Possible Acute Pancreatitis (From Imuran)

[Swirlwind]

I started taking imuran about 3 weeks ago. I started with the 1 pill for one week, then 2 for 1 week, and now 3 thereafter but ever since i started taking 3 pills i have started feeling strange mainly abdominal/Chest pain in the upper/middle left area. The majority of the pain comes after i ate mainly after dinner (I take my imuran after lunch) the pain is moderate to severe and after 5 days of this i looked up causes and i have 5/6 of the symptoms of acute Pancreatitis.

I talked to a emergency nurse and shes kind of 50/50 on going to emergency she says try to see your doctor in the morning or go to a walk in clinic and let them diagnose and send you to a hospital if need be.

So basically im wondering if anyone has experienced this and should i consider going to emergency or the doctor first?. I cant really sleep cause i cant put much pressure on my stomach, And Its like 4 am atm so doctors wont open for another 5 hours.

 

[Orchid]

That is painfully textbook pancreatitis. If you think the pain is ever unbearable just go to the ER. It is a life threatening emergency if it's not treated and honestly, when you're flipping a coin over your life I think it's better to take the safer option. I don't think I have to tell you this but I'm just making sure, absolutely don't take anymore Imuran until they're sure why this is happening.

 

[Swirlwind]

Alright thanks, Its been 5 days already i may as well go. I cant see what else it could be i was fine before the 3 pills so it has to be the imuran. I take remicade to and i havent had any sort of side effects from that.

 

[Orchid]

Please let us know how it goes! If I don't see you for five days I'm going to assume you've had a long hospital stay.

 

[Swirlwind]

yah forsure, Im going to wait till my dad gets up for work in an hour and get him to drive me there i dont feel like i need an ambulance or anything but the pain hasnt subsided in about 4 hours guess that would make it moderate only.

 

[Orchid]

Well, use the time to get things together. If you do have pancreatitis you're going to be spending a week or so in the hospital.

 

[Swirlwind]

damn man i was doing alright on the remicade, Still flaring for 2.5 years but i was 50% better and i decided to roll the dice and combo it with imuran......

 

[Orchid]

If the pancreatitis is mild then it's not the kind of hospital stay with surgeries and the sickness itself likely won't have life changing consequences. The reason you need to be there for so long is they need to monitor the swelling and the best ways to help get it go down are fasting and and minimizing your breathing. So they need to give IV fluids so you don't get dehydrated and breathing tubes so your lungs don't work as hard and therefore put pressure on the pancreas. Think of it like a vacation.

You made the right choice to try a new drug if your therapy wasn't helping you as much as it should have, this reaction is rare and there was no way to know you'd have it without trying the drug.

 

[Swirlwind]

Yeah that's the way it goes i guess. If it is pancreatitis i hope its only a couple days, 7 days would seem like an eternity...

 

[Amanda89]

I hope you feel better soon, let us know how you get on!

 

[poopaholic]

It was a few years ago so my details have faded . I was on Imuran and had the abdominal pain after taking the higher dose . I put it off as long as I could . I got to the point I couldn't hold down water . When I finally went to the ER I was in so much pain , it was unbearable . I got a diagnoses of pancreatitis induced by the Imuran and that came with a five day stay in the intensive care unit . Anyway hope your experience isn't as bad as mine was .

 

[sickofcrohns]

Sorry to hear you are going through this. I also had pancreatitis from imuran. It went away pretty quickly once I stopped taking the pills (with my GI's permission -- I was lucky enough to see her within a week of starting them because the pain was so bad).

 

[blackli]

I also had acute pancreatitis from Imuran. 5-6 days in hospital on IV with nothing by mouth the whole time. I've had pancreatitis from most Crohns meds actually, methotrexate seems to be the only one I can tolerate. Best of luck to you!