Throughout the first few months of my life with Crohn's Disease, the doctors and nurses caring for me ran me through a variety if different treatments and drugs to try and get my symptoms under control. Looking back now, I went through a pretty huge amount of trauma at an alarming speed.
Over the course of around 12months, I'd been on a liquid-only diet, I'd had a course of steroids, was on Azathioprine, and a veritable banquet of other drugs; my symptoms never improved. Eventually the only option left was surgery, my Crohn's was so advanced this was done pretty swiftly and thankfully, it's worked. It has taken away the worst affected area and since then I've been feeling so much better.
After my surgery I joined a drug trial my hospital were running. This trial is specifically designed for Crohn's patients having had the same operation as me, to see if their symptoms are eased by the drug post-op, or, if no medication the best way to go. To make sure the trial results are accurate and successful, I won't know if I've been on the drug it a placebo until the trial comes to and end (it's 3years long).
The drug I may or may not be taking is called Mercaptopurine. When I first started the trial I was on quite a high dosage. I was vomiting, constantly nauseous and faint. My dose was reduced until my symptoms were manageable then eventually these symptoms stopped altogether. I've been relatively well since then.
Some of the more pleasant side effects of this drug are, weight loss, hair loss, stunted periods, skin rashes, weakness and nausea. I've suffered, and suffer from the majority of these, but as these can also be attributed to Crohn's, it's impossible to establish what's causing them.
The trial will be finished (for me anyway) in just over a year and I'm a little anxious. What happens if it's the drug keeping me from getting sick? Do u stay on it? What if I've been taking nothing all this time? Do I continue in the same vein and cross my fingers or try something new?
Change can be good as far as medication goes, but where my troubled colon is concerned, lets stick to what we don't know for now anyway..
This post was written as part if WEGO Health #NHBPM - 30 posts in 30 days
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