This is a blog about Crohn's. And it is about me. It seems of late that Crohn's and I are inseparable; engaged in an epic struggle for control over my body.
I took Imuran for two weeks. About a week and a half into the treatment, I started getting pain in my gut once again. Subtle pain; nothing extreme. Certainly bearable, considering the pain that I have felt before. The pain sometimes was centered near my belly-button---most of the time on the right side, sometimes on my left. Most of the time, the pain was on my right side, about half-way up my abdomen.
My doctor thought I might be having a reaction to the Imuran. So I was told to stop taking it and head over to the lab for some bloodwork. A liver profile was in order.
Well, it turns out my liver is okay. Nothing is abnormal according to the bloodwork. But the pain is still there.
My doctor prescribed me dicyclomine for the pain. This is an anticholinergic used mainly to treat IBS. It helps sooth intestinal muscles and stop spasms. I have the generic; the brand name is Bentyl.
So I took one, even though the pain is not great. But if it helps, so be it.
One thing that I always do when taking new medicine is to look at the possible side-effects. I love those. Soem are so outrageous that one wonders why take the drug in the first. For legal reasons, drug companies have to ackowledge everything that came up during the trials---which is why there is that lovely commercial for the antidepressant Ablify that warns of "uncontrollable muscle movements that may become permanent."
Then there's Xenical, a weight loss drug with side effects that include "gas with oily discharge, increased bowel movements, an urgent need to have them, and an inability to control them." Sounds a lot like Crohn's to me.
The side effects for dicyclomine are pretty typical: dry mouth, drowsiness, blurred vision and nervousness.
But, under the "CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY" header is the following:
"exaggerated sense of well-being."
I had to read that a couple of times: "call your doctor immediately if you experience an exaggerated sense of well-being."
What does that even mean? If I am feeling good---too good---I should call my doctor?
What denotes an exaggerated sense of well-being? Submitting my name and photo to a modeling agency?
Spend the day admiring my reflection in store windows?
Going on buying spree for new clothes so I can continue being "awesome?"
And if I have an exaggerated sense of well-being, why would I even think to call a doctor? I have an exaggerated sense of well-being, after all; I don't need no stinkin' doctor!
I then noticed the fine print: "this is not a complete list of side effects." Okay, I'll bite.
I went online and discovered even more: fainting, short-term memory loss, seeing things and hearing voices that do not exist, and inappropriate mood.
I think the Crohn's is enough. That's one thing I have learned over the last decade: sometimes the side-effects are worse than what is being treated.
But, like everything else with this disease, drug effectiveness is all by trial and error. When the cause of disease is unknown, then the treatment is pure experimentation.
It seems the medicines I have tried have fallen more in the "error" category than anything else. Every time I try something different, my Crohn's either gets worse or something else pops up.
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