Actually, the percentage of nonresponders is much higher than that. You have to remember that medical researchers tend to have the same mindset as practicing clinicians, therefore they have the same warped opinion that drugs are the solution, and if a drug prescribed for a condition doesn't work, then there's something wrong with the diagnosis, not the drug. That's ridiculous because in the real world drugs simply don't work for everyone. If they were completely candid about the response rate, it would be significantly lower than 10 to 20 %. Why? Because there will always be a significant percentage of the responders who are responding to the placebo effect, not the drug itself.Terre wrote:I feel that I am definitely a nonresponder to the Entocort and Uceris. I read research that states that approximately 10 to 20% are nonresponders (says that nonresponders should be re-evaluated for other causes of diarrhea).
But the reason why I even bring this up is because it invariably leads to the clinician going on a wild goose chase in an effort to find another cause for the symptoms despite the fact that she or he already has a perfectly good diagnosis. Many, many members here have been on that same merry-go-round over the years that this board has been in operation. There have been many, many unnecessary colonoscopy exams ordered, plus many other tests of various types. But looking back, in all honesty I can't recall a single case where anything significant was ever found out of all those "reexamined" cases. The only benefits that accrued from all that additional testing went to the bank accounts of the doctors and hospitals. The patients learned nothing new.
So the problem is virtually never the diagnosis — it's the treatment. We simply have not found the right treatments that will resolve every case. Some day we will find ways to make dietary treatments more effective. But if you are seeking a drug that will resolve every case I can safely guarantee that is impossible, because absolutely no drug is effective in 100 % of the cases. If you look at the efficacy rates of most drugs used to treat IBDs in published trials, you will find that for the most part they run around 65–70 % effective. Claimed efficacy rates of 80–90 % should be taken with a grain of salt, because in the real world, such response rates are as scarce as hen's teeth, especially for anti-inflammatory medications.
I'm sorry that you're having problems reaching stable remission. There is almost surely something in your diet that is sneaking in to prevent remission. What about histamines? Have you tried an antihistamine lately? Sometimes, when nothing else works, the right antihistamine can bring remission.
Tex