Allopurinol and Aza (imuran)

Hi,

I just wanted to see if anyone is on the combined treatment of allopurinol and aza? I'm currently in a mild flare (little mucous, little blood), a few bm's in the morning with severe cramps. Stools are starting to get looser but no D (at all, which surprises me) and I'm now getting increased urgency but because no D, it's manageable.

All started about a month ago with horrible joint pain and excessive fatigue. These symptoms have eased although I'm resting where possible as I still tire easily. I upped to nightly enemas and I credit this with keeping me in check re blood and mucous.

When I saw the GI a month ago he agreed I was doing all the right things and to wait and see how I get on with the highly enemas. He also wanted to do a test (6 TGN) to see how I was metabolising the aza. I saw him last week and he mentioned the numbers are about two thirds of what he'd like it to be. It was 150 instead of 250. I was expecting him to suggest 6 MP but he mentioned trying allopurinal and aza together.

Before making a decision, I requested a flex sig. I'm fairly certain I've got proctitis now (dx with severe pancolotis 4 yrs ago) but since I've not had a scope since then I'd like to see how active the disease is and whether it's gone any further than the rectum. My GI also mentioned that because I'm on enemas I could be bypassing a tiny bit of the rectum and suppositories could be an option to try.

So before my flex sig I thought I'd do a little research however i can't find much on personal experiences of aza/allopurinol.
my search showed that Red_34 reacted to allopurinol and notsosicklygirl was on it for a little while before it affected her numbers.

So any thoughts on next options? I appreciate its my decision but you all give such good advice I thought I'd ask for input.

1. Try allopurinol/aza
2. Try 6 MP

Also definitely planning to add suppositories into the mix.

Thanks!
SG

@nssg - no doses mentioned yet as we started to but decided since I'm having a flex sigon Mon, we would wait until then to decide next steps. I just wanted to do my research beforehand as this was the first of heard of combined allopurinol/aza treatment.

I just don't know if 6 MP is a better option? Or much of a muchness..

From what I've read on the allo/aza route, I would go down to 25% dose so 100mg would then be 25mg aza

Thanks, I just thought 6MP might be an option because it is metabolised differently to aza, therefore I might absorb more of it? Or at least that was my understanding of the differences between aza and 6MP.....My GI said 6MP is an option but I think he'd rather go down the allopurinol route which is why I wanted to get personal experiences on the co-therapy before I decide tomorrow.

I think he also has a valid point about adding suppositories into the mix to get the end bit of the rectum. Thanks for your replies. Unless the flex sig brings up any major surprises, I think I'll go give allopurinol a try.