STRONG ABDOMINAL PAINS NEW TO azathioprine

HI ALL

I AM WRITING AND JOINING ON BEHALF OF MY WIFE WHO WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AND HAD UPS AND DOWNS OVER THE LAST 3 YEARS WITH CROHNS. oops...

she has been on preds on and off for a while with varying success but it has caused some depression issues which i am now aware is a huge side effect after reading these boards.

my question is about azathioprine.. she has recently been weaned off preds and is now after 3 weeks up to 150mg of azathioprine. she has been ok pain wise whilst upping to this level but recently had severe stomach pains and after the doc recently saying she should go to A&E with strong pains we are a bit lost regarding how strong these pains naturally are.......

.so would like advice on how she should proceed. i am aware there are some initial stomach complaints with the drug but concerned as she is in quite a bit of pain. are these pains likely to pass or is it time to go off to the hossie.

she tells me it feels like a strong stitch (runing type) in her stomach.

GO TO THE HOSPITAl NOW!!!

It could be acute pancreatitis which feels like a knife stabbing you in the center of the body right where your stomach is. The pain goes right through you. It's worse than gallstones(BTDT) or childbirth(BTDT).

She will need IV Fluis to flush the Azthiprione out of her system. ANd LOTS of morphine.

How do I know this you ask?? I just had the same raction to Imuran at the beginning of Sept on only 100 mg - spent 4 days in the hospital and 3 weeks off work.

Hi there :welcome: to the forum both of you! It sounds like she may have some spasims and that is not uncommon, I have a spastic colon and the pain is real and can be painful at times. I cannot take imuran or 6pm it affects my liver within days. Some people do well on it others don't. It suppresses the immune system and usually works in conjunction with another med. She may have a stricture or narrowing and meds dont really help that. I know about suppression and anxiety, most of us have it one time or another, it is hard to deal with a disease and hope our loved ones can understand.

I am very glad you came to us and you are a great spouse for caring and finding out for your wife. Acute pain is the hossie time, don't let the pain go too long, it can cause a whole whack of problems. Prednisone is a mask for the disease but she also may not be tolerating the AZA very well. I hope she is having blood work done whilst being on this drug, get her levels checked ok. When was her last colonoscopy? Sorry ,just needed some infomation so we can help. May from the UK here and can give you more advice.

Glad you are here, hope your wife gets better soon! Good luck.

If these type of pains are new to her, that is, something she hasn't experineced prior to commencing Imuran which sounds like it is, then I would be going to A&E now.

Did she have a TPMT test prior to commencing the Imuran?

Has she been having bloods drawn weekly?

Good luck and keep us posted!

Dusty. xxx

I had severe stomach pain after taking azathiprine for 12 days, 50mg daily.
My doctor immediately discontinued it but I continued with symptoms gradually abating over 5 weeks.
Better to get some medical advice as as soon as possible.
Pancreatitis is a known side effect which may occur with azathiprine.
I agree with klleve
Trysha

cheers for the replies.

The pains subsided and she had a good nights sleep. she is having bloods done weekly and all is good so far. She has stepped the dosage up to 150mg IIRC and this is when the pains have arrived. they seem to come and go so would this likely be a cause of the medication rather than something more serious. Im guessing the pain would be constant if that was the case.

Regarding the colonospy, she had a flare up approx 4 months ago and has had both cameras and scans done and is now feeling a lot better. the result of this was to come off the preds and start azathiprine of which she has been gradually stepping up to over the last few weeks. she just feels like theres no end as its been a tough few months but hopefully were getting to a good place now if she can get acustomed to the aza and off the preds because ive read a fair few bad thigs on here about the mental side effects.

She isnt much of a PC forum type of lass but this looks like a real good board that could really help her out so im sure shell be on here soon to say hi.

thanks all...

stu

I used to get pain and nausea about 5hrs after taking azathioprine, which subsided after a few more hours. It's not fun, and as the others have said you need to make your consultant aware perhaps through either A&E or your IBD nurse. Pancreatitis or gastritis if it's irritating her stomach is not a trivial thing to persevere through!

hi everyone, its nicky ere...my hubs been talking to u and im very grateful for the replys.....the pains subsided in night, im left just with a dull ache in stomach area this morn i understand u can get pain from this drug but the last 2 nights the pain was worse like a bad stitch in my stomach and i did nt know if i should go to a and e when its bad cause it seems to wear off :s

Hi Nicky, glad you and hubby could join us :welcome: Some discomfort when you step up the dose might be normal for some people, but I think any kind of strong pain should be checked out. You could put a call in to your GP or GI just to be on the safe side?
I didn't have stomach pain when I started, but I did have a fair bit of nausea and some really bad headaches. A friend on the forum advised splitting the dose and that has really helped. I take half my dose at morning teabreak ( with some food ) and the other half with dinner in the evening.

