It's been two weeks since my gastroenterologist follow-up visit. At that point, I had been back on the prednisone at 10 mg a day for three weeks. Dr. Weber and I discussed my downhill slide after I stopped the prednisone at the end of June and how quickly I improved after jumping back on the prednisone at 20 mg a day in the middle of August.
Dr. Weber really wants me off the prednisone. And I get it. Prednisone has all of those nasty side-effects, both short and long-term. However, the only side-effect I've had are small bouts of insomnia here and there, and NO side-effects at the lower dose of 10 mg. So at this point, it's hard for me to be happy about abandoning prednisone. But . . . (sigh) . . . I do get it.
So, Dr. Weber has put me on budesonide, another steroid, at 6 mg a day, to get me off of prednisone. The interesting thing is when I picked up this medicine from the pharmacy, my pharmacist was concerned at the number of refills the doctor had given. The pharmacist said this is not a long-term medication. After talking with Dr. Weber at my appointment, I was the under the impression that it was. So now I'm not sure.
I've been on the budesonide for almost two weeks. I'm feeling really good, but I've learned the hard way that these colitis/Crohn's medications often take weeks to kick in (or out.) So I can't tell at this point if the budesonide is working or not. My stool is still quite loose, about a 4.8 on the Bristol scale. And the urgency is still kind of there. From that first moment of "Okay, I've got to go," to I-better-be-sitting-on-a-toilet is about 30-40 seconds. Plenty of time if you're at home or even in most stores, but not good for traveling long distances in a car.
And thus you see why I titled this post as I did.
I will be having my next colonoscopy in a few weeks, so I'll post my next health update after that. We are all very curious what it will look like.
Next Update: November 2022, Colonoscopy is Finished, Ended, Complete, DONE!
Previous Update: September 2022, Prednisone Prevails! (and some insomnia)
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