6-MP?

Hi all-I just had a flex sig this morning (ouch, I have to say). I was on Humira, was hoping we would move to remicade, but now he is talking about 6-mp instead?

I don't know much about this drug, can anyone fill me in? I am anxious about it. I was reading some of the potential side effects, which freak me out a bit. Especially infertility since we are hoping for another child at some point, but there are many others that worry me as well.

Input or thoughts on this med? Thank you!

If I am not mistaken (and I may be since I am not familiar with Remicade or Humira) but I think that Remi and Humira are within the same classification of medication. If the Humira is failing you then Remi might as well which can be why your doc is doing the backward approach to medication. There are several posts here regarding 6mp and Imuran in case you want to do a search. But I have been on 6mp for 3 years and the initial start up of this med is the hardest. Meaning that it takes a while for it to build up in your system (3-6 months), some side effects and frequent blood testing. The side effects that bothered me the most was fatigue, headaches, hair loss and slight nausea. After my body got used to the med, around the 3 month mark, most of these issues ceased. If you do start on 6mp, my main advice is to take it before bed since that will lessen any side effects. Also, you need to drink A LOT of water while on this medication.

6-MP is also known as mercaptopurine and is an immunosuppresant drug (like the remicade/humira biologics or steroids). like red_34 mentioned, you need regular blood tests while on the medication to monitor your white and red blood cells. i never drank "a lot" of water while on the medicine, but some people may need to i suppose.

i was on its sister drug, imuran (azathioprine) for a little while but it used to give me horrible nausea. oddly enough i never had any side effects from almost five years of taking 6-MP.

but like any immunosuppresive drug, the potential for serious side effects exists and there is a slightly increased risk of developing cancer while taking it, just like remicade & humira. but if you're not afraid of humira, then there's little reason to be afraid of 6-MP.

Thank you for the input everyone. I will have to discuss this with him. He classifies the TNF blockers (Humira/Remicade) differently as things like this and other immuno-modulators, so I was under the assumption there were some distinct differences with these. He has always told me that Humira is not an immunosuppresant, but rather an immune blocker-more target specific because it doesn't lower your entire immune response, but rather blocks a specific protein. IDK.

And it isn't that I didn't/don't have fear with the Humira/Remicade, but I could at least proceed with another baby while on one of those-at some point this year, not right now of course. But I am not sure getting started on a med that can't be used during pregnancy is something I am wanting to do at this particular point in time. Anyway, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the potential ramifications of being on the Humira, but at least the remission, when I was in it, was great and lasted quite a while. Not to mention it happened quickly.

I also read that 6-mp is contraindicated with mesalamine. I don't know-I am just confused about all of the differences with these meds, and not feeling confident in this being the next step.

Thanks again everyone for your input.

Ok, thank you for that info, capecoddah. I think I will have to have a serious chit chat with him (and my hubby and so on) about all of this stuff. I wish I knew what the best thing to do next is-I just want to feel better again!!

In the end, I keep wondering if it is even worth it to hold on to my colon. How has the J-pouch process been for you?

Thank you, KStatephan. I will definitely have to be doing my research on this one. I know some people would say I should give up wanting to have another child since I have two already, but I am not ready to do that just yet. But right now, that needs to be a back burner kind of thing-I need to focus on getting back into remission!

I am trying not to be all "oh woe is me", but some days that is tough, isn't it??? Blah-time to pick myself up and keep plugging away at this.