Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Hi Everyone,
So I havn't posted in months - I've been SO super busy and on the positive side, my tummy has actually been (relatively speaking) alright with everything. I'm having some problems though and thought maybe someone could relate. So I've been on 150 mg of imuran daily for about six months now. It took awhile to aclimate to this dose and some of you may remember my posts about how naucious the imuran made me at first. But now I'm doing better with it, no more nausea, my appatite is pretty normal and it HAS helped with my crohn's flairs. I've even been able to add certain things back into my diet that I once was afraid of (some raw veggies and even a bit of chocolate here and there)! There is always a down side though, isn't there. So imuran works by lowering your immune system. It doesn't go down to the point of nonexistance, but it is compramised. Some of you may know though, that one possible cause of yeast infections includes a lowered immune system. Before starting on imuran I had experienced all of three yeast infections in my entire life (I'm 28) and now, since about August, they've been recurrent every month. I'm getting sick of buying monastat and it's also starting to interrupt me and my husband with certain things - and neither of us are pleased about that!! But I DON'T want to go off my imuran! It's REALLY helped! I have scheduled an appointment with my GP for a papsmear (I need an annual one anyways). I thought about booking with the gyno specialist, but she was booked through the end of the year, and I've put this off long enough already. Also, I figured that my GP might be better at cooridinating my treatment with my GI doctor (since they're at the same location). But anyways, has anyone else dealt with this? What do you advise? What do you do in general to avoid yeast infections (it's never been a problem for me before, so I don't know except the basic advice of avoid tight jeans)! Should I wait to see the gyno? Should I consider going off imuran? (The next step is probably remicade). Thanks for any advice guys. I'll cross post this in the living room to see about maybe more responses. Hope you guys are well - and I'm gonna try to respond to a few posts here before I get off line for the day.
Min

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