Cimzia & imuran

Okay so I developed antibodies to remicade some time ago after stopping my imuran in the middle of my infusions. The reason for stopping Imuran was because the 25mg increase suppressed my bone marrow. It is evident that I am quite sensitive to drugs. It seems like all the time I astound doctors with my rare side effects. With that being said, I believe cimzia was created for those whom developed antibodies to remicade. My doc is telling me he wants me to stay on the imuran while taking cimzia. My first question is , if this drug was created in a way to decrease the likelihood of developing antibodies, why would I have to take imuran which is classified as a known carcinogen? Knowing how sensitive my body is to drugs, isnt that a perfect poisonous concoction?

From what I understand it is being found (SONIC study) that for the more severe cases that combination therapy is having a better result for reaching and retaining remission.
Remicade contains mouse proteins which is what most people build up the antibodies to; whereas Cimzia and Humira contain human proteins.

Best of luck in your decision, and I hope Cimzia does it for you if that's the path you choose to take

some info here on combination therapy in Crohn's :

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2950663/

That's what I don't understand. If Cimzia contains human proteins rather than mouse proteins, why would it be necessary to have a combination therapy? Why would I develop antibodies to Cimzia?

It is still a biologic and you can create antibodies to the proteins that are foreign to your body. That is a very simplified explanation but essentially your immune system is supposed to fight against such things introduced to your body, hence the anitbodies.

I'm on the exact same thing as you. Cimzia and Aza. I was confused at first. Because I didnt understand how I was supposed to know if one or the other was working. So far I haven't seen a drastic change but shots are easier than humira . I am having terrible side effects with Aza not hardly any w cimzia

Chelsey79 , what side effects are you having with the Aza ?

My daughter will be adding Aza to her Cimzia next week

My first three days on Aza I had no changes. No side effect . Day 4 was a whole new story. I woke up and took my meds as normal 3 pills in the morning. Then I started having nausea. It comes in waves. While driving and also at night. Try to eat something every few hours just to keep the nausea away. I've found after eating two bites of anything it subsides. I read that on here. It has so far lasted about 5 weeks. But is gradually getting better and happens less often. At first it was 4-5 times a day. Also I've been having sun sensitivity and very bright yellow urine. Other than that nothing too bad.

Thank you