I can't be arsed with this anymore!

Caution! Venting session about to take place:

I am sooooooo fed up with this stupid disease! I am waiting for this drug Allopurinol to kick in after being on it for 7 days and it hasn't yet! I know I am being impatient but having this flare up for the last 8 months will do that to you! My GI reduced my Imuran dose from 125 to 50mg a few weeks ago and my flare has been getting progressively worse since then. Back to bloody stools twice a day and now I keep having that feeling that I need to poop but then it goes away and comes back. I have also started getting nausea pangs which may be due to the new drug or just the inflammation getting worse. I don't know :( The pain in my left side has gotten worse too. My GI nurse has refused me steroids as she wants to give the Imuran/allopurinol combo a chance to work and she said the steroids in addition could supress my immune system too much.

I hate this. Please god make something work!

Have you tried an anti-spasmodic like Bentyl for the cramping? If not, you could ask your GI to prescribe it. At least maybe you could then get some relief from the cramping and possibly the nausea. My nausea is usually linked to my cramping. This disease requires so much patience which is impossible since each day in flare feels like an eternity. Hang in there!

Sorry your feeling so frustrated! it ain't easy for sure, I hope you can get sorted out sooner rather than later...

I am fed up today too..I went to the hospital to get my Meds and I was told they had completely run out of Pentasa, seriously!!! I kicked up a fuss and they found some boxes somewhere? of the tablets, not the granules which is what I take, and I was told no other hospital had them at the moment, so I came home fuming and also with no suppositories!

Not so sickly - how long did it take to get to therapeutic level? Maybe it is better for the drug to work slowly rather than too quickly where it can go the other way and make you develop neutropenia.

I will hang in there. As that is all I can do :( but I can start to feel myself starting in to a spiral of depression :(

I do not remember how long it took, I just remember struggling with low WBC and seeing a hematologist often. It seriously felt like I was going to doctors every day. I had to stop and start 6mp and lost a few weeks in there but things calmed down somehow. The entire time I was on the combo my WBC was low. Now it's too high. Can't win.

I've been on then for four months now!

Spartan - people who can't metabolise imuran take allo with it. They used to say no as they contraindicated each other but can work for people who can't metobolize aza properly like me!

Spartan- yes it's becoming quite a common practice for ripley who can't metobolize aza or 6MP properly. I just can't get to therapeutic level with aza even though I was on the right dose for me. If my doc increased my dose more then my liver would have been at risk. So this way my aza is reduced right down to 50mg and they've added allopurinol to boost the effect of the aza to get me to therapeutic levels with less side effects to my liver. I have always had a normal liver result but the toxicity was starting to get higher. It's not worked yet but only been on the combo for about a week.