Aza is making me sick

[CLAIRELINSEY]

I have been taking aza for 10 days now (i forgot to take my second days tablets and could not face taking them saturday, today being monday) At first everything seemed fine but as the days have gone on i have felt more and more sick, so bad that all i want to do is lay on sofa and not move. I seemed to have lost my appetite, my stomach is bloated and i feel really tired all the time and feel a bit faint at times. On the plus side it has helped reduce the number of times im going to the toilet and i don't seem to be passing any blood since being on the tablets. This is good but i cant handal the side effects im feeling, i have a 7 and half month old baby to look after and cant be feeling this bad. I talked to my doctor over the phone and he has advised me to stop taking the AZA for a week to see if the sickness stops then restart taking it again. He said this way we can find out if it is the aza causing the sickness. Im due to have my first blood test tomorrow so dont know if i should stop taking before that or take tablets one last time.

Has anyone had side effects like this, does it pass? As the AZA is doing what it is supposed to, part of me feels i should stay on it and just see if the side effects pass but really dont know if i can face that!

Im due to go the the hospital for my appointment with the consultant in a couple of weeks.

Any advice anyone can give would be great.
Thanks, Claire. x
:sign0085:

 

[emmaaaargh]

I took Aza the first few days without side effects but a week or two in it hit with a vengeance. All I wanted to do was stay in bed with a cold flannel. I went to the doctor's and had a blood test just in case and all came back clear and they said it was probably side effects :S I have heard people can feel terrible when they first start. I'm not sure what I would do in your position but I'd probably take the pills one last time before the blood test.
Sorry I'm not much help! The sick/no appetite feeling, if it's just temporary side effects, does go away soon though.

 

[CLAIRELINSEY]

Thanks. Part of me is telling myself to stick with it and it may get better I just need to give it time but there is the other part of me that is telling me to stop that I have just swapped one problem for another! My GP has told me to stop for a week so I can feel better then start again and if I feel sick again we know it's the tablets doing it. Well I know he is trying to rule out me feeling bad due to an unrelated problem but I know it's the tablets and that will just take me back to square one! I'm confused and don't know what to do for the best! Sitting in bed debating if I should go down to kitchen and take the tablets!!!

 

[xSophiexx]

CLAIRELINSEY I totally feel your pain! ~I was on a 25mg starting to dose with the weekly blood tests to see if could tolerate the drug (GI Doc said this is literally like taking nothing its just to test if your allergic) He then ramped up the dose to 150mg and OMG I have never felt so sick in all my life, within an hour I was violently vomiting and the nausea feeling was ALL NIGHT and if was horrific, missed 2 days of the med so that I could test if it was actually the Aza, took it again and same thing happened so called the GI who gave same advice as your GP, leave it for a week then try again but this time on 50mg (which I can hardly see working seeing as for my weight 150mg is the reccommended dose but there ya go). But im so scared to take it agin now as I felt sick as a frikkin dog.

What I would say in your case is have you spoke to your GI / IBD Nurse rather than just your GP - only because whenever I see my GI he specifically tells me that if I have any problems to call him / his secretary as he is the one in charge of my Crohns treatment, especially as they are the experts and have prescribed these drugs rather than the GP? Worth as shot? Also alot of people on this forum say about splitting the dose (half AM half PM) and taking it with a LARGE meal helps nausea.. I took it with a large meal and it still came back up but everyones different!

Hope something works for you.

 

[Aussie]

Hi ClaireLinsey, unfortunately Azathiopurine is poorly tolerated for various reasons. You've probably got three options.

1. Keep going and see if the nausea will settle, occasionally it is a lot worse at the beginning and may settle down with time.

2. Ask for a blood test to check your Azathioprine metabolites to see if you are a "hypermethylator", which essentially means you shunt towards 6MMP making you feel nauseous - easy fix with dose reduction and allopurinol.

3. Ask to change to Mercaptopurine which is much better tolerated. Azathioprine is converted to Mercaptopurine in the body, however in that conversion a metabolite is given off which can cause some side effects, nausea being one of them.

Good luck.

 

[CLAIRELINSEY]

Thanks to everyone. I havent taken any aza since saturday now am feeling a lot better, still feel a bit funny and sick every now and then but nothing like before. I was started on 150mg so maybe i can have a reduced dosage and build it up. I dont have an IBD nurse so maybe i can look into getting one, tried to contact my GI secretary on monday but only got voice mail so left a message so going to try again tomorrow. Had a blood test on tuesday so will see what that shows. Its hard as if there wasnt these bad side effects the AZA would be great as doing what it was meant to do. Really need to talk to my GI, my GP not that good, i wasnt allowed to have my blood test at his surgery as he didnt want to have the cost of doing it so i had to go to the hospital for it. So just taking my pentasa now and am confused. Good to have others who know what your going through.
Claire x

 

[CLAIRELINSEY]

Really cross!!!! So the consultants at the hospital tell you to contact them if you have any problems. Been trying to get hold of his secretary so I can try and talk to him ( can't see doing what my GP said doing anything other then taking me back to square 1). Finally got hold of her and said how I had not reacted well and wanted to discuss it with someone ( I'm thinking I can have a lower dose or something to counteract the sideeffects) but she just told me that my GP is qualified and I should do what he said!!!

Thought I would get a bit more help then that!

 

[hannah-rose]

Don't stick with it, tell the doc and try 6MP. I was sick in aza and now I'm on 6MP I tolerate it fine - no side effects and it does the same thing!

 

[CLAIRELINSEY]

So went for my hospital appointment with my consultant and am no longer on AZA. I am now on 6MP, been taking it for 8 days now and side effects are starting to kick in! Again I feel sick and my stomach hurts (which is also giving me backache) and feel so tired! It sucks so much, I wish I didn't have to take anything but doc at hospital says I need to be on something other then just pantasa but I feel worse from side effects then I do from Crohn's. Have just started a new job, I work Saturday night 9-7 and the same Monday night. Not going to look good if I have to start phoning in sick but with the sideeffects, looking after my baby and feeling so tired just don't see how am going to manage. It really sucks, I'm not normally one to let things get me down but I hate feeling so sick and tired all the time.
Do these side effects normally go away after a bit of time and you just have to ride out this hard time or is it just a case of I can't tolorate it? Any help and advice would be great.
Claire xx
Oh by way my dose is 75mg daily.

 

[Aussie]

Hi Claire, ask for the following blood tests, 6TGN and MMP, these are the key breakdown products of 6MP, you might not be tolerating the medication because you're on too much or you're a shunter. Those blood tests will answer that question. The other thing you can do is split your 6MP dose, perhaps 25mg three times per day, another trick is to take your dose just before bed, and then hopefully sleep through the worst of it.

Best wishes.

 

[CLAIRELINSEY]

Hello all hope you all had a good Christmas. I'm now on methotrexate and so far so good. I have been feeling tired and had a run if colds and a cough that won't go. My GP put me on antibiotics and told me to miss out a week of medication oh and had eye infections. But my Crohn's colitis seems to be getting under control so let's hope this is the medication for me. X