Sulfasazaline

I have been diagnosed with UC only, with ulcers only in the proctal region via colonoscopy.

I started taking Sulfasazaline 1 month ago along with Pred enemas.

I took the tablets for 1 week with no issues, also got a cold during this time.
One doctor, not my regular GP as he was not working that day, prescribed Klacid Antibiotics which ended up in a full blown red angry raised rash all over my body,my partner tells me I was so swollen, i looked a bit like Marshmallow man from ghost busters. Also had fever which may have been partly due to the cold as well as the allergy.

I stopped taking all medications at this time to allow my body to deal with the reaction.

I week later started taking the sulfasazaline again, took the morning dose, evening dose on a sunday, took monday morning dose and promptly vomited up my breakfast and broke out in full body shivers feeling like I had been hit by a truck. Covered in 2 doonas and a blanket and still shivering uncontrollably.
Ended up at the doctor who diagnosed gastro. As well as creepy crawly skin, like ants biting started with upper body, then moved to lower body about 24 hours later. No rash though.

Took another break from all medications except for the Pred enemas which actually seem to have stopped the flare up! No more bleeding in well over a year!! Yes I had been bleeding pretty much non stop before I finally sought help! Pathetic I know so please don't be harsh.

Dr also had some blood tests done for allergy, which all came back clear.

Started back on the Sulfasazaline on sunday. Took the morning dose, evening dose by bedtime the creep crawly skin was back and the feeling of ants biting was back. Woke up in the middle of the night shivering and feeling like I would vomit any minute. Ended up spending the day shivering in bed with fever, varying from 101.3 to 102.5. This time i wasn't even able to get to the dr. I couldn't hold anything down, not even water.
Went to the dr yesterday (tuesday)to get a certificate for work, my GP was not working so I saw a different dr and he said it sounded like i was allergic to Sulfasazide and to stop taking it.
Apparently i was very dehydrated and that was the priority

Has anyone else had such reactions? I have done a search on the forums, most people seem to have upset stomach and headaches. There is no way I could function the way I was on monday or tuesday at work, or even basic chores at home in order to get used to the Sulfasazline.

I have never had an allergic reaction to anything before, so the reaction to the anti biotic and what now seems to be the sulfasazaline has really thrown me.

Why did you start back on the Sulfazine when you had problems with it the last time you took it? Your sentence before that said you weren't having any problems for a year. Sulfazine has more side effects than other 5ASA's but most of them are pretty expensive. I'm guessing that is why you took the Sulfazine in the first place. What country are you in? If you have a national healthcare system they should have put you on the other meds first because Sulfazine was more or less abandoned due to the side effects.

*red_34* The creepy crawly ants feeling is horrid! The suddenness of allergies is quite frightening!
Have you stopped taking the sulfa?


*Garylousville* Sorry I didn't word my previous post properly, it was a bit all over the place, I am blaming the reaction and not my lack of proof reading LOL
OK so i originally started bleeding back in november 2012 but didn't get it checked out until about february 2014, Dr did CT scan first which showed up nothing and then I had the colonoscopy in March this year. My only symptoms have ever been the constant bleeding (even needing to wear protection ) and the need to go and not being able to. So nice to not be bleeding! I had forgotten what that was like!
The reason I went back on the sufla was because the first time i had the reaction, the dr actually thought i had gastro, apparently there has been a lot of gastro in the area over the last few weeks.
It's only after this reaction, having gone back on the sulfa about 1.5 weeks after the "gastro" that we realise its the sulfa.
I think what has made all this difficult is the intense allergy to the Antibiotic, that was actually far worse than the sulfa reaction, having the cold at the same time, they even sent me for a lung xray at one stage thinking it might be pneumonia, it wasn't :)

Not sure why they put me on the sulfa, the dr who did the colonoscopy suggested it and my GP prescribed it. I don't really know much about UC to be honest, I have only started looking into since my diagnosis.
I am in Australia and other options were never mentioned to me.

