Looking for some information. Imuran and Pregnancy

Hi, I am writing not because I have CD, but because my husband has CD and we are in the process of trying to get pregnant. My husband is currently taking 150 mg of azathioprine genaric to Imuran a day for the last year and a half. He has as of right now a very mild form of CD having never really had a flare up but was diagnosed through a fistula and colonoscopy with blood test. While taking medication daily he does not expirance any effects of CD however if he misses a day or two he feels sick. He recently in the past asked his GI doctor if he could change medications (mainly becuase he was worried about all the negitive information of effects of long term use of this medication) his doctor said no there was nothing else that would work if this is working. However at the time we where not planning on pregnancy so he did not ask.

Me being the planner and needing to know now. I have searched and searched and have found very conflicting information regarting taking this medication and male fertility. I am looking to see if anyone has had expriances using this drug and getting pregnant sucessfully and if there where any issues with that.

We do plan on calling his Doctor and asking the Doctor specifically, but I have also want to hear others expriances. (And I cant wait... to excited that we have finally decided after 9 years together that we are ready.)

Thank you for all your help.

Amanda

*I updated your title so more women will see this post*

Post Edited By Moderator (Nanners) : 7/12/2009 8:38:09 AM (GMT-6)

Many female Crohnies on this forum have taking Prednisone, Imuran/6mp, even Remicade or Humira while pregnant and all have had healthy babies. The doctors believe a healthy Mom produces a healthy baby. I am hoping some of these ladies will see this and pop in. There are studies that have been done that find these medications safe to take while pregnant. I am sure with your husband taking it all will be fine to conceive. Maybe try looking in our search above to look for old posts on this subject. Try typing in Imuran and pregnancy and see what comes up. Hope that helps.

Hugs
Gail *Nanners*

I don't think in men it would hurt to badly. While starting to get pregnant myself I was on Imuran, and I had no problems getting pregnant or anything (I got pregnant the very first try). I DID stop cause I didn't want the meds to affect the baby, my bad, but I did feel great the whole pregnancy off meds. Doctors all the while did insist that Imuran is safe for babies and pregnancy, so even if he is taking the meds, your baby should be quite fine. In fact they even say breastfeeding and Imuran is completely safe, so there shouldn't be any problems in any way with the med and your baby, I still take the 'just in case' route and formula feed, once again my choice, but all medical reports and docs out where I am seem to insist its complete safe. As for men and side effects, I guess trial and error will be your tell, if you try and get pregnant, you know it didn't affect his fertility, if you try for a long time and nothing, maybe it would be time to try something else, I have a feeling only trying will give your answer for that. As for the long term potential dangers of Imuran, well, just remember EVERY med has its long term effects of usage, so don't worry so much about that, as long as all the proper tests and all are being done in the meantime. Good luck gettiing pregnant.

My doctor also thought it would be better for me to stay on my meds while pregnant. He thought it would be far worse for me to have a flare up and become ill while pregnant. I had twin boys who are now 17 months old and very healthy so far. I breastfed for about a month while on the Imuran, stopping really didn't have anything to do with the meds, just me being exhausted and needing to switch to formula for my own sanity!!! I also agree with everyone else about talking to your doctor, good luck and I hope things go well for you. It has been amazing having our boys!

hana24,

Well unfortunately your doctors were wrong if that's what they told you.  Tell them to speak to Sunanda Kane at the Mayo Clinic for further information.  She is a leading researcher on Crohn's meds and their effects on pregnancy.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/bio/14962535.html

Now, methotrexate is a different story.  It's definitely off limits for someone trying to get pregnant.

Post Edited (beave) : 7/15/2009 12:26:04 PM (GMT-6)

Hello Pink,

I have actualyl read the Danish study that started all the controversy over the 6-mp and male fertility debate. The study focused on men who had been taking the drug for at least nine months, and had had a pregnancy withing nine months of the drug. Out of the 26,000 pregnancies during the trial period, only 54 males met the criteria (took 6-mp, had a pregnancy, and took the drug close to the conception date). The study showed that 4 of these preganancies had abnormalities, which is a rate of 7.4%. The average of the remaining 26,000 pregnancies of males who were NOT on 6-mp was around 4%, so they thought they had a higher rate, therefore caution was expressed.

Here are some criticisms of the study:
1) Of the four males, none were auto-immune disease patients. Three were organ tranplant recipients, and the fourth had a rare form of luekemia. There is no telling really what other medications they were on or what complications they had.
2) This is entirely too small of a number to judge anything on. For what was supposed to be a wide spread test, only 54 viable subjects were found. If there had been one more abnormality, then it would have been more than twice the average, one less abnormality, then it's the same as the population.
3) The time periods of what dosage and how long they were taking that dosage was never clearely defined. Was one man taking it for five years, another just one? These distinctions weren't made.

In all, I think the study has fallen by the wayside, but when a Pharm Rep goes to see a dr. with a new expensive biologic to help crohns patients, they might still use this study to bash the cheaper drugs like 6-mp. Some doctors will listen. My last gi was against it, by new gi is not, and now I'm getting better. I hope this helps. I'm young and married, and we hope to have kids in the next three to four years, and after what I've studied, I'm not too worried about it.