Remicade and Imuran

Hi crohnies,

I've been on Remicade since July 2009.  Well the remicade has not been lasting the whole 8 weeks. So we tried doubling the dosage, that helped only lasted to week 6.  So now we are going back down and trying it every 6 weeks.  He also gave me imuran 50mgs.  He said that the hopefully Imuran will work and he can take me off the remicade in time.  Which would be nice, but in the mean time I have to be on both.  I was also on sulfasalazine for my leg pain (some sort of inflammation in my legs).  Well I couldn't take the GI symptoms that came with Sulfa so I stopped.  In fact almost anything I've tried in pill form makes me sick, D, gas, bloating, its not pretty.  Now I'm concerned about starting Imuran.  I know my stomach is very sensitive.  So far the only thing that has worked is Remicade.  I almost think because it doesn't go through the digestive system so I can tolerate it.  ?? Just a thought.  Also imuran and remicade together I have heard are dangerous, lowering immune system even more.  Anybody have thoughts about this and imuran side effects??? Thanks for your help!

Hi I also was on remicade and imuran for all over 5 years.

My daughter is in a similar boat-Remi is losing effectiveness. We are going back to 6 weeks and up a bit on the dose, but it is unknown whether this will do the trick. Have been on 6mp since the beginning, but lowered the does to 50mgs--now back up to 75mg. There have never been many obvious side affects of 6mp for her-we blamed a bit of hair loss on it, but we also have never been sure it worked. Only Remi has done the trick, and now it seems to be slipping away.

I am taking both now and I think they have help me quite a bit.
I have been on since March of '09.
I still have some bad days, rectal pain - kinda like internal hemmroids.
and I have about 10-15 BM's a day, depending what I eat, although, I have most of my colon gone so....

I do get a bit of nausea but when I do I take Natural Source Gravol and it works great!
And yes, I also take many natural vitemans and always with some kind of food like bread or a light snack.
Yes, it does lower your immune system, so be causious of that, and eat well and take many vitemans - that's worked for me.

Hope this helps! Good Luck!

Thanks for all ur replies. I just had my infusion today and started Imuran. We'll see if it works! The pain that comes back when my infusion wears off is killer. So I'm willing to give it a try! Keeping my fingers crossed :)

For sweetpea1984:

I'm not sure what country you are located in. But for Canadians, Trillium cover's it. Don't know if that is applicable to you, but if you are Canada just thought I'd let you know!

My Doctor wont even think of the possibility of putting me on remicade while on imuran for that reason, he doesnt feel its worth the risk since if you get that one type of lymphoma you are basically done.

 

debilitated said...
Remicade + imuran is proven to be effective. BUT, ALL lymphoma cases were IMURAN + Remicade together. Yet, doctors still don't know why. That's just the case. Ask yourself if the risks are worth the benefit.