still a high Calprotectin number. I don't know how long you have been on it, but I can tell you that most medical sites say mesalamine can take 6 to 8 weeks for the full effect.
Your concerns about biologics and getting infusions or injections is understandable.
Some of our contributors have been quite happy with biologics (see here for example: https://inflammatoryboweldisease.net/living/thankful-biologics and https://inflammatoryboweldisease.net/living/biologics-for-perianal-crohns), but you need to be comfortable with your treatment. I'm guessing the pill treatment mentioned is a JAK inhibitor. They work within the body similar to biologics in how they inhibit inflammation (although they are different). This article goes into more detail on JAKs: https://inflammatoryboweldisease.net/treatment/medications/jak-inhibitors. Elizabeth wrote here about her positive experience with a JAK: https://inflammatoryboweldisease.net/living/medication-not-working.
I wish I had good information or insight into facing the fear that comes with some of these stronger medications, but each person has to decide for themself what is necessary and the right path for them. You know your body and what control of your UC feels like. An acquaintance with a different autoimmune condition refers to the decision to take these meds as the risk to risk ratio. There are the risks of the meds, but also the risks of uncontrolled disease and each person has to figure out where they are on the scale. Hopefully others will chime in with their thoughts and experiences. Wishing you the best. Richard (Team Member)
