Crohn's treatment with antibiotics

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2005
Crohn's treatment with antibiotics
14
Thu, 12-29-2005 - 6:47pm
hello- has anyone heard of any dr's treating Crohn's with antibiotics? my friend did such treatment and has been symptom free for about 3 years. My husband says to stop being an amateur physician and that it is not proven to work. I say that if there is even a 5 percent chance that it will cure him it is worth it. Many dr's in other countries are treating crohns with antibiotics and having very good results. he is on 6MP and prednisone now and those arent drugs that should be taken lightly so why is he so against antibiotics? help!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Thu, 12-29-2005 - 7:40pm

Hi Crohnswife!


Welcome to the board!

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2005
Fri, 12-30-2005 - 11:30pm

hello Lynn and thank you for your response
My husband was diagnosed 4 years ago, we have been together about 2.5 years. But he didnt really start to get that bad until april 2005. He landed in the hospital after getting his first ct scan since first getting the disease. apparently, he had an abcess where the small meets the large intestine. He stayed in the hospital for 3 days then had home care. he was given intravaneous flagyl, and another antibiotic and had to be fed intravanesously for 4 months. it was very scary. at that time he went on 6mp but it doesnt seem like it is working, i guess it takes 3 or 4 months to work, he has been on it for about 6. The reason i was asking about antibiotics, is that I have a friend who has crohns and after a few years of hell and nothing working she told her gastro dr of some drs in texas and australia that were treating it with ciproflexin. they believe that it is actually a bacteria (mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) that gets in your gut via our food supply and needs heavy doses of antibiotics to kill it. She took 1000 mg/ day of cipro for one year. she has been crohns free for 4 years now. of course it is not good to be on antibiotics for long periods of time, but if you are going to be on something why not 'cure' it instead of treating the sypmtoms. check out the website www.crohns.org this tells basically their theory and make sure to check out the part about their clinical studies with patients and the success rate.
So since you are becoming immune to remicade what would the next step for you be?

thanks
Brittney

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sat, 12-31-2005 - 10:18am

Hi Brittney,


Ah, my favorite topic of discussion.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2005
Sat, 12-31-2005 - 7:04pm
well, we are just going to stay home for NYE, Geoff is sick so he doesn't want to go out and I have been fighting a little bug too so it's ok with me. We are going to hang out with family tomorrow. What about you?
thanks for all the info, I read most of it and need to read the rest later when I am feeling better, I can't seem to concentrate right now. I do have one question, have you yourself tried the antibiotic route? if not what is the reason? just want to get some insight into the 'crohns mind' :) I hate to say this, but I think if I was as sick as Geoff I probably would have ended my life by now. Of course I would never say that to him, but I can't imagine not being able to hardly eat and being in massive pain most of the time. I do want to start going to a support group, we have one in Irvine,CA which is near us but the one in december fell on a day that we werent able to make it. So you mention the Crohns board, am I on the wrong one here?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Fri, 01-06-2006 - 2:04pm

Hey Brittney,


Sorry to hear that both of you were under the weather for NYE.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2005
Fri, 01-06-2006 - 3:55pm
Thanks Lynn
I am actually going to the bookstore tonight so I'll have to check out that book. Thanks for all the info, I really do appreciate it. Geoff is on the upswing but as you know it can take a turn for the worst fast.
So why on earth did you have to go to work at 3 am? What line of work are you in?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Sun, 01-08-2006 - 2:02pm

HI Britney,


I work retail managment for a grocery store.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-09-2006
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 7:57pm
Hi. I don't know if I should put my two cents in here or not for fear of giving you a false hope. But I'm going out on a limb and giving it a shot. First of all I want you to know that there is no perfect cure here or anything. Each person is different. The chemical makeup in medicines affect different people differently. With that said (I'm sure you knew that much already :) ) I would like to say that I am taking an antibiotic myself. And I've had no trouble since I've been taking it. In fact I'm able to eat foods that I haven't been able to digest unless I was on Prednisone. That's wonderful for me :). And I tried Remicade. It worked at first but then it just kinda stopped. So I believe Lynn said that she tried Remicade and it worked. Basically it's like this. People with crohn's are like guinnea pigs. You try one thing and that doesn't work. Then you try something else. Your husband is frustrated I'm sure. I know. I've been there. Just be patient and be as supportive as you can be. Well I don't know if this helps or not but I tried. If you want to write back you can. I'll be glad to help in anyway I can.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 9:40pm

Hi smiling!


I am so glad you wrote that.

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-29-2005
Mon, 01-09-2006 - 10:30pm
thanks for 'putting your two cents in'. If you don't mind me asking, what antibiotic are you on? Lynn mentioned that one of the side effects of taking an antibiotic is that you are at increased risk of getting C. difficile. But you are also at risk of getting that when you take acid reducers for Gerd or heartburn/ indigestion. It raises the PH level in your digestive tract, so the bacteria is able to live. For now my husband refuses to take the antibiotics because 'it's not proven to work'. I am just keeping my ears open for the time when he is maybe ready to do something different. I think he is getting another CT scan on thursday. Oh, one really wierd thing that happens to him is that sometimes his stomach grumbles like there is water draining or the toilet flushing. Has anyone had that??

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