Ask for all patient test results...

[grannyh]

There is a difference in the way the steroid is absorbed... as well as dosage. Prednisone is a pill and the dosage is much higher to relieve symptoms.. if you start with a high dose of prednisone..they then wean you off.. you get relief for a few months.

Entocort is only released in the intestine..the dosage is really really small and of that you only absorb about 10%. It is the least dangerous treatment out there if you go the drug route. All of the other alternatives.. if entocort had not worked.. were of the chemo treatment type..now those are truly frightening alternatives.

I am old.. I won't be having any children... and going gluten free and being able to have a normal life.. a normal life for me... was impossible.

The diet route can take up to a year. Diet and entocort can get relief faster than diet alone for some. I wanted the best of both worlds..relief from D and the ability to have a pretty unrestricted diet.. I have that.. and I am down from 3 pills a day 5years ago to one a day now.

I do understand the depression... we have all been there.. I was there when entocort was taken off the market in the US. It was taken off the market because DOCTORS were not prescribing it correctly.. it is only to be used for people with D ONLY. They were giving it for any IBS problem and they killed a couple people.. again it was the doctors/specialists who got it wrong and caused people even more problems.

Once you decide what treatment route you want to take..then you have to find a doctor who will support it. I was lucky both my family doctor and the GI doc let me try diet.. til I got to the point I was willing to try something else.. no one pushed me to take entocort.. in fact, I refused it for a couple of years...

You will find your own path.. it just isn't easy...
grannyh

[Stanz]

Thank you for the explanation of your situation, grannyh, I'm glad that this is working for you and that you've been able to get down to 1 a day.

My frustration yesterday was about all the money and time wasted over the years when the overwhelming evidence should have been seen and we've all been there, I'm sure. I am also personally going through a bad series of events that don't relate to health. I'm actually feeling much better today.

Just to be clear, I have found my own path with L-Glutamine. Unless I get glutened, I have virtually NO symptoms of any kind anymore.