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Should I go on Aza or...?

So I've been mostly in remission since a bowel resection ~10yrs ago. Past year I started getting obstructions, and they've cranked up to the point where I landed in the hospital last weekend.

I've got 14cm of inflamed bowel, likely a new fistula forming, and severe scarring that's causing the blockages.

GI has put me on prednisone to try to get the inflamation under control, and is suggesting that I wean myself off over 6 weeks and start in on Azathioprine.

I'm kind of unsure what the benefit of the Aza is, or why I'd take it, and even more worried about the side effects (especially that it's a long term plan that I supposedly can't really stop taking once I'm on it). Again, I've been really minimal on my symptoms for the past 10yrs, but things are acting up and I need to start being proactive, but do like to err on the side of minimal meds/side effects.

My question is: For those of you who've taken Aza and can look back, do you think it'll do anything to actually help my current obstructions, or is it just a way to proactively reduce occurence of flareups? Will I be able to stop taking it at any point if the side effects get too messy? Do any of you regret having taken it, or found a better option?

Feeling a little lost and any advice would be much appreciated...
 
I have started my second round of aza recently. It worked great for me the first time. You dont have to take it forever although you certainly can. My first round I took it for a year, went into remission, and stayed in remission for 3 more years after I stopped taking it. I also quit smoking and started exercising and eating a whole foods diet in that time as well.

I am in the middle of starting again, but I havent begun to wean of the prednisone yet so I dont know if its going to work like it did a few years back. I was on remicade for a year but my body rejected it and I started flaring again, so I switched to aza. If the aza doesnt work I will try humira, but I want to give the aza a fair shot first and save the humira for later on if I need it.

I tolerate aza fairly well aside from the minor nagging headaches it gives me sometimes.
 
I took Aza for months before developing an allergy to it- so it can certainly be stopped straight away. I don't regret having tried the drug, and at the time would have willingly taken anything on offer to get into remission. Aza is meant to help keep you in remission once you've got there, and to reduce the need for continual doses of pred. From what I understand (and could be wrong), the scarring that you have won't go away with Aza, that's done through surgery alone. Not too sure either how effective it is with dealing with possible fistulas- sorry can't be of more help there.
 
I took aza for 8 weeks and it made me ill. I have stopped it now but the symptoms are coming back. It is worth a try.
 
Aza is meant to help keep you in remission once you've got there, and to reduce the need for continual doses of pred. From what I understand (and could be wrong), the scarring that you have won't go away with Aza, that's done through surgery alone.
This is exactly the info I needed before I go see my GI tomorrow morning (been waiting for my CT scan + xrays to show up from the hospital I ended up at...)

I think I'm going to check with my GI about just lettin the pred taper off and see how long I go without a blockage, since it's supposed to reduce the inflamation and I have been feeling much better lately. I haven't really been having any flares/symptoms other than the blockage from scar tissues, so I think I'd prefer delaying going on Aza right now and will try to save that for if/when i flare...

I like babysteps with my medication :p

Thanks again for the tidbits...
huge relief to know there's others out there in the same sh***y situation.
 

Terriernut

Moderator
Aza and 6mp can take up to 6 weeks to become effective is the problem. Therefore you need to begin the dosage while you are tapering from the pred.
 
Ive been on aza for five years now, 150mg every day. it does work well with me but does make me itch in the sun, I want to try and come off it but docs dont want me to.
 
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