I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm a 35 year old female with an
almost 20 year history of Crohn's and I'll be receiving hookworm from
autoimmunetherapies next Tuesday. We're starting with a dose of 10 to
miminize digestive upset, followed 6 weeks later by 20, and 4 weeks
later by the last 20. I'm going to be logging my experiences here,
since no one else with Crohn's is speaking up.

I'm not going to list my complete history of Crohn's, since I'd be
writing a novel, but I have ileal-colonic, stricturing Crohn's that
presented with a rectal abscess when I was 16. My early 20's was my
worst, with bloody diarrhea and eposodic flare ups. I had 2 healthy
children in my late 20's, but suffered from the Crohn's throughout
both pregnancies, and flared badly afterwards, though I nursed them
for 2 1/2 years each. So far, they are extremely healthy.

I've tried every Crohn's medication except for methotrexate and
thalidomide. 4 years ago, I had my descending colon removed due to it
being strictured beyond hope, and had my first 1 1/2 years of total
remission, which ended after an antibiotic shot was given to me for
something unnecessary. Since then, I've had chronic inflammation and
have had to alter my diet severely (cutting out all fruit and honey).
I've been on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for 5 years. This last
April, I suffered the worst flare up in years due to a yogurt making
mistake, and for the first time, Prednisone did nothing, but Flagyl
brought me to remission. I also have been experimenting with LDN this
last year, but only benefited when I wasn't flaring. I was good for 2
months after Flagyl, then was convinced by my doctor to try Humira,
which they think I suffered an allergic reaction to, since before
starting, I was in remission with a CRP (measure of inflammation in
the body) of 6 (less than 3 is normal). After 2 months of Humira, I
was having diarrhea with a CRP of 19. I've had diarrhea since Sept.
1, usually 4X a night, but I have to stick with blended soups, lots of
protein, little vegetables and fruit in order to maintain this sorry
state.

I plan to take weekly eosonophil counts, as well as measuring before
and monthly changes in inflammation by SED rates and CRP values. I
know it takes months to gain remission, if it's going to happen at
all, but at this point, my only choice in therapies is hookworm or
clinical trials. So I've chosen hookworm.

I'll write about my experience of the Tijuana clinic after I go.

The irony is I never went to Mexico for fear of catching parasites!



-D