6 months in remission and counting

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:10 pm

For whatever reason the stress of my husband being in the hospital last fall... caused a spontaneous remission that is still holding.. go figure...

I did get the entocort renewed for a year.. just in case...:)
grannyh

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:15 pm

Hi Grannyh,

I've been wondering if you've stayed in remission without Entocort. Thank you so much for letting us know. Your experience has given hope to many of us.

Gloria

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:28 pm

I don't recommend stress as a remission starter:) Will be happy to enjoy this as long as it lasts!
grannyh

ant · Post by **ant** » Fri Apr 01, 2011 11:54 pm

Thanks for posting Grannyh. Lets hope the remission continues.

Best wishes, ant

hoosier1 · Post by **hoosier1** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 5:47 am

Granny,

That is incredible. By all accounts, if stress is a factor, I guess I should be in remission too :)

Glad you and your husband are well.

Rich

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 6:17 am

Hi grannyh,

I have also been hoping to hear from you about your remission. Way to go! Six months -another milestone.

I do think you have the honor of being the only one in the history of this Board who went into remission BECAUSE of stress! What's your secret? HAHAHA.

Love,

Polly

Post by **tex** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 7:51 am

Just thinking out loud here, but it has been demonstrated that stress can alter genes, by means of epigenetics. That would seem to me to be the most likely explanation, in a situation such as this. Apparently it can work in various ways, since we are pretty sure that stress can trigger MC, (which would very likely be an example of an epigenetic event).

Tex

Joefnh · Post by **Joefnh** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:47 am

Hi Granny congratulations!! That's great news about the remission... Sorry it was due to the stressful time, but what a result.

Hmmm I'll have to ask work for more stress...

--Joe

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:03 am

If it was stress that did it... it was not long term stress... like work. It was quite sudden and frightening to say the least. One minute I was making my first cup of coffee of the morning.. and then I was rushing hubby to the emergency room.. no coffee...
grannyh

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 9:16 am

Granny - wishing you many more months!

Sara

Post by **tex** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 11:05 am

GrannyH,

Well, we know that long-term stress is bad for MC, but maybe short-term stress can be like a stiff dose of Prednisone - maybe it can shock the system into an epigenetic change, (for the better).

Tex

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 12:02 pm

Now I just have to avoid any more sudden stresses...that might throw me back to square one.
grannyh

hoosier1 · Post by **hoosier1** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:56 pm

Hi Tex,

The stiff dose of prednisone that you mentioned is something I am considering. Do you think that after a 4 month course of entocort and a few months on asacol, that shocking my system with prednisone would be a worthwhile venture?

Rich

Post by **tex** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 3:12 pm

Maybe, but IMO, you need to allow the budesonide to clear from your body for at least a week or two before trying the Pred. One of GrannyH's doctors incorrectly assumed that the residual budesonide in her system wouldn't matter, and he prescribed a corticosteroid to her, for a back injury. The result was a series of life-threatening BP spikes, that lasted for at least a couple of weeks. I don't recall how many trips she had to make to the ER because of that, but now she has to continue to take BP meds forever, because of that little lapse in judgment by her doctor. I also don't recall which corticosteroid she was prescribed, (I don't believe it was Prednisone), but it was very persistent, and it took a very along time to exit her body. I do recall that the shock was sufficient to bring remission of her MC symptoms without any additional Entocort treatments, for several months, afterward, but that was kind of a hollow victory, in view of the adverse cardiovascular events that were triggered.

IOW, in her case, the shock was unexpected, and it got way out of hand, in a hurry. Using Prednisone might not be as risky as the corticosteroid that she was prescribed, but these are uncharted waters, so it's best to err on the safe side, to say the least.

Tex

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Sat Apr 02, 2011 4:59 pm

The doctor put me on something I think was called a "dexpak" One of those things where you take a ton of pills and work down to 1 a day over 10 days. I ended up in the hospital for two days to get the blood pressure under control.

The family type doctor had said it was ok to take the entocort with the dexpak... WRONG!

I did get a three month remission out of the doctor's mistake..but it wasn't worth the problems I ended up with.

I took entocort for a good 6 years...the last few years at one a day.. until this remission started at the end of September 2010.

I tried asacol early on and it made me sick as a dog.

My GI doc says that some people can do short courses of entocort and get a remission of varying lengths... and he had NO problem with me taking it as long as I did. He gave me the prescription for 3 pills a day each year..and he said I was really the only one who could determine when I could safely taper to two a day then one... everyone is different.
grannyh