WILL I NEED MEDICINE AFTER SURGERY FOR CROHN'S DISEASE?
Whether you need medicine after surgery, what medicine it will be and when it starts will likely be determined when the operation is performed.
If Active Disease is Seen
If you still have active disease present, you may be started back on your previous medicine or changed to a different medicine, if your doctor feels that the previous medicine wasn't doing enough. The medicine may be started a few days after surgery. Or the medicine may start several weeks after surgery if it felt the medicine may interfere with healing from the operation.
If the surgeon removed (resected) the area that was causing problems and there were no other active areas that he or she could see, then it is usually suggested to let you heal after the operation. Your gastroenterologist will then take a look with a colonoscopy, and possibly an x-ray (most likely a MRE) or a pill camera about 3 months later to see if medicine should be restarted and which one or whether just one of the diets for Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis will be enough to manage the disease. Either way, your doctor will want to recheck how you are doing at regular visits and with retesting.
This article, as well as all others, was reviewed and edited by a member of our Medical Advisory Board.
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