Talk Cancer

Question:

I was on azathioprine.  It does not kick-in until you have been taking it for about 3 months.  I was on Asacol for that time, and a reduced dose following that. If your Doc did not explain that to you; then change your Doc The combination had very good results. Unfortunately I was one of the few where azathioprine had a side effect – it affected my bone marrow and my white cell blood count dropped.   I came off both drugs last September, am now drug free (my blood counts are normal).   The good news is that my UC appears to have cleared-up. Rgds Tony Howard

Response:

Hi–my guess is that the doctors see too many patients to keep track of properly. This might sound callous to some but, sadly, all too true. Also I don’t think many doctors have empathy for ibd patients since they(the sufferers) vary so much in their symptoms and complaints. Mel

Response:

Geoff, It’s hard to say from a distance what the specialist’s reasons were. Frequently your external symptoms bear little relation to the condition of your colon. That is, you can control the symptoms but the disease has progressed in a dangerous direction.  For example, if you have UC and have had it for a long time (15+ years) most GI docs will recommend surgery, simply because you are almost certain to get colon cancer eventually. Another possible reason is that the side effects of your medication have become more serious than the condition they are treating. But it’s also possible that the doc didn’t want to be bothered titrating different treatments. If that’s the case you need a new doc. You also can’t go by the docs in your local practice, unless they are GI specialists. They have little experience and large prejudices, just like uninformed public and uninformed patients do. Don’t fall into the trap of believing only those doctors you want to believe. Because they agreed with you it doesn’t mean they are right. Of course,  if they disagree with you it doesn’t mean they are right either! You should ask your specialist why she recommended surgery. If the answer isn’t reasonable, find a doctor you can trust. Larry – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi As some of you know my specialist suggested surgery. All the doctors at my local practise advised against it. I made it clear to my specialist that surgery would be a life or death option as far as I was concerned. I also told her that I had deteriorated since stopping the Asacol, and Colifoam which she said should be unnecessary with Azathioprine. I asked to resume my Asacol and Colifoam. 72 hours later the mucus had stopped, the blood had stopped and the ‘BIG D’ was only ‘little D’ It is now a month snce and my bowel movements are down from 6-12 per day to 2-5 per day, almost always normal or just a ‘little loose’. I even dare to break wind without taking my pants down Why do we so often have to tell them what to do, or insist on a course of action? It seems to me that they just want the easy way out and to get rid of us from their clinics because we make lifedifficult for them and remind them of their own fallibility because they haven’t a cure, and we are each so individual a text book approach doesn’t exist. Or is it just me? I’ve heard of ‘Physician heal thyself’ It seems with IBD it’s ‘Patient heal thyself’ Thanks for reading the rant Geoff

– Larry Finch N 40