Hi guys,
I'm new to the forum but been a long time stalker. Was diagnosed with crohn's last summer and started on Azathioprine 175mg/day around august time so been on it for around 7 months and a bit now.
At the time, when I was first told I would go on it I wasn't worried and was completely oblivious to any of the risks involved. A couple of months in and I decide to actually wiki the drug.. this was a frightening experience for me. Half of the wiki page goes into the increased risk of developing Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
I did a bit more research, this time looking at papers on pubmed and stuff and found that this was true. I asked my GI specialist, who was a registrar so probably not as experienced as my consultant and she said these studies were outdated and that they had many people on Aza who had family histories of NHL who were fine. I took this with a pinch of salt, since firstly she didn't specify how long they were on it i.e: how does she know they won't develop it tomorrow, and secondly I strongly suspected she would say anything to keep me compliant as such is the aim of doctors.
But, to be fair, after I asked her I did lull myself into a false sense of security. However, just yesterday I was stalking this section of the forum and looking through some Aza threads to check if anyone had a side effect of seborrhoic dermatitis (which I currently have and not sure if it's related?) and I found a thread on skin cancer associated with Aza. Now this really scared me because the posters were talking as if it is a given and as if it's common to get skin cancer as a side effect. And other threads talking about fertility problems and birth deformities via sperm produced whilst on Aza!
I'm worried about the skin cancer thing because since starting it I've developed a couple of scars on my abdomen which almost look like little keyhole surgery scars? Could this be something?
Seriously, is this really worth it? I think back to my pre-diagnosis days and remember how bad things were but then again, I'm supposed to be on Aza for the next 5 years..
My latest set of blood results were normal so I think I'm in remission now. I'm seriously considering getting off the Aza ASAP. But I'm in two minds because I've got exams coming up in 3 months time and I really need to get through them andif I stop now and decide to ever start again it wouldn't be effective in time for exams. Even if I wanted to go off, I wouldn't know how to.. do I need to taper off or can I just stop suddenly today?
I'm just really worried right now. :sign0085:
I'm new to the forum but been a long time stalker. Was diagnosed with crohn's last summer and started on Azathioprine 175mg/day around august time so been on it for around 7 months and a bit now.
At the time, when I was first told I would go on it I wasn't worried and was completely oblivious to any of the risks involved. A couple of months in and I decide to actually wiki the drug.. this was a frightening experience for me. Half of the wiki page goes into the increased risk of developing Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
I did a bit more research, this time looking at papers on pubmed and stuff and found that this was true. I asked my GI specialist, who was a registrar so probably not as experienced as my consultant and she said these studies were outdated and that they had many people on Aza who had family histories of NHL who were fine. I took this with a pinch of salt, since firstly she didn't specify how long they were on it i.e: how does she know they won't develop it tomorrow, and secondly I strongly suspected she would say anything to keep me compliant as such is the aim of doctors.
But, to be fair, after I asked her I did lull myself into a false sense of security. However, just yesterday I was stalking this section of the forum and looking through some Aza threads to check if anyone had a side effect of seborrhoic dermatitis (which I currently have and not sure if it's related?) and I found a thread on skin cancer associated with Aza. Now this really scared me because the posters were talking as if it is a given and as if it's common to get skin cancer as a side effect. And other threads talking about fertility problems and birth deformities via sperm produced whilst on Aza!
I'm worried about the skin cancer thing because since starting it I've developed a couple of scars on my abdomen which almost look like little keyhole surgery scars? Could this be something?
Seriously, is this really worth it? I think back to my pre-diagnosis days and remember how bad things were but then again, I'm supposed to be on Aza for the next 5 years..
My latest set of blood results were normal so I think I'm in remission now. I'm seriously considering getting off the Aza ASAP. But I'm in two minds because I've got exams coming up in 3 months time and I really need to get through them andif I stop now and decide to ever start again it wouldn't be effective in time for exams. Even if I wanted to go off, I wouldn't know how to.. do I need to taper off or can I just stop suddenly today?
I'm just really worried right now. :sign0085: