Question on Xeljanz

I have been on 5 mg of Xeljanz twice a day now for about a year. I started at 10 mg twice a day and then as symptoms improved, went down to 5 mg maintenance dose. I also recently stopped taking Delzicol per my GI instructions. I was only taking 2 400 mg tablets twice a day and when the prescription ran out, I was told I did not need to refill. this week I'm starting to see some GI issues. Not sure if its a stomach bug or not. I've read alot of success stories about Xeljanz so I'm hoping it hasn't quit working it's magic on me already after a year. Also wondering if stopping Delzicol is having an effect. Would appreciate hearing from others who have experience.

I take 10 mg Xeljanz in a morning and 5 mg in the evening which works for me, as I found that 5 mg each time did not quite hold me. I have been on Xeljanz for 16 months now.

poopydoop said...
In your shoes i would get a calprotectin test. But, my flares are really strongly correlated with calprotectin, which is not the case for everyone. I started to flare 3 months after dropping the dose of xeljanz. The first symptom was abdominal pain but we caught it early because I monitor my calprotectin monthly - it had gone from 30 to 400. I got back into remission quickly using salofalk enemas (4g) which I have not quit since because I don't want to risk another flare. So yes 5ASAs can still make a difference, even on xeljanz.

How do you measure it so frequently?

dsmk said...
My daughter took xeljanz (10 mg) for 9 months then she tapered 5 mg for another 9 months. When she had a flare so she increased her dose to 10 mg and also increased her mesalamine dose 4 tablets per day. After 2 months her flare did not settle. So her doctor switched to entyvio. Hope this will help you

Has the Entyvio helped her?

She had only one infusion. It’s helping a little bit.

I'm about to switch to Xeljanz and was told I needed to stop the Humira before switching, and there needed to be a gap, but I haven't been told to stop Clipper (steroid) or mesalazine (Mezavant tablets, Pentasa suppositories, Salofalk enemas).

As I understand it I'll continue with mesalazine with Xeljanz.

I had to stop imuran/azathioprine on starting xeljanz but stayed on mesalazine tablets. I made the mistake of stopping mesalazine (as per dr request) immediately on starting infliximab and had a horrible flare 8 weeks later.
I don't think stopping mesalazine would cause a major flare 5 days later but stopping steroids might?

Just to confirm, I started taking Xeljanz last night. My IBD nurse told me to continue with Clipper for a week. I'll continue to take Mezavant (mesalazine tablets) indefinitely, and will continue the mesalazine suppositories for a couple of weeks but I can reduce the frequency/ stop taking them as I start to feel better.

Sara14 said...
How long did they tell you you had to be off Humira for first? Hope it works for you.

The IBD nurse didn't give me a specific length of time for the 'clearance period' between Humira and Xeljanz. She just told me on 30th April to stop taking the Humira. The time between my last Humira jab and the Xeljanz was 2.5 weeks but if the medication had arrived sooner it would've been less so my guess is that the clearance period is usually around 2 weeks.

UCyousee said...
Hope8, and Sara14, thanks for the good luck and hope! I'll update how I get on once I know whether it's working, on the 'Experience with Xeljanz' thread that TP177 started this March.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=4242686

Thanks! Good luck!

Any foods or supplements to stay away from when taking Xeljanz?

Rusty, I just replied in your new thread to say I read about avoiding grapefruit and grapefruit juice while on Xeljanz. I thought I'd read it on the leaflet but it doesn't seem to be on there, but if you Google Xeljanz and grapefruit you'll find info.

I wasn't told by my gastro team to stop taking herbal supplements but I did for a couple of weeks to see if the Xeljanz was working. I'm now taking some supplements again as well as the Xeljanz.

I've been on Xeljanz for just under 4 weeks, and so far haven't had side effects. I got down to 2 bms a day, but this has gone back up to around 6 or 7 in the last few days. about 2 weeks ago I got a horrible bout of gastroenteritis that's going around (10 days of illness then IBS like symptoms for weeks - I know quite a few people that have had it now) so I'm not sure if that's the cause of the increase in recent symptoms.