*quincy* Thank you for the welcome :)
I am somewhat scared to take the sulfa again, to determine whether it is indeed a reaction to the sulfa, but truth be told I have taken nothing else different and the fact that I had the same reaction twice when restarting it after a 1 to 1.5 week break suggests it can't be anything else. The only uncertainty is that I had actually been taking for a bit over a week with no reaction!
The reaction only started after the Antibiotic reaction, which also makes me wonder if the AntiBiotic reaction has done something to my immune to now start a reaction to the sulfa. Then again I have read here of people who had been taking sulfa successfully for a month or more then started feeling sick on it, so who knows.
I just feel that with the cold and the reactions to both meds, my body has taken a beating, and with all the fever from all the reactions, I didn't have this type of fever with the colds!! I am not keen on risking internal damage, though perhaps I am being a bit dramatic with that.

I have read about desensitisation to sulfa reactions, but at this stage I am not really willing to even give that a go :(

Sounds like i need to go back to my GP and get something else.
Or if the Pred enemas are working, is that likely to put me into remission? Or considering how long I was bleeding for do i need something else on top of the enemas?

I am not sure how much my GP really knows about UC and treating it. Perhaps I am better off going back to the dr who did the colonoscopy?

Sorry for ramble, it feels like such a lonely thing to have right now.

Rushing off to work so no time to proof read again! HOpe i am making more sense this time :)

Yep...I stay away from Sulfa with a 10ft pole!

I took sulfsalazine for about a month and then got constant headaches and a 101 fever 24/7. Body aches, night sweats etc.Flu with no respiratory symptoms. It was an intolerance reaction to the sulfa. If you take enough, anyone will react to it. about 30% of people react at the normal dose. Itchy skin and rash is also a intolerance reaction.

I think the drug is worth a shot because it is the most effective maintenance med and it is dirt cheap but that none of your doctors knew that was the problem is sort of ridiculous. You should not take it anymore and should have been warned what to look for.


Allergic reactions to sulfa are much worse and life threatening but rare. These involve swelling of the throat and face,severe hives, and trouble breathing that come on suddenly after your first dose(anaphylactic shock).

I forgot to mention I really appreciate all this feedback and it's nice to have people understand through your own experiences the reactions I have been having!

Now that I am over the worst of the reactions, i think it can't have been that bad!! Maybe I imagined it!
Then my partner reminds me it really did all happen, and it was worse than I remember because I don't even remember it all :(

Quincy yes I do understand that, I guess more to the point I don't really understand my condition all that well.
My symptoms seem so atypical of what I read when it comes to other people's experiences.
Like I said apart from the bleeding and that urge to empty, which in my case was not always either I have not really experienced all the horrible pain, loose bowels etc that many people talk about.

I am going to ask for a referral to a Gastroenterologist because I really don't think my GP is able to explain my particular condition properly to me.
I also had another look and the guy who did the colonoscopy is a gastric surgeon he is the one who said I would probably only need to be on the Sulfa and enemas for about 2 months, which gave me the impression that I would then be cured, but all the stories I read or most of them anyway, people appear to be on medications even whilst in remission.

So yeh because the bleeding has stopped and so has the need to empty, it seems like I am setting myself up for false hope without medications of some sort.

Obviously the pred enemas are controlling that for now, but I wonder if I were to stop them if it would all return and obviously now reading here, pred enemas are not what I want to be on for maintenance.

Quincy I don't have a copy of the biopsy results myself, but I do recall the guy who did the colonoscopy wrote in his report to the GP that provided nothing shows up on biopsy results then it confirms the UC and his recommendation was the sulfa and enemas.
When i went to get my results they all came back clear with no abnormalities.
But I will still ask for a copy to take to the Gastroenterelogist.
The GP also printed out results of CT scan to take to the Surgeon so I am sure he will have no problems passing on all my results so far.

oh wow I didn't know all that!!! I thought they were merely testing to see if i had an infection!

Wonder why the GP didn't tell me those things?

I have to go to the GP to get a referral for a GI anyway so I will ask him then about a prescription for another 5ASA.