IMURAN????

Consult with a surgeon. Some GIs are very oriented to medical treatments for UC. I was lucky, my GI was fine with me trying all the meds (Imuran was a HORRIBLE experience for me, had an awful reaction to it), but from the beginning he told me "the surgery is the cure." When first dx'd three and half years ago I wasn't ready to hear that, but after the meds didn't work or stopped working for me, I was ready and he referred me to a great surgeon. I consulted with him last summer and decided to have the surgery over the winter -- it's coming up Jan 12 (yikes!).

You don't need your doctor's "permission." Consult with a surgeon and learn what your options are. If the medications are not working for you or you don't feel the benefits outweigh the risks to YOUR satisfaction change doctors, consult a surgeon, so what YOU need to do. YOU live with the side-effects of whatever you take or do, not your doctor.

Meesh

Imuran is not all bad for everyone. I've been on 6MP (more or less the same thing. Imuran is converted to 6mp in the liver) for about 2 years now and it's been great for me. I've had no side effects/bad reactions from it except for a bit of dry skin which some lotion takes care of. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people definitely do get some bad side effects from it and it does have some scary risks. But, IMO, it's still worth a try at least. You just might get lucky and find it works for you without any (or at least manageable) side effects and maybe at least have a good while in remission and put off surgery for a while. But hey, if you're sure you don't want go on it and prefer surgery then don't get on it. If your GI isn't listening to you then by all means get a second or even third opinion until you find someone willing to listen to what you want to do. ChefPatrick is right. You sure as hell shouldn't need your doctors permission to try something else. Don't deal with crap like that. Good luck!

I had blood tests done last week because my GI may want me to try 6MP since I got worse when I tapered the Entocort. The pharmacy also gave me Asacol instead of Asacol HD and I wasn't on Rowasa at the time either, so that could be the reason.

Anyway, I also told my GI I'd rather have the whole thing gone than take that pill. He said we could discuss it. Oddly enough, my next door neighboor had his removed eight years ago and was/is well pleased with it.

I should probably know this already, but I don't: Can the blood tests give any indication as to the possibilty of the drug causing cancer or other side affects that wouldn't occur until years later? Or are they just to make sure you won't be experiencing more immediate side affects from the drug?

Imuran lowers your white blood cell production. In extreme cases this can require a bone marrow transplant. They monitor your white cell count (monthly for me) to assure everything is acceptable. The increased risk of developing lymphoma would be discovered by giving large doses to lab rats. If I had a close blood relative who had lymphoma I would be more concerned over taking Imuran.