Need a new doctor.

Since I've been through all the regular medicines except the biologics I am now turning to possible alternative treatments. My present GI doctor simply says Remicade to me if I ever go in there to see him. I had one recommendation of another doctor, but she's not accepting new patients.

I only want to switch doctors because of my present one's attitude that there is only one solution, which is Remicade. From the time he last recommended that, I have brought my inflammation and urgency down tremendously through alternative methods. I use the restroom 2-3 times daily, with an occasional day of 1 or 4, and do not have blood. I'm probably 75% normal right now, as I still have issues with urgency every now and then. My general direction is improvement though.

All I'm looking for is a doctor that thinks outside the box a little, and if they can't do that, at least is supportive of my alternative efforts by telling me if the things I want to try could be harmful or not. I want their medical knowledge to be a guide for me, but to guide me to other options since I feel I am out of them.

If you're wondering, I don't want to try Remicade because of the potential side effect of cancer. I know the odds are very small, but the risk is still there. If my symptoms were more dire... (thinking 10+ BM's of liquid blood per day), and I knew that I had tried all other alternative options, then I would consider Remicade. I'm just looking at risk vs. reward, and my symptoms don't warrant a risk of death in my view.

Am I even going to find someone that is open to alternatives within the medical community? What should I do?

I have heard this "higher risk of colon cancer" stated by my own GI due to my higher than normal c-reactive protein numbers (I feel great though). That's easy to say but is it 1% higher? 50? etc... I can't find any data on this. I'd rather have high CR protein numbers that I can manage with exercise and diet versus biologics that devastate the rest of your body.

Try my homeopathic approach. This was prescribed to me by an ex doctor (radiologist) who earned his Doctorate in homeopathic medicine in Indian and it was in Crohn's/UC... Try for 1 month, what have u to lose?

The other question I have for the OP is why Pentasa? While I'm no expert, I do believe Pentasa is not going to hit the left side of the colon very well. Have you tried Rowasa enemas for a more targeted medication?

Hi Thoreau -
There are open-minded docs out there. I found mine through word of mouth - a friend of mine is his patient also. He's associated with an Ivy-League teaching hospital but knows a lot about supplements and is very open-minded about what I want to try. So..... they're out there, we just have to find them!

Thank you to everyone that has posted here today. I am just getting to sit down for a bit at the computer at eleven at night, so I'll respond a little and hope I can get back to it earlier tomorrow evening.

Why am I on Pentasa? It just seems to work a little bit. Asacol, colazol, lialda didn't. Have done rowasa enemas. Last one I tried were last summer, a generic version, and I got really sick from them.

Cancer risk. My colitis starts halfway or more up the left side, rounds the corner, and is slowly working its way across the transverse colon. This scares me that it has escalated a little, but I think that I can get it fixed. Less than four years ago I had a clean colonoscopy and was pronounced "in remission". My stress levels have been too high in recent years, and I'm taking the time to fix them now. I do know that a very inflamed colon is a bad thing, and can lead to cancer. That scares me too. I don't want cancer either way. You have to understand though, that its most likely that I developed this disease after a strong course of a prescription drug called Accutane back in high school. It sounds like they hid the true side effects, and had my doctor known of them I would not have been put on it. So, I am hesitant with prescription drugs. I am not saying no to Remicade forever, but I want to give myself time to try these other options out. This doesn't seem a terrible idea considering the fact that I most likely will build up antibodies to Remicade and have to go off of it eventually anyway.

With alternatives I'm not necessarily even meaning some off the wall approach. I just don't understand why I don't hear more about the balance of gut flora, possible nutrition deficiencies, and other possible harmful things such as Candida Albicans or parasites. I've done a lot of reading that suggest many of these different things could be playing a role in this disease. Why can't doctors give these further consideration, and help me rule them out one by one before just trying to treat the inflammation and not any underlying cause?

Okay, I definitely need to get to sleep. I'll hopefully get back to this tomorrow evening. Thanks to all the posted. And to InSoFla... I've been reading your posts on the Transdermal LDN. I just haven't had time to really read up on it yet. It has my interest though.