Remicade Pros and Cons?
Hi all, I have a bit of a unique Crohn's journey. I'm 35. I was diagnosed at age 13. My parents refused to give me steroids and other strong drugs and took a homeopathic route.
Long story short: I was essentially symptom free for all my 20s. But roughly 3 years ago, I started getting episodes of immense stomach discomfort, distention, nausea, vomiting. These episodes are luckily few and far between (every 4-5 months), but they are debilitating.
It wasn't until this year, after an ER visit, that doctors found out I had strictures in my small intestine and these episodes were partial obstructions. I also have iron deficient anemia that was bandaged with iron infusion last year, but I've dropped back to low levels now.
MRI and Double balloon enteroscopy revealed 3 small bowel strictures. One was mostly scar tissue that the enteroscopy procedure resolved. But the second one was actively inflamed and they could not safely push the camera through. So my GI doc recommended Remicade.
I'm nervous to go on Remicade. I understand that it lowers the immune system and it'll be easier to contract diseases. I think part of my nervousness is that I was raised to be skeptical of pharmaceuticals. Also, outside of my few episodes, I live a pretty normal, asymptomatic life. I eat mostly anything (health conscious though, focus on whole foods), I workout, I drink occasionally, I travel, etc. So I'm not in a position where this drug will directly improve my quality of life, but can potentially jeopardize it with my lowered immune system.
But on the other hand, I know something must be done. My iron levels are pretty bad (although I don't feel fatigued). The strictures are there. I'm hoping my healthy diet could help out, but I'm not sure how much I can rely on that.
Could really use some advice, thoughts, and feedback from the community! Appreciate ya'll for reading through this.