Anyone took Azulfidine + Prednisone?

[nellycrohns]

I am new here and recently my Crohn's flared up. I was wondering if anyone had taken Azulfidine and Prednisone? I read up on the side-effects of Azulfidine and it sounds terrifying and I am suppose to take 4 x 500mg each day.

Has anyone had any terrible side-effects from Azulfidine? Please reply. I am so scared...

 

[Jennifer]

Hi nellycrohns. Many people do well with Azulfidine with no side effects. It's one of the older treatments and cheapest out there along with Prednisone. Neither is the best for treating Crohn's however. That's the treatment I was started on when I was 9 years old back in 1991. There are a lot of newer medications that are more effective that have been approved for the treatment of Crohn's.

For me I couldn't tolerate sulfa drugs in general so I was taken off of Azulfidine because it made me urinate blood. I haven't heard any other member on the forum mention that happening to them though so it really isn't common. Here's a list of possible side effects: http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/sulfasalazine-oral-route/side-effects/drg-20066179

Prednisone has a much longer list of side effects especially when taken long term and I don't know anyone who didn't have some sort of side effect while on them. What dose are they starting you on and what's your taper schedule? If they didn't mention this to you at your appointment, never stop steroids like Prednisone cold turkey if you've been taking it longer than 7 days (although I've had some doctors prescribe it for 10 days with no taper but I wouldn't go any longer without a proper taper schedule) as it can be life threatening. http://www.crohnsforum.com/wiki/Adrenal-Insufficiency-Crisis

I didn't mention that to scare you but I don't know your history and we've had some newly diagnosed members in the past come on here mentioning feeling horrible and they eventually mentioned they had stopped taking high doses of steroids a couple days prior so we had them go to the hospital right away. Many people aren't told this by their doctors or pharmacists for some reason. Always go over new meds with your pharmacist.

If your Crohn's is located in your ileum then you could ask your GI about trying Entocort instead of Prednisone if you don't do well with the Prednisone. Prednisone acts a lot faster but Entocort has fewer side effects and doesn't require such a strict taper schedule.

Hope this treatment or any other you decide to try works well for you. Keep us posted.

 

[Lisa]

I was on both many, many years ago (longer ago than Jennifer).....never had any noticeable side effects from the sulfa class of drugs....got the typical moon face from prednisone....

As Jennifer said, these are one of the older treatments (going back at least as far as the 70-80's)...and prednisone should always be tapered if on for generally more than a week.

 

[nellycrohns]

As of right now the schedule for Prenisone is 40mg for 2 weeks, taper off by 5mg every 2 days after and I am also suppose to take Azulfidine with it.

My Crohn's symptoms according to the doctor is "very mild" In 2012 I went into a 2 year remission with just 60mg prednisone taper off. But I am just worried that this time it won't work because I felt that each flare has different triggers for me. The worst part is that I hear everyone talk about Fistulas and abscess and resections and how messy and bad it got. I just don't want to get to that point.

 

[Jennifer]

Then you may want to go on a more permanent treatment plan to help keep the inflammation under control and avoid flares altogether. Mild, Moderate and Severe mainly have to do with what treatment you're receiving at the time source but even if you have small amounts of active inflammation it can build up scar tissue over time which may have few to no symptoms. This can cause a wealth of other problems down the road including the possibility of surgery not to mention it affects your bodies ability to absorb nutrients properly.

Talk to your GI about other maintenance medications you can try to help keep your flares under control and hopefully avoid them entirely.

Here's information about how ineffective Prednisone is for Crohn's: http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=50497