Here comes the Imuran!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the good feedback about the blog- I think I'll keep it up, since it seems to be a good way to let people know what's going on!

Today I had an appointment with Dr. Kaplan at the UCMC GI clinic at Foothills Hospital. It seems he's likely going to be my primary gastroenterologist now, or perhaps work as a team with Dr. Price, which is great- I really like Dr. Kaplan. He's young, and he's very involved in research and is very up to speed with new treatments, which is great, plus he's got a much better bedside manner- he even gave me his ucalgary.ca e-mail should I need to ask him any questions. (Mom likes him better too!)

So, I don't have to go on Remicade (yay!), but Dr. Kaplan did start me on Imuran. Imuran is a drug that surpresses your immune system- it's used for all sorts of things, like preventing transplant rejection and treating rheumatoid arthritis, for example.

Here's how he explained this to me: basically, the thought is that there's a mycobacterium in my colon that my body is attacking (an autoimmune issue basically), and my immune system is over-reacting to this bacteria. Taking Imuran will essentially make my immune system depressed, which will help stop it from attacking my own guts, basically.

So if you're around me and you're sick, pretty please let me know- I gotta be really careful not to get any cuts or bruises, and to wash my hands very frequently, as my body will have a harder time fighting off infection on Imuran. It'll take a couple of months before I feel anything from the Imuran, so I'm still taking the prednisone- although I won't be on it as long as originally thought. It all depends on how the Imuran works out, but Dr. Kaplan doesn't want me on it forever, as there's a lot of nasty side effects prednisone can cause.

So that's basically the gist of it for today! Tomorrow I go for my ultrasound to find out what's up with this potential cyst/abscess, and I'm feeling pretty positive about my new GI doctor. The best thing is that he actually supports me being my own advocate, and doesn't mind me doing my own research and informing myself about Crohn's. That and this hopefully means I'll be rid of that bad secretary from now on!