Remicade and 6-MP

[Darkeffx]

Hey Guys,

I've been on Remicade for about 4 months now (every 6wks at this point), and it seems to be helping alleviate some of my symptoms (stricturing and ulcers). Things had gotten pretty bad recently after my ileum got a little irritated during my last colonoscopy, so my GI put me on Entocort. I had previously had really bad psychological complications with prednisone (crazy bipolar), so we chose Entocort as a safer alternative. Unfortunately, the Entocort started to give me the same acne and manic depression as prednisone, so my doc decided to put me on 6-MP instead. Ive done some research about it, and Im not sure what to think. All of the side effects sound horrible, but I imagine they are more relevant to chemotherapy patients. Im prescribed 50mg/day, which I think is a low dose but Im curious how it compares to others, and how it compares to chemo doses.

Does anyone have any first-hand experience with 6-MP and remicade together? Any good experiences? Are my fears of bone marrow death and hair-loss overblown?

Thanks for the support everyone! Im a little scared, but pretty hopeful that remission will come soon.

 

[Jennifer]

Many of us have taken 6mp for years and so far I haven't read anyone mention bad side effects yet. I took it for over 10 years starting at 50mg and then upped to either 65mg or 75mg, I can't remember. I never had any problems taking it but my hands would visibly shake and I'd feel jittery if I missed a dose, so try to take it daily. Thing is, I was taking 6mp as a normal medication to keep me in remission. I'm not sure how it works in the place of Prednisone as I usually had to be on both during flares. Not sure if this helped or not but that's all I know. Hope it works out.

 

[CrohnsHobo]

I originally went on Remicade and 6MP about 10 years ago to help ween off steriods. Every time I got down to about 5mg I would relapse. The Remicade and 6MP did the trick. I eventually stopped the Remicade and continued with 6MP and Asacol for many years. I eventually went off the 6MP and back on the Remicade for about four years until the Remicade stopped working.

 

[Mrclayto]

Taking both right now

I am taking 75MG of 6MP as well as Remicade right now. I have only had 2 doses of Remicade, and the only thing that I see as an issues is CRAZY UNRELENTING nausea. I work, so Phenergan makes me too sleepy, and zofran is a JOKE!

I would say that there is NO let up to the nausea, and I am not quite sure yet if Remicade is going to work for me. Everyone I spoke to said that within a matter of days of my first treatment, I would feel like a million dollars and be ready to run like a normal person...That did NOT happen. The first week after my first infusion, I was nauseated/aching all over for the first few days, then got a strange rash 2 different times before the 2 week period before my next treatment was up...
I am not really feeling relief yet? But maybe it is coming.

 

[Janny]

I started 6MP in January (50 mg daily) and on February 17th they doubled my dose to 100mg. I was admitted to the hospital on February 22nd with acute pancreatitis which they have told me occurs in about 10% of patients. I felt like I was going to die I was in so much pain.

GI wants me to start remicade asap but I need to let my body heal and rest for a while. The 6MP also make me exhausted like I can't even describe. Literally I wanted to sleep 20 hours a day. I am just starting my research into remicade and we will see if that's what we end up doing.

 

[Xeekk]

I'm on Remicade & 6MP. I get some nausea from 6MP, so instead of taking it in the morning as directed, I switched to take it at night before bed. If I get nauseated I'm already laying down and hopefully asleep - so no problems.

I Remicade is giving me soreness in joints.

 

[deedee]

I've been on Remicade and 6MP for 7 months, and I'm doing great (knock on wood!!). Both drugs do weaken your immune response in different ways, and 6MP can cause bone marrow suppression, but they check for that really frequently when you start treatment.

I started on 100mg and had terrible nausea, and it was affecting my liver, so I went down to 50mg. On this dose I don't really have any side effects at all.

Good luck!