Over the last week or so I’ve been having abdominal pain on and off. It started around the time I got down to the 10mg of Prednisone. I called my GI’s office this morning about it and I heard back from my doctor this evening. We discussed what my options are and I don’t have a whole lot of them. For now we’re going to up my Prednisone back up to 20mg. Hopefully this will make the pain stop and once it does I’ll be on the 20mg for 10 days and then we’ll start stepping me back down again by 5mg at a time every 10 days. I’ll still be on the Budesonide during this time. I’m really hoping that this works otherwise I’ll be going on either Remicide or Humira(for more info on these drugs click here). My doctor will also be discussing this plan with a couple of other doctors in the office to see if they’re ok with this course or if they just want to jump right into the immunosuppressors. I really hope that they go for the steroid route for now.
All of this has sent my stress levels into overdrive. I’m getting stressed out over the weight I’ve gained because now my bridesmaids dress just barely fits. Even with me going to the gym three days a week. So now I need to watch my diet and work out more to try and combat that. I’m stressed out over insurance. I have to figure out which insurance is going to cover which medication. And the Humira I found out needs pre-approval to even get. I haven’t been able to find out anything about the Remidice since I have to have it through an IV and I think my regular insurance would cover that and not my prescription insurance. I’m also fighting with my old insurance over a bill from when I was hospitalized in December. They don’t want to cover one of the doctors because I didn’t have a referral. HELLO! I was in the HOSPITAL! I can’t exactly control who my doctors are at that point. The lady I was talking to filed a claim for me thankfully so I’ll find out in about 3 weeks if they’re going to pay that.
My doctor also informed me that I’ll have to decide which immunosupressor I want to go on. But insurance will also probably play a role in that decision. I have no idea whether I’d rather get an IV every 8 weeks or give myself shots every 2 weeks. Neither of them sound appealing to me. I honestly thought I wouldn’t be on those for a good long while. It really sucks that the Mesalamine doesn’t work for me at all and causes more harm than good. There also aren’t a whole lot of meds that treat UC unfortunately.
So, basically, tonight I just hate the world.
Sorry to hear things aren’t going so well. It’s rough, isn’t it? I’ve had trouble getting off steroids too.
I can tell you I’ve been on Humira since August or September, and it hasn’t been bad. No major side effects or anything, although of course that varies from person to person. But here’s hoping the steroids work out better for you.
It really is rough getting off of the steroids. I was hoping things weren’t going to be this difficult but of course that’s not the case. I’m glad to hear that the Humira hasn’t been bad for you. I hope the same goes for me if my doctor decides to put me on it.