Hi, Friend
sry about your hospital stay, glad you are home with us now, and Currently doing much better.

Extreme bone aches, Apriso, maybe the Lialda would be less on the bones , try talking to the doctor , or research the side effects about these two. Remicade should be helping with this (extreme bone aches), Remicade hopefully will have or sounds like it has you in remission. Great if you are and can maintain remission, soon your doctor may stop the Remicade, and just see if the Imuran 150 mg/ day can do the same (keep you in remission) man woud`nt that be great.

Yes people do get off these drugs , as the body can maintain remission.

Are you eating a healthy diet custom for your disease`s needs?

Stay Positive,
and yes someday soon I hope to see you drug free.

You are wise to be concerned about the drugs. Everyone's disease is different and people have to do what works for them, but I am currently not on any medication and trying to heal my body, rather than cover up symptoms with meds. I am working with a naturopathic dr for heavy metal toxicity, and mal-absorption, both of which I think are contributing greatly to my health problems. Getting on the proper diet is a good place to start, there are supplements that can be helpful as well. If you have a naturopathic dr in your area, I would start there if you want to get off the meds. There are also books you can read - Breaking the Viscous Cycle is helpful for a lot of people. I found Self Healing Colitis and Crohns by Dave Klein to be the most helpful for me. I was in med-free remission with in 3.5 weeks.

Remicade was not made for me, I did a reaction to it, its rare but I was not the lucky one to get it, so now I cant not have Remicade in my life, they told that Im allergic to it but its more complicated than a allergic reaction, I cant not even remember what happen last year for a couples of months :( Remicade made me a different person even now a little bit but not myself, and I wish so much to be like myself again and live my life.......

I don't know about getting off the drugs. Some people on in this group say they have. The Japanese have approved a method of filtering the blood to reduce the inflammation of UC without side affects but I haven't even heard of it being trialed here. I've taken Apriso since June of last year. With it I get daily nausea and headaches and frequent sinus infections. I had terrible joint pain for over a year, but that came and went before I started Apriso and was probably part of my UC flare-up. Apriso and Lialda are the same medicine in different doses and delivery methods and both can cause lupus type symptoms so going back to Lialda might not help lessen the pain you're having. Here's an article about it:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10203437?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

You might want to talk to your doctor about it. Hope it's some help.

I am actually on almost the same meds as you are. I get Remicade infusions every 6 weeks, I also take CellCept (just like Imuran) and I am currently taking Lialda. I have not had any side effects like you are having though. I sometimes feel achy or sore but I think that is just part of the Remicade. For the Lialda, my insurance covers a good part of it but the company that makes Lialda has a discount program that you might want to look into to see if you are eligible. I only pay $10 for a month supply of Lialda. They send you a discount card and they cover everything else that insurance does not except for $10. Its really nice. It is called a Pharmacy Discount Card. I think you have to have insurance that is not a state aid insurance like Medicaid. http://www.lialda.com/lialda-patient-assistance-program.aspx
My doctor gave me the card when he switched me to Lialda, along with some samples. I cant hurt to look because if you felt better on Lialda then you should try to switch back.
Also, my doctor told me that he usually recommends Remicade for life. He said he will reevaluate again in a couple years but for the most part, if it works, you are on it for the long run. Although, probably not a frequently; maybe just a couple times a year. Right now it is helping me a lot! I feel like I have a life again.
Good Luck!!

Sorry, here is the web address for Lialda:

http://www.lialda.com/lialda-patient-assistance-program.aspx

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond to my post. I too, believe that food is key. The food industry is poisining us with its refined and processed trash. And, food is key to recovery.
An apple a day........
I've read many of the diet related publications out there. The one I like best is "The RAVE Diet and Life style" by Mike Anderson. RAVE means NO Refined foods, NO Animal foods, NO Vegetable oils,
NO Exceptions and Exercise.

Thank You.

steve c

Hey Steve - If your BM are somewhat normal and you think that you are in somewhat remission - have you discussed the possibility with your doctor (or second doctor's opinion) of the chances of weaning off one or two of the meds? By the way, the "you will be on this for life" is a common taught quote that most docs have said to all of us. In some cases they might be right but I trust God first. That's just me. Say you change your diet to the SC diet for a couple of weeks while on the meds and then proceed to the next step which would be a decision by you. I was on asacol for a year and then made the self decision to go. Again, that's me. I had to make changes and I only tried that choice because I was not experiencing major flares and I was passing half of the asacol anyways. You know your body better than anyone. Please know that I never tell anyone to abandon their meds. Seek your docs opinion first.
Guy

I just completely stopped my Lialda.
I had such bad headaches that my vision was blurred in my right eye!