experiences with 6mp? for colitis, ITP & hypereosinophilia

i know this is the uc forum, but thought i would give a bit of background first in case i get lucky & some of you are familiar with these other conditions...

i was diagnosed with uc back in 2012. while it hasn't been horrible - i only go to the bathroom 2 - 3 times a day, psyllium husk keeps things formed, but urgency is an issue & occasionally i do see a little fresh blood. i had a colonoscopy done 2 weeks ago & it showed some left sided inflammation, really bad internal haemorrhoids & a tear in my colon that the doc put clips in to close up.

in april of last year i was diagnosed with thrombocytopenia (ITP). and more recently hypereosinophilia. i had a liver biopsy done last month & my doc said he has never seen a liver packed so full of eosinophils.

BUT all three of these conditions seem to respond very well to steroids (prednisone). i'm on 20mg right now & feeling pretty decent. however we all know there are some pretty nasty side effects to being on prednisone long term. my hematologist & GI want to start me on 6mp as they say its similar to prednisone in its full body effects & can treat all 3 conditions without all the nasty side effects.

however, i'm reading online about liver issues which concerns me - as of yesterday's physical exam by the hematologist my liver is still slightly swollen, although not painful. it has been showing up strange on scans all year, possible fatty liver & obviously affected by the hypereosinophilia. when i'm not on prednisone my blood work shows my liver enzymes start to get elevated along with my eosinophil count.

i'm also reading about infertility which concerns me as my boyfriend & i would like the option of having a child sometime within the next several years. i also read that apparently it interacts with mesalamines (asacol)?? oh & apparently in a small percentage of people it CAUSES ITP!! although my hematologist says he has several ITP patients taking azathioprine for ITP & i know that's very similar to the 6mp so obviously it must work for that condition. maybe i just need to get off the internet?

so i'm just wondering what your experiences with 6mp were. did it work well for you & how long? are there any minor side effects to be prepared for? are the liver & infertility issues common? would it permanently damage my liver, or does the liver recover after stopping the medication? any insight & advice would be much appreciated before i have to make this decision!!

Post Edited (handfulofrain) : 3/14/2017 7:00:50 AM (GMT-6)

i actually do already go for bloodwork on a weekly basis to monitor my platelet and eosinophil levels, and they do a liver panel too. my hematologist did say that we would continue to do this so that he can monitor my liver. i'll mention a possible referral to a hepatologist as well, my hematologist is pretty on the ball so hopefully consulting one is on his list to do if it hasn't been done already.

i actually had my first entyvio infusion last week, however the problem with that is that it doesn't treat my ITP or eosinophilia, so i still wouldn't be able to get off the steroids & would continue to be on a whole cocktail of meds. i also had rituximab infusions back in january (for ITP) so my hematologist is worried about all of my white blood cells (or something like that) getting killed off from these types of infusion/biologic drugs & my body being too susceptible to infection a few months down the road.

thanks for the article, will read tonight!!

Post Edited (handfulofrain) : 3/14/2017 1:13:03 PM (GMT-6)