IMURAN - Side effects EXTREMELY Tired / Headache

[ROWAN]

Hi Everyone
Have been on 125 mg of Imuran for the past 4 weeks + 10mg of Pent and having blood tests every week. I have not heard back from my specialist and he said he would call if the results were not ok - so Im hoping that is the case and evrything is ok. I see him next week to check in and see how everything is going but the problem is I have been feeling EXTREMELY tired and just feelign generally down and very hard to get motivated to do anything. I have the occasional headaches but it is more a general feeling of not feeling well the whole time - like I havent thrown up, am eating normal foods.
Basically does everyone feel stuffed /tired on these and feel like they need to have a sleep during the day etc - or is it just me ?

 

[Ari]

Hi Rowan,

I'm afraid that these drugs come with side effects. My personal experience with imuran ended after one dose as I had an adverse reaction to it.

I don't know who told you to do it, but the amount of pentasa you are taking is way through the roof. That will be 20 pills a day, unless "pent" is a different drug. Mesalazine is excreted by the kidneys and they are the main target organ. IMHO it has an effect on how you feel and you can easily overdo it which can lead to kidney failure. Besides, it is most effective at around 4mg daily. I'm on 2mg as I was too fatigued when they tried me on 4.

Good luck to you and hope you find out what's making you tired.

 

[ROWAN]

Hi Arie
Sorry I meant to type 10mg of prednisolone.
Do you think taking both could be making me so tired and feeling ordinary?

 

[Ari]

And I wrote 2/4mg instead of writing 2/4g haha. Looks like we're both tired mate.

My GI came to me when I was in hospital in september last year and we started on 100mg imuran that very day. The next morning a nurse came to check my vitals and he was worried about my blood pressure being very low compared to the previous readings, also I felt spaced out and not with it at all. They gave me another dose of it the next day and I just went to bed and slept through the afternoon until the visiting hours. When I woke up my legs were swollen and I couldn't think straight, I had a throbbing headache and some other funny symptoms I can't remember.

If you ask me then YES, I think Imuran can cause that, but also the 10mg of pred means you're probably trying to wean off of it and you may be steroid depleted and feeling tired because of that.

 

[e13 boy]

During the time i was on azathioprine(imuran) the side affects you describe started to hit me after approx 8 weeks.Slowly as the drug started to take affect the crohn's gradually came under control but as that happened the side affects got worse as well.The tiredness you talk of is exactly how i felt.
During the period of being on 150mg i was shattered from the minute i woke up in the morning.Only somebody getting those side affects would really understand the severe fatigue.I also used to vomit up to 6 times a day,had thumping headaches & felt like i had the flu.My White blood cell count was so low the hospital told me i had to stop taking Aza.
I tried as hard as i could to cope with the side affects as it did start to control the crohn's but i could not tolerate the side affects & it was not safe to carry on due to my WBC count.
Every CD patient is different but imuran was not for me.

 

[MysteryLocket]

Hi, i just wanted to let you know, I'm tired as well. actually just woke up from a nap and ready to sleep again, and have a very light headache(not too bad for me- atleast it's not pulsating head ache). But I just started.
And with reading up I found this one site:
http://www.transplantbuddies.org/library/drugs/full/azathio.html
It was what I was looking for.. Something that told me about anything I wanted to know about it.
Headache and tiredness is a symptom of something that this med can cause.. "Severe leukopenia" .. But i honestly dont know much more than that right now. The only way to know if you were having this issue is to go get your blood checked (i believe that's how they do it).

 

[Lydia]

I had a constant light headache while on the last round of it. It went away when I stopped taking it.

I did not have it happen the first time I took it.

 

[Zalanicht]

Been on 200 mg for around 8 months now. I don't notice anything out of the ordinary with me.

 

[fribourg]

I've started with aza a month ago for the third time. I cannot tolerate this medicine at all, I get severe diarhoea, naused and generally feeling bad.. never took it for more than 4 days. Stopped it without letting the doc know about it. Idk if to continue or not, I just can;t tolerate the side effects. Any advice?

 

[spingirl]

I am on Aza now and just went up to 150mg...about a week ago. I can't rembmer when I started but its been over a month now. I am also taking prednesone...I've been on it for a while. I am now down to 5mg every other day...and about to stop. I am just recently exhausted...just feel weird...almost light headed...but not dizzy...just wake up tired...dark cirlces even though I have a full night's sleep. That too is unusual. I never get a good night's sleep. Never dawned on me that it was the prednesone...I hope that is it and I will regain my strength. I hope my white blood cells are ok...my doctor only did one blood test He went on vacation then cancelled my appointment. I have a PCP appontment on Monday so I hope he can tell if I am about to drop dead for Pete's sake! I am feeling better with the chrons...a little more bm's than a week ago when I was on more prednesone but...I still have hope this Aza will kick in soon...I just hope the fatigue gets better. I wonder if it will all adjust after a while? Any long term Aza users that were tired and worked through it? Or does the fatigue mean your white blood cells are not cooperating?

 

[squeaky]

day 12 of imuran, second day at 75mg. having diarrhea today and around 2am this morning slight pain on lower right side ( of navel). started slight pain again 9:30pm.
I take pill at 4pm each day. hve had 2 blood tests so far and another one this tuesday. will do weekly until I don't increase anymore. Very tired this morn and laid in bed. stayed home. hope slight pain doesn't mean anything. If it keeps up I was thinking of decreasing med. will see what happens. anyhooo time to go to bed...

ann bataller

 

[Catherine]

I'm ring your gi in the morning report how you feeling.

Good luck

 

[Harralyn]

I am on Imuran and Prednisone and I am experiecing extreme fatigue and headaches.

 

[Joss]

I am on Imuran and Prednisone and I am experiecing extreme fatigue and headaches.

Me too.