Imuran Plus Remicade

You should be on both. Itll decrease your chances of developing antibodies and probably help your UC. You should have been on it all along. Imuran is much scarier than Remicade in terms of serious side effects like cancer, but the risks are still VERY very low.

Imuran has severe risk associated but they are very very very rate
The medicine is much safer than UC which is why it's used to help your UC
It will also prevent antibodies
But you should start taking it ASAP as it takes several weeksto reach a therapeutic level in your body
I was scared to start it
But I'm glad I did
When you start you may or may not notice nausea, abdominal pain and or headaches from it
Taking the medicine with a big breakfast should help eliminate this problem
Either way those symptoms usually go away after a couple weeks
Good luck

What are your symptoms? If you've been on Remicade for 8 months and you're still doing extremely bad then what's the point? Why aren't you on 4.8 grams max dose of Asacol? Why aren't you on rectal meds? Have you tried prednisone? Have you tried mega dose pobiotics, supplements, or diet changes? I don't see the point of being on Remicade at all if this is the best it has done for you after 8 months. If you've never done the other things I suggested yet I wouldn't start Imuran either.

I believe biologics can cause sinus issues as well, of course if you didn't notice an issue when just on Remicade but did when you added the Aza (which I'm just assuming) then I guess it could be the Aza causing you sinus issues ki-wi.

Thank you all for replying, I truly appreciate your input. I was thinking of starting Imuran next week, but a few points that were made here have me thinking things over. I just might begin soon, but I will hold it off and make a few other changes.

My symptoms aren't the worst at the moment, I'm going to the bathroom eight to ten times a day with fairly strong urgency and frequency. Some movements are fairly normal, but most are just blood and mucous. Things were much worse beforehand, and I believe the medicines I am on are to thank for this. I was going almost fifteen times a day with lots of accidents a while ago.

I am currently on 3200mg of Asacol, I will bump it up to 4800mg, and I was also prescribed Salofalk enemas, so I might start that as well, and see how things go with that combination. The thing is, those enemas have not been all that useful for me, but they might just do the trick this time. As for pred, I have done my fair share of that drug and it was quite the beast (it worked but the side effects were tough to handle), so I didn't stick with it for long and tapered as quickly as possible.

As for diet and supplements, I am a seasoned veteran, I have a unique diet that works for me (in the sense that it doesn't hurt me, and in the sense that it's simply a dairy free, preservative free, and homemade foods diet). Mind you, I have done the SCD, GAPS, paleo, raw vegan, vegan, juice diets, amongst others, and followed any given diet to the letter for four to six months each, but my symptoms were still the same. They even got worse at times. Other than that, I am taking probiotics and calcium supplements.

Thank you, and yes, it is an indication of lots of remaining inflammation. I have been tested for cdiff plenty of times in the past year but nothing ever came back positive. I have accepted that this won't be solved with a simple antibiotic or even FMT. I only have so many options in terms of what I need to do next, so I will take it from there. I believe that, if I do begin Imuran, it will be after a fortnight or so after taking the 4.8g Asacol dose alongside the enemas.

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents. I had almost the exact symptoms as described. 8-10 times a day, accidents, blood, cramping, all on a good day. Tried every probiotic and diet and asacol and lialda and enemas and nothing was working. Now I'm on Simponi (have bad allergy to Remicade) and just got put on Imuran too. I was petrified but I've been on it two days and so far so good. The way my doctor put it, if I kept going with the inflammation I had, I was pretty much guaranteed to end up with colon cancer. On the drugs there is a very small risk of other cancers, but in comparison to the colon cancer risk I had, it was well worth it. I had tried enemas, but could never hold them due to such severe inflammation and the asacol/lialda line just never worked. I was becoming steroid dependent. The Simponi really helped me start to turn a corner, and it seems like the Imuran will finish the turn. Trust me, you may not feel your sickest, but when you get back to 2-3 times a day of normal non-bloody BMs, 8-10 times a day just seems insane and you'll wonder why you ever thought that was OK.

I was worried - well, let me rephrase that... I was freeking terrified at the thought of taking Remicade, Methotrextate and Prednisone all at the same time. This was many years ago now.

I came through it just fine. Though I did sadly build up antibodies to Remicade in the second year and had to stop taking it.

Bottom line is I took something simile and survived just fine. Many do on here. I did however get sick very, very easily - so just be mindful and take precautions for that. I avoided sick people like the plague, haha. I was very upfront. If you start sneezing, feel like you have a slight old, or a touch of the flu don't come over and call me when you feel better. Family and friends. Everyone understood, though they would forget from time to time and come over ill.

Glad to hear you made the decision to add it.