Azathioprine Joint Pain

[bennyboy]

I have been on azathioprine for nearly 3 weeks and I started experiencing pain in my knees 3 days ago. It affects me if I am climbing stairs or bending my knees to squat down and is worse in the mornings, it's not as bad during the day but still noticeable. I would describe the pain as an achey pain rather than a stabbing pain. I have done a bit of reading around and it appears others have experienced similar things with joint pain, but nobody has said whether the pains go after you have been taking the drug for while (like a start-up effect). I'm not sure whether to contact my consultant about it yet as I wanted to find out if it is not something to worry about. Could anyone offer their experiences?

 

[Crohn's gal since 1989]

I have been taking Azathioprine since May 2013. In September I had my first resection surgery and went back to work January 2014. Late January I began experiencing joint pain in shoulders, knees, hips, lower back, ankles, fingers and toes. My GI told me to stop Aza immediately because sometimes it is the cause the joint pain.

Currently he has me taking Sulfasalazine, I'm not seeing any improvement. I go to my first rheumatology appointment tomorrow.

Talk to your GI, this could be alleviated quickly.

 

[PVail]

Hi
Not Azathioprine but Asacol Ive been on and I get sore ankles and wrists with it to the point I have to take pain meds . Its a balancing act all the time.

 

[bettyboop12]

No joint pain for me. The odd sore ankle but I put that down to the position I had it in or my heels

 

[highlandsrock]

I had pains in my hands for the first few weeks when I woke up. I don't specifically remember pain in my knees but I do remember it took about 10 minutes before I could have a shower each morning so I reckon my knees may well have been affected. I did have one bad weekend when I felt really rough with flu like symptoms but once that had all passed I got on really well with the Aza and it held off surgery for many years.

 

[HorseLover!!]

I get joint pain as well, I've been on Aza for a year first off I only got it in my knees but now it seems to be in my hips, back, shoulders, neck, wrist, fingers as well as my knees.

 

[Chuck78]

My back and burning knees are the usual suspects. Once my doc added Cimzia to the mix, I have had rare inflammation flares. You may try spreading out your intake to breakfast/lunch/dinner and see if it helps.