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Starting 6mp

Hi I'm a 27 year old male I was diagnosed with crohns when I was 16 so I have dealt with it for awhile. I first took pentasa which did nothing for me so I currently take Remicade every six weeks. On the 5th I had to go to the er to have a pereanal abscess cut this was a new experience for me. Yesterday I had a colonoscopy and afterwards my GI doctor said despite the Remicade my crohns is still affecting my illium and has moved to my lower colon I have already had a colon resection so my next option is to try 6mp along with Remicade. Has anyone else taken Remicade and 6mp together? My concern is the immune suppression because I like spending time outdoors and with the Remicade alone I notice I get sick a lot easier.
 
My son has taken remicade and methotrexate together, mtx is an immunosuppressant like 6MP. I didn't find that it caused him more problems with sickness as far as colds, flu and such. But he didn't have the problem with remicade alone.

Good luck hope you find relief quickly.
 

DustyKat

Super Moderator
Hi Mikel and :welcome:

I am so sorry to hear that Remicade isn’t holding things for you. :(

We haven’t done combined Biologic/Immunosuppressant therapy at our end so I can’t offer any advice there, sorry. I will tag the following active members though and hopefully they can help out with your concerns and think of others that are on combined therapy:

my little penguin, theOcean, crohnsinct, Maya142.

Good luck Mikel, I hope that adding 6MP helps settle things without any added side effects. :ghug:

Dusty. xxx
 

theOcean

Moderator
Hey there, it sounds like we've been through some pretty similar experiences. I developed a fistula last May (rather than an abscess) and was changed from Remicade to Humira/Imuran (I was allergic to Remicade, it turned out). Combination therapy definitely helps if you deal with more severe disease, particularly if you're developing abscesses.

In some people they get too immunosuppressed from being on a biologic/immunosuppressant combo, but that wasn't the case with me. I'm actually switching from Imuran to Methotrexate. I found that I actually got sick less since being on biologics and immunosuppressants! Before I was so immunocompromised from my Crohn's being so active that I was sick constantly. Now I've only maybe gotten sick once, and I know full-well I caught that from my SO, so it would've been avoidable otherwise.

So, if you start 6mp: just keep an eye on things to make sure you're not getting too immunosuppressed, and if you are let your GI know to either decrease the dose or try another immunosuppressant, if not stop them altogether. At that point you could potentially look into LDN, but I think results on that are mixed. (Though I think you could say that about all medications, depending on the individual.)
 

Maya142

Moderator
Staff member
My daughter has been on multiple combinations -- Remicade + methotrexate, Humira + methotrexate and now Remicade + Imuran (which is very similar to 6MP). She's in high school and surrounded by constantly sick teenagers, yet doesn't get sick more often even though she's on these drugs. She rarely gets sick but when she does it seems to take her a little longer than usual to recover. She's never had any serious infections or anything like that, just viruses.

She takes some precautions, for example she tries to stay away from sick people, doesn't share food/water and washes her hands a lot. So far, it seems to have worked quite well.

She's just started Imuran and no side effects so far. I hope the combination works for you!
 
Thank you all for the advice. I had a Remicade treatment and followed up with my GI we decided to stay away from the 6 mp for now and see if I have built up a immunity to the Remicade and if so try Humira or go up on the Remicade. I have been feeling a lot better than before I think it was the abscess that was making me feel so sick. Again thank you all
 

theOcean

Moderator
I haven't been on an immunosuppressant for a few months myself -- just Humira -- and just being on a biologic should treat you well. :) The only thing I wanted to warn about is that because Remicade is made from mouse protein, people do seem more likely to develop antibodies to it, rather than a humanized antibody like Humira.
 
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