Crohn’s Disease Treatment: Common Medications for Treating Crohn’s
(continued)
In this article
- What are the symptoms of Crohn's disease?
- What causes Crohn's disease?
- How is Crohn's disease diagnosed?
- How is Crohn's disease treated?
- What kinds of drugs are used to treat Crohn's disease?
What kinds of drugs are used to treat Crohn's disease? continued...
If a person does not respond to sulfasalazine, the doctor may prescribe other types of drugs that contain 5-ASA. These other products include:
- olsalazine (Dipentum)
- balsalazide (Colazide, Colazal)
- mesalamine (Asacol, Lialda, Pentasa, and others)
Corticosteroids such as prednisone are another class of drugs that reduce inflammation. A doctor is likely to prescribe an initial large dose of prednisone when the disease is very active. The dose is then tapered off. A problem with corticosteroids is the large number of possible side effects -- some of them serious -- such as a higher susceptibility to infection and stomach ulcers.
Crohn's disease may also be treated with drugs that stop the immune system from causing inflammation. Immunomodulators change the way the immune system behaves. Immunosuppressants decrease the activity of the immune system. Immunostimulators increase the activity. Immunosuppressants prescribed for Crohn's disease include:
- azathioprine (Imuran, Azasan)
- 6-mercaptopurine (6MP, Purinethol)
- tacrolimus (Prograf)
- Methotrexate (MTX, Rheumatrex, Mexate)
Side effects of immunosuppressants may include:
- diarrhea
- higher susceptibility to infection
- nausea
- vomiting
A biologic drug, infliximab (Remicade), is often prescribed when a person with Crohn's disease does not respond to the standard treatments of mesalamine-containing drugs, corticosteroids, and immunosuppressants. Infliximab is an antibody that attaches itself to the inflammation-promoting protein, tumor-necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). Another anti-TNF medication is adalimumab (Humira). This is a drug that has been used to treat other immune system disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Certolizumab (Cimzia) is another anti-TNF blocker approved recently for Crohn's disease.
Other substances that may be prescribed to treat Crohn's include:
- Antibiotics to treat bacterial infections and overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine; types of antibiotics commonly prescribed include:
- ampicillin (Omnipen)
- sulfonamides
- cephalosporins
- tetracycline
- metronidazole (Flagyl)
- Antidiarrheal agents to stop diarrhea
- Fluid replacements to counteract dehydration
- Nutritional supplements to provide the nutrients that may not be absorbing properly