Capsule Endoscopy

After trying Pentasa and Entocort, my doctor thought it would be a good idea to have a capsule endoscopy.

The prep was much like a colonoscopy prep so I was up most of the night, you know, prepping. I went in to the office in the morning and they put a belt around my waist with a monitor attached to it. The nurse glued some sensors to my abdomen and turned the monitor on. She then activated the camera pill and made sure it was synced up to the monitor. I was a bit nervous about getting the pill down but I swallowed it with no problems.

I left the doctor's office and decided to go home instead of the office. I had been up all night and was exhausted. I was also nervous about getting on the subway - that monitor belt looked a little bit like a bomb, especially with the light that blinked in time with the flash on the camera pill. The nurse told me not to eat or drink anything for a while (I can't remember how long but it wasn't too bad). They also told me not to lie down as it inhibits the passage of the pill. As long as I didn't have any pain and the light kept blinking, I just had to come back to the office eight hours later to return the monitor.

The worst part of the whole experience was staying upright. I wanted to sleep so badly but I had to prop myself up on a stack of pillows and it just wasn't working out. I did experience some sharp pain high up on the left side of my abdomen several hours after I'd swallowed the pill but the pain wasn't enough to cause me much concern.

I returned the monitor eight hours after I had swallowed the camera pill and that was that. Aside from the prep, it was really easy. Like I said, the worst part was the damage it did to my nap time.

Steroids

Entocort

Entocort aka Budesonide is a steroid that is released in the intestine. The idea is to keep it out of the blood stream and limit side effects.

I didn't have any trouble with side effects on Entocort but it didn't help either. I tried it for a month with no results.

Plan C.

5-ASA

Pentasa

My Crohn's treatment began with Pentasa also known as 5-aminosalicylic acid or 5-ASA. Pentasa is an anti-inflammatory that acts only in the digestive track which means there should be fewer side effects.

I had some trouble with Pentasa. I started off with six pills per day and the nausea was awful. I cut back to three pills then added one pill a week until I got back up to six. The nausea got better but my symptoms did not improve after a couple of months.

Time for plan B.