Start Imuran before our Anniversary Trip? Or wait?

Start Imuran before our Anniversary Trip? Or wait?

My doctor wants me to go on Imuran next.

I am going to the beach for a week in two weeks. Any suggestions?
Should I start now, and then if the side effects are too bad, I can go back off it before I leave?
Should I wait to start when I get back?

It’s our anniversary and I would love to feel well. Or at least no worse.
We have a room (with bathroom) right on the beach, so I could go the way I feel now.

I am tapering Prednisone. (It is sure nice to be able to sleep again.) It worked amazingly, but as the dosage goes down, the symptoms come back. It's gotten pretty bad again and I still have a week more on the taper. I'm worried about the drive to the beach, but I've done it before.

They are having me finish the taper before I start the Imuran, but that doesn’t seem necessary, from what I have read here.

I tried Uceris, which was like a miracle. Then as soon as the prescription ran out, the symptoms all came back. We started Uceris again, but it didn’t seem to work the next time, so we started the Prednisone.
I had a REALLY bad week.

I was thinking I might try Uceris again, since it had no side effects at all.
The month I was on it was the best month I have had since I was diagnosed. (Or since I started having symptoms, which was over a year before. Tried to treat it with diet, herbs, vitamins, etc. first.)
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Diagnosed January 8, 2014 Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Pancolitis
Currently: 4 (1.2g) Lialda
Citrucel, just a spoonful a day with water, drink it fast before it turns to glue.
Very limited diet. Low residue, no insoluble fiber. Lots of other restrictions.
Everything made from scratch, careful about pesticides, etc
Have tried: Uceris, Predisone, Various 5-ASAs
I REALLY appreciate everyone's help here!

I have plenty of leftover bottles of pills left from various experiments.

I thought about just trying the Uceris again. Before it gets bad...
Concerned about the taper, but I am only taking 5mg right now.

I don't see any reason I couldn't start the Uceris while I finish the week of 5, the next week of 2.5...

I would start the imuran when you come back from holiday. Some people find they have no side effects when they first start, I was not one of these people. I'd also suggest staying on pred while you are away, or even increase since you seem to be getting bad again

Imuran takes multiple months before it reaches a therapeutic level in your body. Therefore, I would recommend starting it without delay. Imuran can cause a sense of nausea in some when first taking it, but not all patients. You can take it right before bed which reduces the odds.

I'm quite surprised you are tapering off of the pred/Uceris, before you've been on Imuran for a full two months, it seems like a really bad idea to me. I would recommend staying on pred for the duration of your holiday/vacation. Stay on a dose high enough so you don't have to worry about urgency/accidents. And most of all have fun and enjoy your time in the sun at the beach.

iPoop said...
Imuran takes multiple months before it reaches a therapeutic level in your body. Therefore, I would recommend starting it without delay. Imuran can cause a sense of nausea in some when first taking it, but not all patients.

My nausea has been terrible during my first 3-4 weeks. At random times I have had to run to the bathroom with the idea that I was going to vomit RIGHT NOW! However, it seems to subside for me quickly, and I have not vomited yet. And I do think that the nausea symptoms are decreasing in frequency.

I'd just start and see if you have any symptoms. Never noticed anything from Imuran. Doc has me alternating 4 and 3.5 pills day.

Pltt19, you do not want to keep falling back to steroids as a crutch, as they are dangerous medications. If you did a 4 month course of steroids early this year, and are now back on steroids, then clearly your maintenance medications for uc are not sufficient. Time to ask your GI about upping your dosages of your current meds (if not already at maximums) and adding new, stronger uc medications. Why spend a vacation away and have things get worse while you are there...

Deacon, uceris has a delayed-release coating as asacol hd does. It releases based on ph in the large intestine. As such, uceris is 90 percent topical, and 10 percent system wide. It should have less side effects then pred does (or at least be the equivalent of being on real low dose pred). Not without danger as it still hits the whole body though...

Deacon Blues said...
I am new to Uceris. I don't take it but this is the first I have heard of it. I see that it is nudes onside which is used in inhalers also, I administer it to patients all the time in the ER. I have looked briefly at my drug guide, but what do we know about Uceris? Is it just as dangerous as Prednisone when taken long term?
Deacon

As dangerous as pred to me, no. Taken both. I would assume similiar to cort enemas maybe little worse. If you have side effects from those then I would think you would get them from Uceris. Used those enemas for years with no side effects.

I agree pretty close on dosing with gary.

So, finally got the call back from the Doctor's Office.

I told them that I am going to be gone for a week, back and have a 2 week crunch project I absolutely have to function for. Then leave for another week.

They agree that I should not start Imuran until after all of that. Partly because they have to do all of these tests and can't get it scheduled around me.

They don't want me to taper the Prednisone now.
They say stay at 5mg indefinitely.
They don't want to switch it for Uceris. Which I don't get.

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They got back to me in only a little over 24 hours. Found out it's because I left voicemail for the "wrong" doctor. They changed my doctor and I didn't know it. I looked through all of my paperwork and I can't find this new name anywhere. It hardly makes a difference. I never met the first guy either. All I talk to are nurses and a case worker or something. whatever.

Anyway, I talk to the nurse, who relays to my case worker, who asks my doctor, who answers, then she enters notes into a computer, then a random person calls and reads them to me. If I have any questions, I wait for the call back.

The advantage is, they are 1 minute from my house. I could walk. I could crawl. I haven't heard anything better from the next closest practice and they are an hour away.

It worked wonderfully at first. But, they only prescribed for one month. I was feeling so great I went to a convention. It ran out on Thursday. I spent Saturday in the hotel bathroom flushing my blood and guts down the toilet. I think it was the combination of fear of public bathroom lines and ending the Uceris.

When I got home, they renewed the prescription, but the diarrhea was pretty constant for the rest of the week. Friday they put me on prednisone, which worked pretty quickly.

I just feel like if I had been on it longer, it might have worked better. And I had NO side effects. The prednisone made me a crazy person. Really.

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We need a little Facebook thumb up.