Crohn's Disease?

[Vel]

Does anyone here have any personal experience with Crohn's disease and the medications normally prescribed for it? My son was diagnosed with probable Crohn's last weekend and I'm finding so much conflicting information about how to first get it into remission and then how to manage it. If you've experienced this disease and would be willing to share your knowledge I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[xotoxi]

Yes. My wife has it and I have many patients with it. What specifically would you like to know?

 

[Vel]

Yes. My wife has it and I have many patients with it. What specifically would you like to know?

Thanks for responding. My son is 16 and was started on prednisone, Flagyl and Pentasa on Saturday. He seems to feel a little better but keeps having bouts of fever up to 102.3 Most of the time the fever is much lower but I'm wondering if the fever means that these particular meds aren't working for him or if it's just that his intestines are just chewed up enough that it's going to take awhile for the fever to be gone. The Dr. also said that his disease is probably severe and that the Pentasa may not work and that I should consider Imuran. From what I can tell it's an immune system suppressant and I'm wondering if that would leave my son just wide open to every infection out there.

 

[xotoxi]

Yes. My wife has it and I have many patients with it. What specifically would you like to know?

Thanks for responding. My son is 16 and was started on prednisone, Flagyl and Pentasa on Saturday. He seems to feel a little better but keeps having bouts of fever up to 102.3 Most of the time the fever is much lower but I'm wondering if the fever means that these particular meds aren't working for him or if it's just that his intestines are just chewed up enough that it's going to take awhile for the fever to be gone. The Dr. also said that his disease is probably severe and that the Pentasa may not work and that I should consider Imuran. From what I can tell it's an immune system suppressant and I'm wondering if that would leave my son just wide open to every infection out there.

Has he been diagnosed for a long time, or is this a new diagnosis?

And how long has this been a problem? I would guess it has been a while.

It sound like his symptoms are quite severe, so often times big guns like Imuran are needed. Yes, there is a risk for infection, but you have to look at the risk benefit. People on Imuran also just have to be careful and stay away from people with illnesses, etc. But it is not so bad that they have to live in a bubble.

And in his case, hopefully the treatments that you are talking about would be temporary, to get the autoimmune inflammatory process to shut off, and allow for proper healing. At that time, he would likely go back on the less problematic medications.

Of course, as you probably have spoken about with his doctors, sometimes surgery is needed if there is too much damage to the intestines and if fistulas have formed. Hopefully it can be corrected prior to that point.

Best of luck to him and you.

 

[Vel]

Yes. My wife has it and I have many patients with it. What specifically would you like to know?

Thanks for responding. My son is 16 and was started on prednisone, Flagyl and Pentasa on Saturday. He seems to feel a little better but keeps having bouts of fever up to 102.3 Most of the time the fever is much lower but I'm wondering if the fever means that these particular meds aren't working for him or if it's just that his intestines are just chewed up enough that it's going to take awhile for the fever to be gone. The Dr. also said that his disease is probably severe and that the Pentasa may not work and that I should consider Imuran. From what I can tell it's an immune system suppressant and I'm wondering if that would leave my son just wide open to every infection out there.

Has he been diagnosed for a long time, or is this a new diagnosis?

And how long has this been a problem? I would guess it has been a while.

It sound like his symptoms are quite severe, so often times big guns like Imuran are needed. Yes, there is a risk for infection, but you have to look at the risk benefit. People on Imuran also just have to be careful and stay away from people with illnesses, etc. But it is not so bad that they have to live in a bubble.

And in his case, hopefully the treatments that you are talking about would be temporary, to get the autoimmune inflammatory process to shut off, and allow for proper healing. At that time, he would likely go back on the less problematic medications.

Of course, as you probably have spoken about with his doctors, sometimes surgery is needed if there is too much damage to the intestines and if fistulas have formed. Hopefully it can be corrected prior to that point.

Best of luck to him and you.

This is a new diagnosis. Off and on for the last two months he would say that his stomach was upset and he'd turn down his dinner but he never seemed seriously ill and would usually go back and snack on chips and crackers and such. It wasn't until Father's day that he started complaining that his stomach hurt. I scheduled him for a check up last Friday which ended with a CAT scan and admission to the hospital. One colonoscopy later, they told me probable Crohn's.
How concerned should I be about the fever right now? He says he feels fine and he's eating well, but he has a high pain tolerance and tends to not be a complainer. My normal instinct with fever has been to let it run it's course as long as my kids were comfortable, so that the fever could help take out infection. This is the first time in all my parenting years that I've ever felt unsure of what I was doing medically with one of my children. I have to say that I don't like the feeling.

 

[xotoxi]

Thanks for responding. My son is 16 and was started on prednisone, Flagyl and Pentasa on Saturday. He seems to feel a little better but keeps having bouts of fever up to 102.3 Most of the time the fever is much lower but I'm wondering if the fever means that these particular meds aren't working for him or if it's just that his intestines are just chewed up enough that it's going to take awhile for the fever to be gone. The Dr. also said that his disease is probably severe and that the Pentasa may not work and that I should consider Imuran. From what I can tell it's an immune system suppressant and I'm wondering if that would leave my son just wide open to every infection out there.

Has he been diagnosed for a long time, or is this a new diagnosis?

And how long has this been a problem? I would guess it has been a while.

It sound like his symptoms are quite severe, so often times big guns like Imuran are needed. Yes, there is a risk for infection, but you have to look at the risk benefit. People on Imuran also just have to be careful and stay away from people with illnesses, etc. But it is not so bad that they have to live in a bubble.

And in his case, hopefully the treatments that you are talking about would be temporary, to get the autoimmune inflammatory process to shut off, and allow for proper healing. At that time, he would likely go back on the less problematic medications.

Of course, as you probably have spoken about with his doctors, sometimes surgery is needed if there is too much damage to the intestines and if fistulas have formed. Hopefully it can be corrected prior to that point.

Best of luck to him and you.

This is a new diagnosis. Off and on for the last two months he would say that his stomach was upset and he'd turn down his dinner but he never seemed seriously ill and would usually go back and snack on chips and crackers and such. It wasn't until Father's day that he started complaining that his stomach hurt. I scheduled him for a check up last Friday which ended with a CAT scan and admission to the hospital. One colonoscopy later, they told me probable Crohn's.
How concerned should I be about the fever right now? He says he feels fine and he's eating well, but he has a high pain tolerance and tends to not be a complainer. My normal instinct with fever has been to let it run it's course as long as my kids were comfortable, so that the fever could help take out infection. This is the first time in all my parenting years that I've ever felt unsure of what I was doing medically with one of my children. I have to say that I don't like the feeling.

Of course, the fever could be an infection, but it could just as easily be (and most likely is) due to the intense inflammatory reaction going on in his gut. If he is generally feeling better, but still having these fevers, I would consider it a sign that infection is lower likelihood. I'd like to see the fever numbers gradually going down over the next few days. But if pain intensifies, worse diarrhea, worse fevers, he may need antibiotics.