Imuran and pancreatitis

I'm just two weeks in to taking Imuran, and overall have done well, except over the last couple of days I've gotten really nauseous a few hours after my morning dose. No vomitting, but thiiissss close.  It only lasts a few hours and then I'm fine.  But taking the advice I've seen on this forum I decided to start taking my dose at night, hoping to maybe sleep through the nausea.  So yesterday I skipped the morning dose and felt good all day, no stomach upset whatsoever.  I took the Imuran at around 7:00 last night, right after dinner.  And then Bam!  about an hour after taking the pills, I started vomitting and feeling these really sharp pains in the middle of my upper abdomen.  This lasted for the next 4 or 5 hours, me alternating between kneeling in front of the porcelin God and curled up in a little ball in bed.  I called the on-call doctor at my GI's office and she said if things got any worse to head to ER, but that most likely the pain would subside as the Imuran wore off.  I decided to power through it, and I finally fell asleep around midnight, and woke up feeling much better.  Stomach still a little sore, but nothing like the horrible pain I'd felt before.  And the nausea was gone.  My GI called me first thing this morning and said stop taking the Imuran (duh) and had me stop by the lab for blood tests.  He says he's pretty sure it was a pancreatitis attack and that if the blood work confirms, I'll have to stop the Imuran for good.  Great.  Another round of drugs that don't work.  I'm to call my GI in the morning for the blood results.  Man I was so hoping I'd be one of the lucky ones for whom Imuran works.

So what comes after Imuran?  My GI mentioned Remicade and I'm scared about that.  I know I don't have to tell any of you about the level of frustration that I'm feeling over trying to get this fricken flare under control.  I'm just tired of it!  My hair is falling out, I'm sweating like a pig, I swear I've gained 5 pounds in my cheeks alone, and I just feel like I'd rather suffer with the CD symptoms then the side effects of all these drugs. 

So really, just a rant.  Guess I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself and felt the need to get that off my chest.  Thanks for listening

Lori

That's a great link, FunGuy - thanks!!

One reason why I am sooooooooooooooooo glad for the prometheus TPMT genetics testing...I showed heterozygote(so not immediate exclusion) but based on this, my docs went super, duper slow, and did lots of blood testing, and yup, I was showing pancreatitis...but it was not severe, I had the nausea like most of you describe, and a bit of pain(but I have liver issues to, so at times, that can confuse the issue), but I did not need hospitalization(I'm sorry Iram that you had to be in the hospital)...

Just for a frame of reference, Remicade is probably less mild than the side effects of the Imuran...or think of the side effects of prednisone...but I think because prednisone and Imuran effects are known, it seems a bit safer, but, if you think on it, they all are kinda scary...

Well tests came back negative for pancreatitis, yay! I missed my doctor's call, but his message said that mostly likely my pain and vomitting was an allergic reaction to the Imuran and to call on Monday and we'll discuss our options. What will he say - 6MP? I've read that if you're not able to tolerate Imuran, 6MP might work? When he put me on Imuran, he mentioned that if this didn't work, we'd look at Remicade. I hate having to wait until Monday to find out, but I guess I don't have a choice. After reading obsessively about Remi, I'm almost inclined to just go there, rather than trying something else first. I don't know. I need a distraction.