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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/9/2015 12:06 AM (GMT -5)
Hi everyone,
it's been a while since I posted. Got off the prednisone early in November and lost the moon face. Still on Delzicol I thought I was doing better but, like some other people here, I over ate a bit during the holiday season. First I made a pesto with lots of raw garlic, around christmas. It was the beginning of the end for me, that's when the blood showed up again. Despite the constant swelling and misery, I hadn't bled since I was released from the hospital in March.
The blood trickle got bigger when I made a seafood stew on the 29th and a gf cake with cream cheese frosting on the 30th. I spent newyears day at the emergency room, vomiting.
So on the 7th I had an appt with my new GI and I agreed to start remicaid as soon as the insurance approves this clinic. And she addressed my concern about building antibodies to the remicaid: she started me on Azathioprine 50 mg. She says it will prevent the antibodies as long as I take it regularly at the exact time each day.

And it makes me nauseous, even though I also take Zofran.

The pred has helped with my debilitating arthritis and some of the gut pain, but otherwise not feeling better at all. I'm really banking on the remicaid.

Has anyone else used this combination of immunosupressants?
I'm told nausea is common on the Aza. How best do I deal with this?
Posted 1/9/2015 9:24 AM (GMT -5)
Nausea is common when first starting aza. For many it goes away after a few weeks. Take your aza right before retiring for the night, it might help.

Yeah many here use aza, Imuran, or 6mp (very similar drugs) with remicade. I use 6mp with remicade. Been on 6mp 2 years, and remicade 1.5 years. Everything is going great for me. Before remicade, I was having multiple accidents per month and prednisone-dependent. I am now in symptomatic remission, a single formed bm a day without urgency.
Posted 1/9/2015 9:24 AM (GMT -5)
Aza taken at night before bed, with food, sometimes helps some. I usually take it before bed so I can sleep through and mild nausea it might give me.
Posted 1/9/2015 8:35 PM (GMT -5)
Thanks Ipoop and Cavalier9,
The bleeding and pooping seemed to get worse as soon as I started the Aza. GIDoc also started me back on 40 mg of prednisone and at first I thought it was working then, that evening, when I started the Aza, the bleeding came back with a vengeance. Today I took an extra 20 mg of pred in hopes of calming everything down again, because I need to sleep. I've left a message with the doc. Maybe I won't start the Aza again until I start the Remicaid and by that time I'll have the bleeding under control again.
Posted 1/10/2015 7:05 AM (GMT -5)
Aza alone has put a lot of people in remission, but it takes at least three months to start working
Posted 1/15/2015 10:25 AM (GMT -5)
Aza put me in remission with the combination of Allopurinol too as I could not metabolize aza alone.

I have had no side effects to it at all apart from feeling a little out of it in the first couple of weeks of taking it. It did take a while to work for me but that was because I was not metabolize it properly. When my doc added allopurinol, it took about 6 weeks to get in to the therapeutic range. When I got in to the high range, that's when I noticed a real difference and that symptoms disappeared.

I do suspect sometimes that my hair is thinning because of aza but I sometimes feel I am just paranoid about that. Asacol can also cause hair loss and I have been on that for years. I have a lot of hair so not noticeable.
Posted 1/15/2015 4:38 PM (GMT -5)
Aza takes several months to build up to therapeutic levels in your body. You are best to start it now and continue it. Aza cannot make you bleed. Right now aza is in such low concentrations that it isn't doing anything yet.
Posted 1/15/2015 6:36 PM (GMT -5)
I can't comment on anything else you mentioned, but I'm fairly new to Aza too and the nausea stopped after around 4 weeks in my case. The only thing that really helped me was to take it at night so I could sleep it off. Hope you feel better soon!
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