Has it stopped working?

[HoKes]

Hi

I have been on 100mg Aza since I was faignosed almost 6 years ago. Have been symptom free since and almost forgot anything was wrong with me apart from annual check ups and quarterly blood tests. For over a year now the level of aza in my blood (tgn I think it's called) has been very low. At my last check up in June my consultant even spoke about going med free in the near future as my body is barely taking in any aza and I've been perfectly healthy. Completely jinxed it and I started mildly flaring in July, cramps mucus and tiny amount of blood in mucus. GP prescribed me 2 weeks of metronidazole (which I had at diagnosis and worked wonders) within a few days symptoms had dissapeared and I was good as new. Then about 5-6 weeks later symptoms started creeping back again. Formed stools 2-3 times a day but mucusy with small streaks/flecks of blood.
I have a colonoscopy on Friday to see what's going on and am again on metronidazole,but my question is does this mean aza is not working for me anymore?
And why would I go from years of being in therapeutic range to then having a very small amount of the med in my blood?
I am upset because I thought I would stay on it for many more years and am nervous about starting something new
Any ideas??

 

[ronroush7]

Maybe you need to be on a biologic. Maybe combined with the azathioprine or metronidazole. Ask your doctor.

 

[HoKes]

This is what I'm worried about. I am only 30 years old and the thought of going on the really strong meds scares the hell out of me!

 

[ronroush7]

Standing with you. I hope you can find some relief soon.

 

[Julia S]

I'm a newbie so I cannot claim to know the answers to your questions, but my first instinct would be to ask your doctor if it isn´t possible to increase your AZA dose. I have heard of other people on this forum that have started with a lower dose and over time had to increase the dose. Again, I'm not sure if this is an option, but I would surely ask my doctor if I were in your shoes and had had such a lasting remission whilst on this drug.

On another note, there are so many parents on this forum whose kids are on biologics and who have nothing bad to say about them. As a matter of fact, lots of people are on biologics and claim they are life-savers. If adding a biologic is really the next step, don´t worry too much about. All the cool kids are doing it

Lastly, and this is something that brings *me* comfort at least, is the fact that there are new drugs coming out in the next 2-3 years that might be game changers for us Crohnies.
And these aren´t biologics or even immunosuppressants so, I'm hopeful that the scary medicine we have to take now won´t be the medicine we´ll need to take forever.

I hope your colonoscopy goes well! Keep us posted!