I to can understand your problem I went to A&E after the gp on call tolds me to take 2 paracetaols im sure he understands ibd not! They sorted me out I dont know which hosp your at but mine give me a gastro nurse number to call and they are always helpful and if they dont know what to do they will fast track you to a cons appt. Hope you are feeling better soon

I am glad your pain went away. I was worried for you as having acute pancratitis is not pleasant.

I had a reaction to Imuran that only 2% of the population would - I can't win the freaking lottery but I will react to one of the best meds out there!! No fair. Oh well on to remicade we go.

Hope Imuran works well for you though.

Aww, thanks for the replys everyone really appreciate it , am avin more bloods tomorrow and if there ok i av go up again so prob more side effects :s

Hi Nicky,
Good to hear your pain went away and that you are feeling better.
Like kllyeve, I was also one of the 2% that had an adverse reaction to Imuran.
I was very upset that it had to be discontinued.
Hope everything goes well for you.
Trysha

kllyeve said:

GO TO THE HOSPITAl NOW!!!

It could be acute pancreatitis which feels like a knife stabbing you in the center of the body right where your stomach is. The pain goes right through you. It's worse than gallstones(BTDT) or childbirth(BTDT).

She will need IV Fluis to flush the Azthiprione out of her system. ANd LOTS of morphine.

How do I know this you ask?? I just had the same raction to Imuran at the beginning of Sept on only 100 mg - spent 4 days in the hospital and 3 weeks off work.

Click to expand...

i have been on azathioprine for a month now and i have had the same sort of pains its the worse pain ive ever had and i spend 2 days in hospital on a drip and morphine(which helped a lot) the doctors told me to carry on taking my tablets and it will be alright since then ive been in nothing but pain and havent slept for 3 days so ive stop taking the tablets and im still waiting for my crohn nurse to contact me back i knew it was the azathioprine and this forum just confirmed it so thanks to you all.

diag 10/10/11

Just updating this post...my body has now settled on the azathioprine, ive been on 175mg since nov and ive been great, apart from my pee looking like its radioactive lol which apparantly is a common side effect, but thanks everyone for the help and support before, its really appreciated

How u feelin today deno, hope the pains r subsiding like mine did

NICKYWORSLEY said:

Just updating this post...my body has now settled on the azathioprine, ive been on 175mg since nov and ive been great, apart from my pee looking like its radioactive lol which apparantly is a common side effect, but thanks everyone for the help and support before, its really appreciated

How u feelin today deno, hope the pains r subsiding like mine did

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stopped taking the azathioprine 2 days ago and feel perfect now spoke to my spec nurse today and she told me to stop talking azathioprine and at my next meeting with her i would start taking something different which is great.

deno said:

stopped taking the azathioprine 2 days ago and feel perfect now spoke to my spec nurse today and she told me to stop talking azathioprine and at my next meeting with her i would start taking something different which is great.

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oh good to hear :ysmile:

Hi everybody, just get to this forum as I have for 4 years Ulc.Colitis and have some experience about imuran (azatioprine) to share . I have started it from dosage of 100 mg and felt nothing for 4 days but on day 5 get incredible joint and muscle pain , all body was shaking and it was very waring situation so I took 2 pills of paracetamol and it is helped I stopped it on next day and it was it for first attempt.
Second time I was told by my doctor to start imuran 50 mg and I took it for 4days and on 5 day start fill nausea and pain in right side of my tummy , pain was not sharp but pretty strong and annoying especially at night. I stopped pills for 2 days and yesterday take 1 pill again and the pain come back right after 5 hours or so with nausea . Have not take pills today, get my blood taken 2 days ago and will see doctor in 5 days so will ask him is it is will pass this pain and is it normal to have it like I have. As I read above that you was taken pill despite that you had so strong pain and eventually your organism adapt to this azatiopine ? The question is do I have to risk to have some serious condition and still take this pills or is it better to speak to doctor first.Hmm... And my congrats that you adapt to this staff.
Thanks for sharing your experience. All the best . Ted.Dublin.

I had this last week - my doctor had warned me that if I did get severe pain I would have to go to urgent care/A & E and to not take any more Aza until I had had a blood test as it could be a problem with the pancreas, liver, gallbladder or could just be nothing!

I'm still waiting for the blood test results but am feeling much better - no pain and no nausea which I did start getting after being on Aza for a few weeks.