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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/15/2008 12:29 PM (GMT 0)
Well, just back from consultant's.
Told him I've no control over my bowel, going to toilet 4 times a day, huge amount of wind, D, terrible cramp, loose solids and bloody water between 1 out of 2 or 3 times/movement.

He said the disease was not under control and to take the following steps:

Stop taking Pentasa for a week to see if urgency/D stops

Stay on my 10mg prednisolone and go up to 15mg if get worse

Start on azathioprine, 50mg tablet once a day until results of first blood test (to see if I have a certain type of enzyme in my blood) and, if all ok, increase to 3 tablets/day.
Blood tests every week and to watch for any pain/illness/changes & particularly signs of pancreatitis.

Must admit I'm concerned it seems that one of the drugs (mesalazine) is already crossed off the list & we don't have that many drugs. I'm wondering what will happen if the azathioprine doesn't work?

He reckoned it will take around 12 weeks to take effect, but 85% of people do very well on it.

Anyone had experiences (good/bad) of azathioprine? Just wondering what to expect.

Cheers.

Can you please alter your signature to 10 lines or less......thank you!

Post Edited By Moderator (Red_34) : 1/15/2008 11:13:27 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/15/2008 5:27 PM (GMT 0)
why didn't you stay on the enemas as well??? healing the rectum is part of the process...especially while you're tapering off the pred.

q
Posted 1/15/2008 6:28 PM (GMT 0)
No idea, I just do what the consultant tells me! Don't know if it's because they're mesalazine enemas and he thinks I can't tolerate it.
I've not to taper down any more and to go up to 15mg if I feel any worse.

Post Edited By Moderator (Red_34) : 1/15/2008 11:41:59 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/15/2008 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Cammy,

Quincy is right. I'd double check w/your consultant about rectal meds, which you can and can't take. Those help me the quickest, if you can't take the mesalamine ones (I can't either) there are steriod one's, one has foam and one does not. The hydrocortisone e's helped get me on the road to remission in a couple of weeks.

I started azathioprine 2.5 mos ago and I take 200mg a day at night (to help w/fatigue) and I have had no side effects besides the fatigue that I can relate to the azathioprine. I take other drugs and so I don't really know which side effect is from which all the time.

Also, I just saw my GI yesterday and when I asked him about the 3-6 month span of time we hear it takes for the azathioprine to work he said that is mostly the case in situations where people start slowly on the meds and slowly taper up. I took two tabs a day for two weeks then went up to 4 tabs a day.

It is scary, there are limited meds and I am hoping I am not steriod dependant and am able to just take the azathioprine, there are definitely options out there, we will find something to work for us. We just gotta try to stay positive (I am trying to sell myself on thinking positive too).

HTH! Hope you are better soon!!
Beth
Posted 1/15/2008 10:47 PM (GMT 0)
Cammy, is Colazal an option in your health system? Some of us who don't tolerate Pentasa and Asacol are helped by Colazal.

I was on Azathioprine for several years, now off because I'm on Remicade. It did help me, although it didn't get me into full remission. The only side effect I had was problems with yeast infections. You'll need to watch for infections and be sure to clean and protect cuts, because it works by lowering your immunity.
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