I just came from my G.I.'s office and he suggested Remicade. I believe I have right now, mild Crohns. I take 9 Imodiums per day and 9mg of Entocort. My 3-5 nearly formed stools allow me to walk 2 miles every morning without any stressful urge to go. With a J-pouch,I believe that's good. Right now, I must have some steroids to treat the scleritis of my right eye. One Entocort does not provide enough systemic spillover to do it but two does. My retina specialist thinks I will need Prednisone or some sort of steroid the rest of my life to prevent more auto immune eye problems. Aside from that, my G.I. thinks Remicade is better in the long run than the Entocort and its long term side effects. In the next few days I will try to get by with 6mg Entocort instead of 9 to try and help in the reduction. If I allow the eye to inflame, untreated, I will loose the eye. Serving two masters is tough. What do you think about my delemma?
Dave D

Personally, I think that Remicade is definitely worth a try. My understanding is that scleritis is often related to the activity of the underlying autoimmune disorder. Improving your Crohn's remission may well improve the scleritis. In fact, Remicade is currently under study for treatment of scleritis, since there appears to be a TNF component to its inflammation. Anything you can do to reduce your steroid use, particularly systemic, is a good thing. Your current good function is surely due to the steroid use. I do understand that topicals are not particularly effective for scleritis.

http://www.druglib.com/trial/75/NCT00075075.html

Jan

Wow, that would be wonderful if you could treat both problems AND possibly reduce or eliminate the entocort/steroids. Good luck Dave, let us/me know if you decide to try Remicade. It was wonderful for me. I hope you find the same is true.

Hi Dave,

I have UC and Remicade worked great for me. I was able to get off steroids too. It does lower your immune system and there is a chance you will get shingles. I got shingles after my third treatment. It was very painful and lasted 4 weeks. For me, it was still worth getting rid of all the other colitis problems and steroids.