Right after Emily Kimes moved across the country to pursue her dream, she was diagnosed with PSC. Her mother, her biggest advocate, scoured the internet for information on PSC and came across the use of vancomycin. Emily and her mother fought hard to find a doctor willing to prescribe the drug. Once they found someone […]
Liquid Vancomycin is “Like a Miracle” for Teenage PSC Patient
At age 15 and in the second stage of liver fibrosis, Leonardo started taking the Firvanq brand of liquid vancomycin. He takes 500 mg twice a day and has experienced no vancomycin-related side effects. Not only did vancomycin lower all his liver enzymes to normal, but also helped him get into remission from his ulcerative […]
Noticing Elevated Liver Enzymes in My Blood Work
Did you know a common sign of PSC is losing response to the IBD medications you try? Since my ulcerative colitis diagnosis in 2014, I’ve tried countless medications, including prednisone, 5-ASAs (like mesalamine, sulfasalazine, and Apriso), enemas, biologics, and more, and none of them brought me relief for more than a few months. I Failed […]
The Strange Link Between Elevated Liver Numbers and Failing Remicade
Near the end of 2017, I had elevated liver numbers while I simultaneously began to lose response to Remicade without developing Remicade antibodies. The combination of these two red flags is a sign that there might be something deeper at play than just ulcerative colitis. A lot of the time, these signs point to a […]
How Elevated Liver Numbers Threw a Wrench in My Health Plan
After taking a one-year break from Remicade, I restarted the biologic in 2017. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as well as it originally did, and my doctor thought that my high liver numbers might hold the keys to discovering the answer. In this blog post, I share why my elevated liver numbers threw a wrinkle in […]