Abdominal pain and vomiting on Prednisone and Azathioprine

[seaofdreams]

As some of you may know from my recent posts, I've been taking Prednisone for about 2 weeks now (down to 35mg daily) and at first I felt great but a few days in, I started getting severe tummy pains and vomiting which seemed to get worse and worse until a few days ago when I was put into hospital overnight and given hydrocortisone shots and put me on a liquid diet. I'm still not 100% sure why they kept me in overnight, it's a little bit hazy but from what I understood, they were concerned that I may have some sort of blockage and my inflammation was high, despite the prednisone so they wanted to keep an eye on me.

Since being home (two days) I have been on 50mg of Azathioprine daily as well as the prednisone and a low residue diet but I am still experiencing acute abdominal pain and vomiting. I've had some D yesterday but C today. I'm not sure if I should contact my GI about my stomach pains and nausea because I don't know if it's a side effect of one of the meds or if it's just my Crohn's doing it's thing because I haven't been on the meds long enough or if it is something more serious. I have an appointment scheduled with my GI in two weeks so I was thinking of just waiting to see how it goes and maybe even going on a liquid diet because I seemed to feel better while on it in the hospital. My family and boyfriend are worried that I'm in so much pain though and think that I should contact my GI.

Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks ^_^

 

[Skinny Dub]

hmmm I'm kind of am going threw/getting over the same thing with a blockage pred and everything. With my blockage it made me feel bloated the pain was up higher then normal not the lower right area. So they toke an couple of x rays to confirm a blockage and put me on a clear fluid diet for a few days to clear it up now I'm starting to eat soft foods. But they said if I begin vomiting or the pain doesn't start to get better then I would probably have to be admitted to the hospital and to call them.

So I would say call them or since its the weekend you might not be bale to reach them I would just go to the ER. But there should be someone on call I would think?

 

[kenny]

I have not had any luck with low res diets either. Full fluid seems much more workable and gives a much better calorie count then clear fluid.

I think a big question we all need to keep in mind is are we taking meds to be able to eat more regular diets? or should be adjusting the diets to reduce the dependency on meds?

 

[NatalieMT]

I'd personally call your doctor and try and get an appointment, even if they say don't worry too much atleast you'd have got a professional opinion and it might put your mind at rest. And if they do feel they need to step in and change treatment again that can be sorted more quickly.

I suppose I have been in the same situation, I was in hospital for a week back in April due to a suspected blockage, things were okay in the end though. I was in an awful lot of pain and had been vomiting a lot, they gave me IV steroids and morphine before later discharging me with 'worsening of Crohn's' and a lot of MST tablets.

I was already on 100mg Azathioprine at that point and they told me to carry on with it and see if it eventually helped. It didn't agree with me though so I was advised to stop taking it recently. I'm still in quite bad discomfort and use Fentanyl patches now to help with that. I also still vomit on a regular basis so not much has changed. I'm not sure what is going on!

In terms of a liquid diet, I've done the Elemental diet twice now and I would recommend it, the first time it definitely did great things for me in line with the pred I was taking. Everything felt rested and I did have more energy. It's got to be worth a try! Hope you're feeling better soon.

 

[seaofdreams]

hmmm I'm kind of am going threw/getting over the same thing with a blockage pred and everything. With my blockage it made me feel bloated the pain was up higher then normal not the lower right area. So they toke an couple of x rays to confirm a blockage and put me on a clear fluid diet for a few days to clear it up now I'm starting to eat soft foods. But they said if I begin vomiting or the pain doesn't start to get better then I would probably have to be admitted to the hospital and to call them.

So I would say call them or since its the weekend you might not be bale to reach them I would just go to the ER. But there should be someone on call I would think?

That's exactly what my pain is like. Usually it's in my lower right section but this pain is higher, just under my ribs and also kind of radiates out through my back and I feel very bloated and full. Your hospital visit sounds just like mine, they took some x-rays and popped me on the fluid diet and sent me home with more meds.

 

[seaofdreams]

I have not had any luck with low res diets either. Full fluid seems much more workable and gives a much better calorie count then clear fluid.

I think a big question we all need to keep in mind is are we taking meds to be able to eat more regular diets? or should be adjusting the diets to reduce the dependency on meds?

It's hard to know sometimes isn't it? Haha. As much as I love food, I would rather live on a full liquid diet for the rest of my life and have some sort of normality in the other areas of my life than continue to up my meds until I can eat what I want.

 

[seaofdreams]

I'd personally call your doctor and try and get an appointment, even if they say don't worry too much atleast you'd have got a professional opinion and it might put your mind at rest. And if they do feel they need to step in and change treatment again that can be sorted more quickly.

I suppose I have been in the same situation, I was in hospital for a week back in April due to a suspected blockage, things were okay in the end though. I was in an awful lot of pain and had been vomiting a lot, they gave me IV steroids and morphine before later discharging me with 'worsening of Crohn's' and a lot of MST tablets.

I was already on 100mg Azathioprine at that point and they told me to carry on with it and see if it eventually helped. It didn't agree with me though so I was advised to stop taking it recently. I'm still in quite bad discomfort and use Fentanyl patches now to help with that. I also still vomit on a regular basis so not much has changed. I'm not sure what is going on!

In terms of a liquid diet, I've done the Elemental diet twice now and I would recommend it, the first time it definitely did great things for me in line with the pred I was taking. Everything felt rested and I did have more energy. It's got to be worth a try! Hope you're feeling better soon.

Thank-you ^_^ Gosh, it doesn't sound like you're having a very good time of it at all. I'm really hoping that the prednisone and Azathioprine combination works for me but I guess it's a matter of waiting to see how I go. I'm not sure if Elemental is available here in Australia but I might go have a look to see what we do have that is similar and just stick to that for awhile until I feel like I can handle solid foods again. I hope you work out what is going on soon too, the worst part I think something is not knowing what's going on and it's disheartening when something isn't working.

 

[shazamataz]

Hi Nicci,

So sorry to hear things are so rotten for you at the moment. If things don;t improve, I'd probably take myself off to the ER rather than waiting it out, even though that's not a fun experience.

Do you have a temperature/sweats or anything? That MAY be a sign of some sort of infection and you'd want to get onto that quick smart eh?

You will do what you feel is best, but don;t suffer too long.

Hugs
Shaz