I had a consultation the other day with GI specialist. He was the best guy I have ever seen, interested and listened well, extremely knowledgeable, open minded for discussion, and funny. All of which are very important when dealing with this sort of disease! Makes me wish our system (NHS) meant you could stick to just one guy, but I get why it has to be how it is. A real breath of fresh air compared to some of the guys I have seen.
Anyway I said my 4.8g Asacol isn't really getting me back to full remission, and I wanted to try clipper again. He said he wanted to try Budesonide, and while that is working, do a colonoscopy. As I'm in semi remission and it's only 18 month since my last one (without a bad flare in between), I was reluctant, but he did a good job of convincing me, so that's now booked in for July. Meanwhile I've started a 9 week course of Budesonide (3 pills/day for 3 weeks, then 2 pills/day for 3 weeks, then 1 pill/day for 3 weeks). Has anyone used oral Budesonide before? I was a bit sceptical as I've just tried a course of enema based Budesonide without any noticeable change. But he assured me the oral pills will be much better. Just hope he is right.
Regarding Clipper, he called the hospital pharmacy to see if they had it but they couldn't say when they'd get it in, and he wasn't familiar with it and said without knowing what dosage to use he would rather do the Budesonide. This was the only downside, but he said that if the Budesonide doesn't work then for sure we can give the Clipper a go after that. Just 9 weeks to wait potentially.