Imuran Side Effects

[gunnyl]

Okay,

Started Imuran about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Am suffering from severe fatigue right now. I am transitioning from MTX to Imuran so I am on 100mg of Plaquenil and 10mg Prednisone in addition to the Imuran.
I haven't been this fatigued since I got out of the hospital last year.

Anybody else experience severe fatigue from Imuran?

Thanks,

GL

[drz]

I found many of side effects from a new med seem to reduce after a few weeks. I don't recall how it felt when I started Imuran 1 1/2 years ago. Fatigue is a usual problem for me for many reasons.

[Pete]

Hey Gunny,

I was on immuran for about 10 days earlier this year. I ended up having either a flare, a bad reaction to the drug, and what looked like pneumonia on my chest x-ray. Docs never really determined tha cause. Part of the problem might have been a too brief transition from ctx to immuran. When I transitioned from ctx to mtx in June, I didn't take any immunosuppressant for about 10 days. I had no problem with the ctx-mtx transition.

To answer your question, during the ctx-immuran transition, I had crushing fatigue, night sweats, a cough, and persistent hiccups. No fun.

Hope you had a good Veterans' Day otherwise.

[RudiK]

Hello Gunny, I transitioned from CTX to Immuran about a year ago, after being on CTX for about six months, and did not experience any serious side effects. In fact, I no longer had the horrible night mares I had while I was on CTX. My energy levels are still way down, with not much endurance, just the way they were while I was on CTX. I'm still on 5 mg Preds and a few other meds.
Rudi K.

[Debbie C]

I tried it for about a week but like all these drugs if there is a bad reaction or side effect I will get it.I just can not tolerate them. Thank God things have been doing good for me I have been on 5 mg. of pred for about a year now. I hope you get used to it and the fatigue lessens maybe they can lower the doseage. I was reading that other post earlier about a study that was done that 1 infusion of rtx is better than all these other drugs and gets you into remission faster ....you should look into that.Good luck and hope u feel better soon !!

[drz]

Okay,

Started Imuran about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Am suffering from severe fatigue right now. I am transitioning from MTX to Imuran so I am on 100mg of Plaquenil and 10mg Prednisone in addition to the Imuran.
I haven't been this fatigued since I got out of the hospital last year.

Anybody else experience severe fatigue from Imuran?

Thanks,

GL

What is your dosage and taper up to max dosage? I know mine was pretty slow. I am now at 175 but think I started at 50 mg and it took a couple months or more before I got up to 200 but had to cut back to 175 due to elevation in liver enzymes. Have you had any lab work to see how your body is handling it? I think I also had weekly labs for first few months.

[gunnyl]

I'm on Imuran 50mg twice a day, 100mg Plaquenil and 10mg Prednisone. I'm wondering if the combination of the plaquenil and imuran is too much for me to handle, they both are known to cause fatigue. I think I would rather have joint pain from time to time than the fatigue. I can push through pain but the fatigue is kicking my rear end! I have these crazy fasciculations in my legs that won't go away so I have to take Flexeril to sleep.
My Veterans day was good Pete; thanks!

GL

[gunnyl]

UPDATE:
Saw my Rheumy today and got good news and bad news. Fatigue is not a drug reaction but rather the symptom of a bad flare. She ran another panel of labs and kicked the Pred up to 20mg to get me through the transition to the Imuran. If the labs come back showing signs of the disease I may have to go through a couple rounds of Retuximab. We'll see what happens and hope for the best. I'll know in a couple days what the prognosis is.
GL

[Dirty Don]

Fatigue is not a drug reaction but rather the symptom of a bad flare.GL

Gunny, sir, if I may...LOL! Sorry, I'm in a mood today, must be the drugs! LOL! Anyway, not sure I agree with docs on fatigue. Yes, it is part of the disease, but get me off all these drugs, and aside from possibly dying (YIKES!...again...), and my energy will return...I can tell the differences in drugs, etc. just from my reactions.

[gunnyl]

Dirty Don,

Day two after being cranked up on the Pred dosage I already feel much better but am going to follow orders and stay in bed one more day to give it time to work it's magic. But I think she was right and I was wrong because I was thinking it was the meds too.

GL

[Dirty Don]

Good on you GL, get some rest, we forget that we can't do what we once did...sheesh. Yeah, drugs are pretty personal...WG seems to cause tailored drug use. Go with the flow...for now...doesn't really matter if it's the drugs or the disease...you don't feel well...

[marta]

Hey Gunny,

I am also on Imuran and have not had any problems with it, however when we first switched (or got on) we had to keep a close eye on how I'm feeling and report everything. The reason for this is that some people are missing an enzyme that helps you metabolize the drug. I asked my doc if we can do a blood test to see if that's the case before we even start the drug and she said there is a test (and she was able to do it in her own lab when she worked at Mayo) but nobody does it in the province that I live in, so all we could do is watch and see for negative side effects... I can't remember the specifics, but that's the general set of events.

Hopefully this sheds some light and maybe gives you a set of questions for your next visit. If the symptoms don't subside from the pred increase, I would consider calling my doc and asking to investigate this avenue.

Take care and quick recovery,

marta

[gunnyl]

Went to the Dr a couple days ago; she says it was a Flare and doubled the Pred. That plus 2 days bed rest and I feel like a new Man! Just hope this lasts! Labs came back Clean!

The Journey continues..........................

GL

[drz]

Went to the Dr a couple days ago; she says it was a Flare and doubled the Pred. That plus 2 days bed rest and I feel like a new Man! Just hope this lasts! Labs came back Clean!

The Journey continues..........................

GL

Glad to hear you are feeling better. Stay well and healthy!

[gunnyl]

Thanks drz!

[Lightwarrior]

Glad to hear you are feeling better. Stay well and healthy!

Ditto Drz Gunnyl

[gunnyl]

Latest Update:

My C Anka's told the story that I was definitely in the middle of a flare even though my other labs were normal. Have been on Imuran for 4 weeks and am decreasing the Prednisone a little each week. I have never felt better since I started this journey called Wegeners. So the Imuran is definitely doing it's job and I am very optimistic if things continue on this path. Baruch Hashem!

[carriej22]

Recently started the Imuran journey too. I am happy to say I think it's working! Been through methotrexate and that was not fun, taking pills is much easier...

Only bad thing is I had some pretty monster headaches and I lost some hair :(

[gunnyl]

Carie, glad to hear that Imuran is working for you too. I haven't had the hair loss thing but if I do I'll be happy and my wife will be mad because I'd prefer to shave my head but she hates it. I had some headaches in the beginning but don't know if that was coming off the Methotrexate or because of the Imuran. I learned something interesting from my Dr. She has me taking the Folic Acid for another 6 Months. She said it takes that long for MTX to leave your system.
GL