How you will know it is working
Crohn's is judged on what changes day to day, not on how a protocol reads on paper. From your first consultation we track five markers, review them at every follow-up, and say plainly what has moved and what has not. Progress here is something you can see in your own record — on a timeline we set out in advance, so you know when to expect it.
The five markers we track
- Stool frequency and urgency
- Blood in stool
- Abdominal pain — severity and pattern
- Fatigue and energy
- Medication load — dose and frequency of steroids, biologics, immunomodulators
We deliberately do not lead on "feeling normal". It is the last thing to move, and judging progress by it is how patients abandon something that is working.
The objective markers — and they stay with your gastroenterologist
- Faecal calprotectin
- CRP
- Haemoglobin, ferritin, B12
- Albumin
These are your gastroenterologist's, and they remain so. We work alongside conventional monitoring and never ask you to stop it. It is how both of us find out, objectively, whether this is working.
When we judge it
- Weeks 1–4 — energy, sleep, digestion move first. Bowel symptoms often have not. Expected.
- Weeks 3–6 — the Partial Improvement Plateau. Not failure.
- Months 2–4 — this is when the disease should start to change.
- Months 4–8 — same triggers, diminished response.
- Month 8+ — stable remission is assessed. Not before.
Who responds well
Inflammatory (non-stricturing, non-penetrating) disease. Shorter duration. Preserved repair capacity. A clear driver profile. Patients who begin while still on their current medication.
When this is not the right treatment
- Established fibrotic strictures. Scar does not reverse with any internal treatment.
- Extensive prior resection. Removed bowel does not grow back.
- Severe penetrating / fistulising disease — complex, and response varies widely.
- Anyone in an acute severe flare, with obstruction, or with signs of perforation. You need
emergency conventional care — now, not us, and not later.
For patients with advanced structural change the realistic goal is a lower inflammatory burden and a lower medication load — not remission. We would rather turn away a patient we cannot help than take their money.
Medical disclaimer. This page is general clinical information, not personalised medical
advice. Individual response varies with disease duration, degree of involvement and remaining biological
repair capacity — not every patient reaches the same outcome. No medication should be started, stopped or
altered without consulting your treating physician.
