New story

new story: started imuran

who would believe that I am 51 yrs old and have been dealing with this horrible crohns disease diagnosis for only 3 years now. Even though I believe I have had symtoms for over 7 years. It took my family doc over a year to figure out why I was having unexplained boughts of diarrieha. She sends me to get an ultrasound and they say I have gall stones and sends me to a surgeon. Good thing that guy knew what he was doing, after hearing about my long history of symtoms that didnt add up to gall problems he orders more tests. Thats where the crohns disease was diagnosed. I am on this site today in hopes of hearing what others are saying about imuran. They just started me on this drug, and it scares me a little from what I have read on it. The Pentasa I have been on has really been doing nothing to bring down inflammation. I have had to take predisone several times thru last 3 yrs.

Hey there
Glad you found us here I'm 51 too and was diagnosed about a month ago. After being treated for 8 months for grumbling appendix and UTIs, one of the GPs at the surgery ( now the only lady I will go to see ) sent me for an ultrasound which showed narrowing in the bowel. Bit of a shock really, but slowly coming to terms with it.
Can't help you with the Imuran questions, but there is a thread dedicated to discussions involving that particular drug. I don't know what's scarier sometimes : the disease itself or some of the more effective drugs!!
Helen

hi. I started on pentasa, which helped a bit. Its there to keep inflammation at aby, if you already have inflammation it doesnt really help lessen it. After 3mnths on pentasa they put me on imuran (azathioprine) which helped dramatically. Luckily I had no side effects at all. I still get flares every so often but not as bad as i was. I definately recommend this drug, it has helped me so much.
Its also worth looking at your lifestyle as well to keep the disease down (food, drink, stress) Theres some very good posts here how people are coping.

Good luck whichever way you choose to go

Hope you find this forum useful anyway

Hi and Welcome!

I don't have any experience with Imuran, but just wanted to say good luck! You can poke around the forum in the Treatments section and read about others experiences.

Hope it does the trick for you! - Amy

hi, thanks for the tip on imuran club, that really helped. I learned alot just reading about others symptoms, what to watch out for etc. I feel so good these last few days I am really hopeful this new drug will help me to be settled down for a long time.

rygon, glad to hear you were symptom free on imuran. It has really been a hit or miss experience for me as far as what foods I have trouble with vs not. I have a list of no nos now, and I am always learning to try and keep pain free. They have me on a low residue diet right now as I have been dealing with a flare up this past month. That really works but can't stay on that forever, really not healthy. I look forward to getting back to eating better food. thanks