just started a new drug....

I hope the sulfasalazine helps you out. Many with AS get good relief from it though I think it may take some time to "kick in." I tried sulfasalazine for 3 days. I vomited 30 minutes after every dose. Turns out that I am allergic to sulfa compounds.

Hi chelle,

I've also taken sulfasalazine before; didn't take it long enough,though, to see if it helps.  It does  helps tons of other people.  I ended up taking it for about 5-6 weeks.  It did make me very nauseous, but my body adjusted to it over time.  The problem was I developed a true sulfa allergy--broke out in a rash from head to toe, in my mouth, ears, nose, etc....  It was truly horrible.  It also ended up lowering my platelets--dangerously low.  I took high dose prednisone for a week which eliminated the rash and brought my platelets back up where they should be.  I think my reactions, though, (body rash and lowered blood counts) are fairly uncommon.  If you can tolerate the nausea, chances are you won't have the problems that I had.  I believe others on this forum are on sulfasalazine, or have taken it with success in the past.

Best of luck!

Elcamino

Thanks for the advise. I'll pray that it works for me and that it will ease this pain that I'm in all the time. My counselor is on it too and she has had awesome results. I'm going to be hopeful. Thanks all.

I take it and love it. In all honesty, since I've been on it I've had tons o' days with absolutely zero joint pain. My bloodwork is always fine, though i'm worried I may be becoming allergic to it as my neck and chest have been going numb a lot lately, and I can't think of any other reason why that should be.

Whenever I tell me rheumy that I don't know if something is working or not (which has been an awful lot of times in the past) she always says "If you don't know then it isn't" and ups the dose or changes the med. I really had no idea what she was talking about until she put me on something that does work. When it starts working, you will TOTALLY know, it's almost like being human again!!

Anywho, stick with it H.D., took about 7 months for it to kick in for me, so you're almost there! I was on five pills a day, but I'm down to three technically. In reality I can get by on one or two a day and even skip days now and then.