Hi there,

I have been on cymbalta for 6 months. cymbalta is a combination medication. I don't know if any one explained it to you.

it contains med for depression but it also has a pain reliever specifically for spasms in our intestines. which is a symptom of crohn's and UC. I have both.

I begged for them to give me remicade. they said Now way. I had breast cancer, so I'm not allowed to have it.
but I know people that have gone into remission with it. complete remission.

I also have a nephew and a cousin that have it, from their teens.

my cousin, had to have a couple of feet of her intestines removed, when she was a teen, then she has survived with only a powdered drink for the past 30 years. she travels, and golfs everyday....very happy and healthy.

I find the cymbalta really works for me.
I noticed a difference right away, along with other meds I was given.

I also took (can't remember the name) a type of chemo by pill. for the crohns.
I was on it for 8 months, took one daily. and it put me in remission. that was 6 months ago. they took me off it, and gave me the cymbalta to keep it stable.
I also take colozal, 3 pills 3 times a day.
I take dyclomine, 1 pill four times a day, or 3 times if that's all I need.

Colozal, is great for inflamation, which also causes a lot of pain. it helps a lot.

dyclomine is specifically for spasms in the intestines. I watched my test, and it showed how bad I get spasms. I had to drink the white stuff, they said the more you drink, the better the pictures, so I blew them away and drank 3 huge cups. they said you had enough, I said, that's okay.....I was hungry from fasting, this is filling me up!! but on the pics, I could see how it stopped the flow in my intestines, and would be the size of a straw in comparison to the normal part. then it would slowly drip a teeny bit at a time, then it would start to open back up and after some cramping from it it would open all the way and the white stuff would gush through. it was weird, but quite interesting to see how your poop works!!! LOL
so picture a banana, cut off both ends, it's your intestine, full of poop. squeeze the middle as tight as you can, poop goes backwards, and forward, but the piece you squeezed is going to hurt bad, until it evens out again. plus poop going backwards, just isn't right!!! lol
did you know you can think your constipated, but you really have diareah. weird huh?

I was on entacort, which is a steroid like prednizone. tht stuff worked pretty good, but I took it alone for a year, with nothing else to help other things. so it didn't cure anything. trying to get off it, took another year. I would windle off, and once I was completely off, I would get diareah 20 times a day, I hurt MORE after I go, so every time I go, I'm doubled up coming out of the bathroom.
isn't this fun talking all about poop!!!

check my journal later, I'll put some stuff on there just for you!! it will make you laugh.

I've been pretty good for the past 6 months. I still get a few little problems, but nothing like I was for two years, I couldn't even walk, without crying. and I don't cry. I hate crying.
my pain level got so high, that I got hallucinations. ya, but there's one difference, I was being poisoned alittle each day. didn't know it. but it was the poison, that caused the problem, it destroyed my entire digestive track. yup, everything.....liver too.

well, I just filled your head with a lot of s&^(*^..... poop.

so I won't bore you anymore. and yes, I will add you to my friends.

how are you feeling? are you still having problems? or are you kinda stable?

I go for my sixth month evaluation friday.
(6mp, that was the type of chemo pill) had to tell you while it popped in my head, I have short term memory loss, so if I don't write it down quick, I lose it. lol

anyway, my dr. will let me know how I'm doing and symptoms I have, if hey are from the crohns U>C or something else.

anymore questions? lol, I feel like an enclopedia right now. just kidding.

I'm here if you need me, or if I can help.
hugs to you cuz we have a nasty disease.
Nancy

Why are you apprehensive about remicade? I was on it for 6 months and it was wonderful! I waited to long initially to take an agressive medicine such as remicade and when I became extremely ill it was too late becasue my colon was too badly damaged and was about to rupture. At this stage of the illness remicade didn't work so I had to have my entire colon removed. I then developed fistulas in my rectum and I started on remicade again and it did work.

I'm currently taking Cymbalta, but I also take another antidepressant, as well as azathioprine (Imuran), and am currently weaning off the Prednisone. I think the Cymbalta helps some...I just had a colonoscopy and had only mild rectal inflammation. I've only had two flares since diagnosis and the first flare was before Cymbalta and I tried to come off of it and then had this 2nd flare. I was also trying to do the 'raw fruit and veggies' at the time, which may have been a factor...but it could have been that I quit the Cymbalta. Best of luck to you.

Bless all of you so much! You are both too pretty to be suffering so much. I'm a 44 year old male who has been prescribed Cymbalta (starting it tomorrow morning). I may or may not have Crohns, still going through the diagnosis process (there's some concern about my Pancreas). Had my gallbladder removed (gangrene) six months ago. Having a terrible time finding a GI who will listen and work with me on this (so far everyone's been trying to tell me it's in my head(!). Fortunately my Family Doc is working with me. Have been trying Trazadone (didn't help much except a little with pain). Going off of Percocet for pain and now on Tramadol. Really tired of having trouble going to bathroom and bleeding. Pain in guts is pretty bad at times, some days cannot get out of bed, just curl in a ball.