Imuran or 6mp

Has anyone taken Imuran or 6mp to reduce Crohn's inflammation, and if so, how did you do and were there any side affects? I had a re-section 16 years ago, never been on medication (except for Questran to control diarrhea) and my inflammation markers are going up. But I feel pretty healthy every day except for joint pain and I'm nervous about starting medication. Any thoughts on this would be helpful.

I've been on 6MP for over a decade along with a few other things (various doses of prednisone, pentasa at times, xifaxan). But the constant has been 6MP since my last resection in 1998. I have had trouble with my liver enzyme levels but not to the point that I have had to stop taking the medication. I believe it is one of the reasons I have been able to stay off the operating table for the last 11 years. As you can see from my signature, I had quite a time of it for a while and I believe that was because I went for 10 years without any maintenance medication. I was undiagnosed and untreated, but the disease was running amok in my intestines. The 6MP has kept things in check without any side effects that I have felt.

Hey Calace,

And welcome to Healingwell. I used to be like you in not wanting to take meds. I took no meds for almost 20 years. It ended abrubtly with an emergency resection due to a complete obstruction. I just would like to see you avoid any further problems, please do get on some type of maintainence med, you could avoid alot of problems in the future. Zanne and I both learned this lesson the hard way, and both are big proponents of maintainence meds now. Good luck!

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*

In my opinion Imuran is a bit heavy duty for someone who does not seem to be in any immediate danger. I was on it 10 or so years ago and it didn't do much for me and I didn't like the side effects. At the dose I was taking, I was under the impression that it halted all bone marrow production and I didn't like the sound of that at all. With that said, not taking any maintenance meds or at least following any special diet (SCD, Maker's Diet, 100% Raw Foods, etc) is asking for trouble. There are many new meds safer than Imuran becomming available (LDN and Wellbutrin as off-labels are very safe for maintenance and Entocort for short-term flare ups) but you kind of have to see which meds agree with you. I would definitely act now against the inflammation rather than playing the "wait and see" game.

Imuran and 6MP are both lousy choices IMHO based on what you have described.... but your doctor is obviously more familiar with your case than any of us. I would start with the safer meds + maybe a quick dose of steroids to bring down the inflammation + diet first and THEN go to the heavy duty immuno-supressors or anti-TNF if those don't work. Even worse than Imuran, of course, is to take no action and land yourself in the hospital with another surgery and long-term immunosurpressors on top of that. Obstructions and perforations are an absolute mess and should obviously be avoided at almost any cost.

What about Pentasa or Asacol? Neither of those medications did anything for me, but some people swear by them. After that I would try LDN, Wellbutrin, and diet. If that doesn't work then I would use the maximum dose of Entocort for a few weeks. If that doesn't work then a short course of prednisone. If you are still having problems at that point I would then consider either Imuran / 6MP or Anti-TNF. If you go striaght to Imuran you are skipping over all of the safest options and going straight to the most dangerous class of medications IMHO.

I agree with Rider, you need to follow your doctors advice and what you feel you can "live" with in your heart and mind. But just to be clear, Questran does not treat Crohn's disease. It treats the symptom of Diarrhea as an off label use. Questran is a medication used for high cholesterol not for CD it is used off label for Diarrhea. So basically you have been un-treated for the past 16 years. It doesn't seem like its working for you if your inflammation markers are going up.

Also, there are many of us who have to use multiple drugs to bring inflammation under control. Once things are back in check we can start to wean off some medications and figure out what we need to stay on and what can go. I started out after my last resection on Prednisone (high dose), Pentasa and 6MP. All of these drugs work a bit differently and take different amounts of time to take effect. Eventually I was able to cut my prednisone dose down to a very minimal amount, get off Pentasa and cut the 6MP dose in half. I still have other drug options open to me if these stop working for me and more are coming down the pike.

I have tried diet alone, when I was undiagnosed. It was a complete failure for me. Perhaps for someone whose disease is under control, but for me, I will never go without some form of maintenance medication, its just a ticking time bomb.

Thanks again for all of the posts - I have been reading them carefully and pondering them today. Quite coincidentally, today I completely forgot to take the Questran in the morning. At 4pm, my body reminded me while I was walking my dogs. I almost didn't make it back in time. It was the ugly reminder that I am not healthy. Ugh.

C'mon, CH, if you're gonna spout off a conspiracy theory, at least come up with one that doesn't fall apart under basic scrutiny.  Big pharma bandwagon?  Really?  Imuran and 6mp have been around for decades, were not developed initially for IBD treatment, and, most importantly, are both well past their patent terms.  They're available as generic and are very inexpensive.  Big pharma barely makes a cent off them.  The *mounds* of research of their efficacy and relative safety does not come from big pharma, for they have no financial interest in the use of these meds in IBD.