Your experience with azathioprine?

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Hey, I've been on in since march. At first I had terrible nausea, it was awful. However, my dr had me start on the 200mg dose at full force instead of working up to 200mg. I think that would have helped. Also I had issues with my liver enzymes getting out of whack. It seems my magic number dose is 150mg. I've been on that for a few months now and no problems. Once in awhile i still get a bit of nausea which I can only really contribute to my azathioprine. I also am on Remicade. Between the two drugs I'm feeling much much better! Good luck! (Oh yeah, I've also had thinning hair, sunburn easier, nothing too consequential)
 
Been on 175mg since April. Haven't had any bad side effects but not convinced it's doing anything. Also had an issue with my liver test being high but it came back down so they continued medicine as normal.
 
eleanor_rigby said:
Hi Ally this is the same as me - I've been on it since April (although only 50mg) and also not convinced it's doing anything. I'm really starting to despair now.
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I'm on pentasa and pred aswell and every time I reduce my pred all my symptoms get worse. They wanted to put me on humira but they did a flexible sigmoidoscopy and said that from what they can see the inflammation has improved so they aren't putting me on it yet. I need to have a colonoscopy as they said there must be some disease further in since my symptoms are still bad.
 
I had a colonoscopy in December, was on pred Jan - May during which time my symptoms stayed completely the same not better nor worse. Then been on aza since April. I have a constant pain where my ileum is (and where my disease is active). Have not had a colonoscopy yet to see if the aza is working but all blood tests are good. Maybe I should ask if I can have pentasa as well. I can't have humira unfortunately. Let me know when you have your colonoscopy. I did speak to one user on here that said she was on 25mg of aza for three months, which did nothing, then upped it to 75mg and she finally turned a corner after a further 6 months on that dose.
 
Ive never had a colonoscopy as they said my inflammation was too high and it would have been dangerous so i have only had flexible sigmoidoscopy which only goes so far. I've been on pred since February when I was in hospital. it worked like magic at first on 40mg, my doctor desperately wants me off it but I can't seem to get below 15 mg without everything getting worse again. The aza seems to really depend on the opinion of the doctor treating you. When I first got it i mentioned that I knew people who had started on 50mg and then increased to 100 mg or further but he said that he wanted to just hit my disease hard with a high dose. It's the one thing that annoys me about this disease, not only is it so different from person to person but every doctor seems to have a different idea of how to treat it, some like to hit it hard with the high drugs and others seem to use the lower drugs for as long as possible before trying the next level. It feels like my chances of remission are greatly changed depending on which doctor treats me
 
I had a terrible allergic reaction to Azathioprine; flu-like symptoms, tremors, vomiting, I felt really horrible and went to the ER and was admitted. The doctors didn't figure out for 2 or 3 days that I was allergic to the Azathioprine; the nurses were still giving me my regular daily medications and I had just started taking it and had taken it for about a week and a half, so they were still giving it to me. I was in a teaching hospital and one of the medical students suggested my symptoms were consistent with an allergic reaction to Azathioprine, so they stopped it and I started feeling better almost immediately. I currently take Entocort (budesonide).
I wish you all the best with your experience with the medication and I hope it helps you. I just couldn't tolerate it.

Dana B.
Lufkin, TX
 
I couldn't tolerate 6-MP (analogue to Azathioprine). It made me completely checked out of reality, like a zombie. I couldn't see right and was just a space cadet. Now they have me on CellCept instead, plus Remicade.
 
It works, although the possible side effects can be pretty horrible (thankfully I haven't had to deal with them).

My most recent problem has been photosensitivity. My wife and I have travelled to carribbean a couple times in the past year and I noticed I get hives which eventually turn into pus fulled blisters after hours of strong sun exposure (with spf 50). Please be mindful of the sun as AZA can also increase the risk of skin cancer (as well as some other cancers) and increase the risk of severe infection (I mention this because of the possible blisters and peeling skin from the sun).

I have been on a very low dose for years now (50mg/day). I find this dose works ok, but I still have some pain and a lot of nausea. I prefer to stay on the low dose of Imuran and treat my (mainly night time) pain and nausea with cannabis.
 
I had an immediate allergic reaction to azathioprine, where both arms broke out in severe hives, or something like it. I couldn't convince the office staff of my GI how serious it was to get in right away, so I walked into their office and showed it to them. It scared them; they brought a nurse out and it scared her; she put me in a room and 5 minutes later the GI came in , and even he backed away. Needless to say, I was taken off of it.

It's the only allergic reaction I've ever had.
 
Hey there, I had a severe reaction to azathioprine and 6 mercaptopurine. Totally messed with my liver function. But everyone responds differently. Good luck
 

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