Crohn's Disease & Ulcerative Colitis Support Group
Crohn's disease is a systemic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) of unknown cause, that results in chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract. It can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus, and can also cause complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract. There is no known medical or surgical cure for Crohn's disease, but there are many medical...
Hi everyone,
I've been on here before and posted questions previously and have always been happy with the response I have gotten. I am hoping that it is still this way!
I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2003 as a 15 year old. I was really lucky in that Asacol controlled my symptoms for a long long time. A few years ago this stopped being the case. I was switched to Imuran and had developed pancreatitis two weeks later, so that treatment plan was stopped. For the past two years and a half years I have been on Remicade and it was quite successful for me, until recently. I've suddenly stopped responding as well to the Remicade and it's only keeping me partially healthy. So my doctor is switching me to a newer drug called Entyvio. Like most, I have done a lot of research and am waiting to be contacted to start.
I guess my question is if there are any others on here that are taking Entyvio? And what their experiences have been like while on it. It is another IV drug, so I am already used to that. I have read that there is not much study yet into the safety for unborn children and babies while breast feeding. I am newly married and will be wanting to start a family in the nearer future so I am naturally curious if there are any pregnant women on here that have experience with Entyvio. I understand that as a newer drug there can't have been any long term study yet. My doctor tells me that like Remicade, it is safe during pregnancy. But when I do my research there doesn't seem to be a lot to support that statement.
Any help from anyone would be appreciated!
Rachel
I have no idea yet whether or not I could get the vaccine, I havent; spoken to my Dr yet
Thanks
Peter
Good luck!!
I am so hopeful that you will have the same experience!
I hope you feel well enough to enjoy the holidays, :)
If you have Crohn’s Disease and you are not improving after your third starter
infusion of vedolizumab, your doctor may feel it is valuable for you to have an
additional starter dose at week 10.
If you respond well to the treatment, it is likely you will start a maintenance
programme of infusions every eight weeks.
If your symptoms do not seem to be improving, your doctor may increase your vedolizumab treatment to infusions every four weeks to see if that helps.
All makes good sense to me and must add that I really do feel that I am being well looked by the IBD Team. Here's hoping for a much better 2021 on many different levels.
I will not being self-administering as it would seem that it is possible to measure the effectiveness of vedolizumab with blood tests that only work with the intravenous transfusions.
Peter