If your on imuran where is your crohns located?

[upsetmom]

My daughter has crohns in the whole colon....not quite sure what its called.

She has been taking Pentasa for about 8 months. The pentasa wasn't doing much to control her symptoms so they added Imuran 3 months ago.. Crohns wise she has been good with no symptoms.

We saw the GI yesterday and she asked if she could stop the Pentasa as she has a lot of trouble swallowing the tablets...The DR said he would rather her take them as they help the bowel where her crohns is located but he left the decision up to her. She has decided to stop the Pentasa.

Would the imuran be enough for her crohns in the colon?

I'm curious to see where other people have crohns that take imuran.

Thanks for any replies. I'm worried she might get very sick again.

 

[Jim (POPS)]

I take imuran and my crohns is in my TI (small intest.)

Pentasa helps in the colon, but it is not a very good treatment for crohns, at least thats what I have read.

I hope this helps you some.

Jim (POPS)

 

[hawkeye]

I take both 5-ASA and Imuran, crohn's is mostly in the large intestine now

 

[shilpi saha]

i take both 5asa and imuran i hve crohns at small intestine

 

[SarahD]

Imuran on its own may be enough, but it's going to vary from person to person. Imuran's effects aren't specific to any particular part of the bowel, whereas Pentasa is, so although your daughters doctor is right that the Pentasa will be helping in the colon the Imuran should be doing that too. If the Pentasa wasn't helping much before and she's feeling good now, it sounds like the Imuran is probably responsible for that improvement. No-one can say whether she'll get worse without Pentasa in the picture. I wonder if it's possible for her to slowly reduce her Pentasa dose if she's really keen to stop it? That way if things go downhill it will be much slower and easier to recover from than if she were to just stop the Pentasa all in one go.

I'm taking Imuran and my Crohn's is in my TI. I was maintained on Pentasa for several years when my Crohn's was in my colon, but then it decided to move to a different part of my bowel and that's when I started on Imuran, as the Pentasa was no longer effective enough for me.

 

[Joonie]

Hi, I have crohns-colitis which is basically crohns located in the colon. Mine started off as left sided disease but over 7 yrs has spread throughout the colon. I currently take 4x1200mg of Mezavant per day. I also have pentasa suppositories and salofalk enemas which I take when i get bleeding.I find these can cause bloating and wind though and only take them if really necessary. I also am prescribed a laxative (yes honestly!!) as I get something called proximal constipation on the right hand side of my colon. This 'constipation' manifests itself as watery diahorrea which is pretty indistinguishable from a crohns flare to me or even just normal crohns . At the time I could not believe I could ever be constipated but it was proved to me via x-ray! It is in fact called 'overflow diahorrea'.
I should take one laxative a day but its more like 2 or 3 a week, as i need to travel for work so it would be impossible if I did. I have recently started on Azathioprine on a small dose 50mg as I have low TPMT, so I'm just getting used to it at the moment. On my last colonoscopy the results suggested I might have colitis rather than crohns but ultimately my consultant said the treatment would be the same at this stage. My consultant has said I still need all the other meds in addition to the Azathioprine to try and induce a remission. Hope this helps.

 

[emmaaaargh]

I take both Azathioprine and Pentasa and my Crohn's is in the small intestine.

 

[upsetmom]

Thanks everyone i thought Imuran was like Pentasa where it works for certain parts of the bowel but now i see that's not the case.

 

[alex_chris]

On aza since 2003 (with a 2 year pause from 2008 to 2010). My Crohn's is in a large part of my smaller intestine and very little in the upper colon.

I have recently asked my GI again whether he recommends anything in addition in terms of conventional meds to keep me in remission (I am in deep remission since spring of last year). Biologics are not required if I am doing well on aza, he is no friend of trying out LDN (although he has read about it and the study performed) and to quote him about 5-Aza "that's practically useless as a long-term medication for Crohn's patients with Crohn's concentrated in the smaller intestine".

 

[DustyKat]

Hey upsetmom,

My two are on Imuran and have Ileal Crohn's.

That is right, the 5ASA's have a few different preparations as they target specific areas of the bowel whereas the classes of drugs above them don't.

Dusty. xxx

 

[bettyboop12]

I have crohns in my ti and take aza.

 

[kh216]

I take 6mp, which is Imuran's sister drug, and my inflammation is on the right side of my colon.

 

[Jmrogers4]

Hubby's is in the TI and he takes Aza. Jack's is at TI, Colon and Duodenum (I have no idea if I spelled that right) and he was on Aza for 2 1/2 years. He also took Pentasa for a short amount of time, it didn't seem to make much difference one way or the other. His doctor said pretty much the same, it was up to us. He basically told us to stop and see how he felt.

 

[upsetmom]

He also took Pentasa for a short amount of time, it didn't seem to make much difference one way or the other.

It's only been a week since stopping Pentasa and so far shes still good.

 

[Catherine]

Sarah is in the ti and slightly above.