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feel weird and tired is it imuran

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 8/29/2010 9:49 PM (GMT 0)
Hey just wondered has anybody felt strange and tired after taking imuran.

Feels so weird taking a drug that lowers your immune system when drugs are suppose to do the opposite.

I used to be a good athlete but since discovering I have uc I have been feeling so tired all the time.

Feel light headed all the time is it the imuran or the uc can anybody tell me.

Also stomach always in pain been 9 months now and no let up on symtoms even with steriods and all the drugs I'm on help.

Posted 8/29/2010 11:40 PM (GMT 0)
I am allergic to imuran. At first, the symptoms were mild when I took it. Later, I would immediately get fever, severe headaches, muscle pain, fatigue and just a loopy,confused type feeling as soon as I took it, even in low doses. My liver labs showed severe distress and I had to stop taking it. Luckily I recovered quickly when I stopped taking it.

You should talk to your doctor about it since the inflammation that comes from UC can make you feel really tired too.

BTW, prednisone can cause problems with stomach acidity, so I usually take some kind of antacid like pepcid when I am on it.
Posted 8/30/2010 1:02 AM (GMT 0)
bowiestar,
Would you post a bit about diagnosis and treatment? It is hard to comment without knowing your uc history, prescriptions and current dosages. The first week of Imuran I went through a range of symptoms: tiredness, hair loss, 24/7 nausea, shakiness and poor cognition. Three weeks later and I have none of those symptoms. Weekly Liver Function Tests have all come back within the normal range. I am hoping for the best. I exercise in the early morning before I take anything. I have more energy at that time of day.
Are you taking a multi-vitamin and folic acid? That made a huge difference for me. I take the vitamin/supplements in the morning and Imuran mid-afternoon so my liver doesn't get overstressed.
I am so sorry that you have been in pain for 9 months without any symptom relief. Sometimes it takes a while to find the right treatment, but 9 months is a very long time.
I look forward to hearing more from you.
S
Posted 8/30/2010 4:04 PM (GMT 0)
hey have pan colitis as they tell me so its everywhere in the colon which I guess is harder to treat.

I'm on 5o mg a day Imuran also on 4 tablets of mezavent they have me on a low dose of Imuran beacuse my tests came back and my white cells were low so they couldn't higher dose.

Don't think the tablets are working has anybody ever recovered there normal energy or do you always feel weird with this illness help.

Posted 8/31/2010 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
When were you diagnosed for pancolitis? 50mg of Imuran is often used as a 4 week starter dose. If your liver function tests are normal, your dose will gradually be increased according to your weight. It can take 6 to 12 weeks for Imuran to be fully effective.
I am intolerant of drugs like Mezavent. I had terrible stomach pain, extreme tiredness, and severe headaches from Lialda.
I would definitely talk to your doctor about a possible intolerance to at least one of the medications. For me pancolitis developed over a three month period and it took about four months for me to heal enough to start playing tennis again. I was in the hospital for a full month, followed by daily infusions for three months.
I am sorry you are feeling so terrible. It will get better. Finding the right drugs to keep you in remission is a trial and error process. please talk to your doctor soon.
S
Posted 8/31/2010 7:32 AM (GMT 0)
thanks alot I hope it does get better You can start to lose faith with the doctors.
The imuran was suppose to be increased but the white cell count wasn't great so he is holding of increasing it.
Just wonder do you ever get to feel like yourself again or is this how life is going to be forever used to be so healthy and now its an effort just to get up and be ready for the day.
Posted 8/31/2010 8:44 AM (GMT 0)
I know when my doc tried imuran, i started to feel tired/disconnected/and nausiea all right away and upon upping the dose to 150 ended up not being able to eat/drink anything stoped it right away and still took about a week to feel normal (for being in a flare up)
Posted 8/31/2010 12:20 PM (GMT 0)
The way my GI doc described Imuran use is like this.  He likes to use this Rx for people who fail the ASA or who need it as an adjunt to their ASA use.  He said some people can't metabolize the drug and these people will know pretty quickly who they are.  Those  people who can't take it will feel sicky.  Not just feeling blah but violently ill like many of the people on this forum who have been placed on it.  For those that don't have a problem taking it they do very well for a long time on it.  He has hundreds of patients who have been taking it for a decade or more.  As I posted many times before one of the GI docs treats his daughter with it for Chron's and she has been on it for 12+ years. 

I take it at my current 150 mg dose.  I have not really experienced any bad side effects from it.  In fact I don't notice anything.  Sometimes I feel tired but I believe it's because I am doing so much.  Since my UC has been under control I have been really hitting life hard and have out of the house a lot.  Up at 7/8 am and hitting the bed at 11/12 pm.   I don't really feel "wierd" on it and I believe it  has helped heal my colon to normal.  So far so good.

MyUC

Posted 8/31/2010 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
yeah guess I need to let it work but it doesn't seem to improve my uc.
I'm living in ireland don't know if the doctors here are as advanced as they are stateside.
Seems strange to be taking a drug that lowers your immune system when usually drugs try to build it up.
This disease for me seems to be always there haven't had a good day without it in months nice to hear it can go away.
Posted 8/31/2010 2:17 PM (GMT 0)
Please remember 2 very important things about UC and Imuran use.  First, Imuran often takes 3- 6 months to kick in.  It can longer but the point is it often does not work in the first 1-2 months.  For me it did, within 6 weeks things improved.  Second you shouldn't look at Imuran's side effect to lower the immune system as a bad thing.  That is why this drug is considered good.  When you have UC often the immune system goes into overdrive.  The immune systme will often show an increased wbc because there is more inflammation in the body than it should have.  Imuran acts as a immunomodulator by not allowing so much inflammation be not allowing the body to produce so many wbcs therebye decreasing  the unnecessary inflammation.

I quizzed about 4-5 GI docs about Imuran use and they were very happy with's efficacy and it's safety record.  Give it time.  You have to figure out the proper dosage. 

MyUC

Posted 8/31/2010 2:26 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah I guess the only problem I have is since I start taking it I feel really tired.
I'm very optimistic that my doctors know what they are doing but it is a grey area over here.
Does this disease calm down the longer you have it or is it just to be accpeted as part of life guess im hoping I can be back to normal one day.
Posted 8/31/2010 3:19 PM (GMT 0)
To be honest UC is considered a life long chronic disease.  It 's for the long haul.  The quicker one accepts it and adapts to it the easier it gets.  However there are cases where people has very long spans of remission or you will hear of people who state they had it at one point in their life but it dissapeared but they are considered in the minority.  Feeling "normal" is a state of mind.  I don't like having UC anymore than you do but I do my best to rise to the challenge and try to have a sense of humor about it.  I do wish I never got it but there are a lot more people a lot more worse than us.  Please don't despair my UC years ago was horrible and now it's not.  I don't know what the future holds but we all have to try to fight the fight and be positive. 

By the way I was in the UK for over two weeks just a few weeks ago.  I didn't make over to Ireland but I wanted to.  Also my GI doc whom I really respect graduated from the Royal Medical School of Ireland.

MyUC

Posted 8/31/2010 6:18 PM (GMT 0)
Ah thats good advice I'm naturally positive until i realised I never had anything to be negative about until I got uc.
I have accepted it just didn't expect all my energy to be zapped from me just wondered do you recover the energy back, the pain and the constant going to the bathroom I can deal with, Just wish I had my energy back.
Thanks for advice hope this site can help me a little
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