Medication and Alternative Therapies to Treat Crohn’s
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There’s no cure for Crohn’s disease, but there are several therapies available to help with symptom management.
Most people with Crohn’s disease can lead a fairly normal life with treatment.
The treatments your doctor recommends will depend on the severity and type of symptoms you’re experiencing, as well as what parts of your digestive tract are affected.
The two main types of treatment for Crohn’s disease are medication and surgery.
Medications for Crohn’s Disease
A number of medicines are used to treat Crohn’s disease.
Your doctor may recommend one or more drugs, depending on which parts of the digestive tract are causing your symptoms.
Most medications for Crohn’s disease reduce inflammation and suppress the immune system.
Some medicines are used to treat flares, when symptoms are at their worst. Other medicines help prevent the return of symptoms once they’ve gone away.
According to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, here are some common Crohn’s medicines.
Aminosalicylates (5-ASAs) These drugs reduce inflammation in the digestive tract, especially in the colon.
Aminosalicylates are generally prescribed for people with mild to moderate symptoms. According to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, they’re most useful as a maintenance treatment to prevent relapses.
Their effects are localized to the colon, and they have fewer side effects than some of the other medications used to treat Crohn’s.
Apriso, Asacol HD, Delzicol, Lialda, or Pentasa (mesalamine) and Azulfidine (sulfasalazine) are the most commonly prescribed aminosalicylates used to treat Crohn’s disease, although they are not as widely prescribed as they used to be, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Corticosteroids Also known simply as steroids, these drugs reduce inflammation and immune system activity.
They’re generally prescribed for people with moderate to severe symptoms, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK).
Deltasone (prednisone), Medrol (methylprednisolone), and Entocort EC (budesonide) are corticosteroids commonly prescribed for Crohn’s disease.
Corticosteroids suppress the entire immune system, not just in the digestive tract.
Because they can have significant side effects in both the long and short term, steroids are usually taken only for short periods of time to help control a Crohn’s disease flare, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
Immunomodulators These drugs help reduce inflammation by suppressing the body’s immune system.
Your doctor may recommend an immunomodulator if you have severe symptoms, or if you haven’t seen enough improvement in your symptoms with aminosalicylates and corticosteroids.
These drugs may help you stop taking corticosteroids or maintain remission when other drugs haven’t been effective for this purpose, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
Immunomodulators may take between a few weeks and three months to start working, the NIDDK reports.
According to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, commonly prescribed immunomodulators include Imuran (azathioprine), Purinethol (mercaptopurine), and Prograf (tacrolimus).
Biologic response modifiers (biologics) These drugs prevent inflammation by targeting proteins made by the immune system.
Biologics are commonly used in moderate to severe disease and frequently used in mild disease when other treatments have not worked as well, according to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.
They are given either as monotherapy or in combination with other medications and are given intravenously (by IV) or by injection.
Some of these drugs are injected like a regular shot and others are given as an IV infusion in an infusion center, doctor’s office, or at home.
Commonly prescribed biologics include Remicade (infliximab), Humira (adalimumab), Cimzia (certolizumab), Tysabri (natalizumab), Stelara (ustekinumab), and Entyvio (vedolizumab).
Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors In May 2023, the FDA approved Rinvoq (upadacitinib) for adults with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease who haven’t responded well to or can’t tolerate one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blockers.
It’s the first approved oral treatment for Crohn’s disease and is a fast-acting alternative to infusions and injectable drugs. It works by blocking multiple pathways of inflammation caused by inflammatory bowel diseases.
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