Remicade and Imuran together?

I took both Imuran and Remicade together. In fact I started Imuran 4 days before my first infusion. Of course, at that time it was considered beneficial to be on both at the same time because there was evidence that it reduced the chance of infusion reactions. Now there is some concern about people being on both at the same time because of a greater risk of developing ?? I am drawing a blank as to the issue - and can't find it now - my darn lupus brain fog.

I was on Remicade for 2.5 years. I have been taking Imuran for 4.5 years. Remicade put my Crohn's into remission and I believe that Imuran has kept it that way. I saw my GI today and he said he has others that have maintained remission on Imuran for quite a long time.

I will be interested in what your GI says. I hope you can get things resolved quickly.

Ya I think it's cancer, Ides. If this Humira gets me into remission I might consider switching back over to 6MP and stopping the Humira before I develop anti-bodies to it.

Of course if the 6MP doesn't hold me in remission I might not be able to go back to Humira so I guess it would be a bit of a gamble.

The concern about imuran together with Remicade is for a specific type of lymphoma, a rare but just-about-incurable form known as hepatosplenic t-cell lymphoma.  It's only been reported a few times, and mostly in young adults/teens, but it's almost always fatal.

The second concern of taking imuran together with Remicade is that the combined immunosuppression greatly increases the chances of contracting an opportunistic infection, compared with just taking one or the other.

Taking imuran, Remicade, and prednisone increases the chances even higher -- much higher, in fact.

I've been on Imuran for over 2.5 years now and I've been put on Humira 2.5 weeks ago. My doctor told me she would keep me on Imuran for 6 more months because Imuran slows down the making of anti-bodies to Humira. She said 6 months is tops because both meds can cause lymphoma and when taken together the risk is even greater and definitely not something to joke around with.

So yes, both you and your doc are right. You do feel worse without Imuran and being on Imuran and Remicade did help you but at the same time 6 months is really really it. That's the way they do it in Europe. I'd probably ask my doctor about this and tell him that we should try it for at least 6 months. If you haven't already developed too many anti-bodies. My doc also decreased my Imuran dose to 75mg and I'm guessing we will be decreasing it during this 6 month period before fully stopping.

I know I am scared as heck about stopping Imuran even though I know it's necessary. I've talked to some people I ran into at my hospital and they all had the same problem - quitting Imuran after being on Remicade/Humira for 6 months just led them into relaps once again.

I'm really sorry this happened to you :( Good luck!