Azathioprine For Autoimmune Hepatitis Disease
Feb 11, 2015
I have been living with AIH for 14 years, first diagnosed when i was 14 years old. Luckily I am fairly stable with the odd flare up now and again. I am being looked after by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bham and they are brilliant. Currently i'm on 50mg of Azathioprine a day and its brilliant with no side effects. I have been on Prednisolone in the past and i've not got on well with it. My doc keeps mentioning the possibility of me having to go back on it in the future but I don't like the side effects.
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I have been taking Azathioprine for crohn's for some time and have been lucky not to have had any side effects. For a while I have had a sore throat but not needed any medication. When I read the possible side effects on websites they mention sore throats. Any one else experience this, if so have you spoken to GP or consultant.
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Does that mean that we women are more susceptible to viruses, respiratory infections, etc.? Do most follow a certain diet ?
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Has anyone read or been told by their doc they should "not" take probiotics if they have Hashimoto's or other autoimmune illness?
I read somewhere that one with autoimmune problems should not take probiotics that it could cause systemic yeast infection. Now I can't find that article. Everything else I read states probiotics good for autoimmune disease.
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Say you have been treated for Graves Disease with RAI and that deals with the hyperthyroidism (not so much with the eyes though!), what happens to the antibodies that were attacking you thyroid with such vigour and verve? Do they just go home because there's nothing left to attack? Are they always in your system waiting to attack public enemy number 2? And why do these things decide to attack the very thing they are meant to be protecting? Is it genetics? Childhood illness (whooping cough, measles and mumps in my case.) Environmental factors? Stress? Diet?
I am sure there are many schools of thought and theories to all of these questions but I am curious still about where these wee anti-bodies go after the illness (or symptom of your illness) has been irradiated in my case.
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I am 2 days into the vinegar treatment. I can't reach them on my back to use duct tape. Too many anyway. Does anyone out there have them on
their back? Does just the vinegar help?
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I am interested to know if anybody here has autoimmune and if so do you have discomfort in your chest. I've had my heart checked and it's OK but I wake every morning with pressure in my chest. Was wondering if this was typical for autoimmune.
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I have been to multiple doctors over the pas year. I started out at an orthopedic surgeon because my knee was swelling (previous meniscus removal in that knee btw). According to him nothing was wrong with my ligaments so he referred me to a rheumatologist. After testing positive for both blood tests (rheumatoid factor and high anti ccp level) he diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis. I did not have any of the typical symptoms of rheumatoid so I went to the Mayo clinic for a second opinion. I then tested negative for the rheumatoid factor and after a thorough exam, he concluded that I don't have rheumatoid. Throughout this time and still now I have been experiencing the following symptoms:-
-random blurred vision
-popping and pain in elbows
-popping in back when taking a deep breath
-numbness every once in a while in fingers
-chest tightness and shortness of breath
I have had chest xrays, full blood work, etc. All came back fine. Am I making this all up in my head?! I feel there is something wrong but every doc I go to says I am fine.
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I'm 25 and over the past 6 years I've been diagnosed with 4 pretty serious autoimmune conditions. When I was 19, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis which is often crippling, even now. I was told this was an autoimmune condition. Shortly after, I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease, another autoimmune condition. The Arthritis and symptoms of the coeliac disease when I hadn't controlled it obviously made me feel unwell and I often felt lethargic and unhopeful due to a lot of pain and stuff going on in my body.
I managed to go on a clinical trial which allowed me to have a new and powerful arthritis drug which dramatically improved the condition and I managed to cut gluten out of my diet. I also lost a bit of weight - this helped.
However, after the trial, my symptoms of arthritis gradually came back but was usually kept under control with the exception of a few flare ups.
When I was 23, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after getting a very quick onset flurry of symptoms (another autoimmune condition) - I find this very difficult to manage.
I've recently moved cities and transferring all of my specialists and treatments left me with no arthritis medication, and a long wait until I see a diabetes specialist to adjust insulin levels. As you can probably imagine, I've been in an awful lot of pain and been feeling very down, tired and lethargic. I'm very upbeat although having so many conditions and I don't let it bring me down, even though I work a full-time job 8 til 5 everyday. I've been having problems with blood tests, platelet counts, that kind of thing.
I was aware that I had the antibodies for Hypothyroidism as I had the test for that about a year ago and I knew it was just a matter of time before I developed it. Upon my most recent blood tests, my TSH level was 47.7 - ten times the top end of the normal limit. I've literally just started levothyroxine but, as you can imagine, I feel completely overloaded with health issues and like my head is going to explode and quite down about it all.
I'm sorry to give you my life story but I was just wondering if any one else has any of the other conditions I have and how they manage with all of them?
Also - how should I have been feeling with a TSH of 47.7? Should I have been feeling VERY different because, like I said, I always feel fairly tired and down due to the combination of illnesses. Any advice at all would be appreciated - I feel massively alone with this.
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I'm a 24 year old female. I've been trying to figure out what is wrong with me for years. Two doctors, and two dentists, suggested that I may have an autoimmune disease, but I've had no diagnosis. I am wondering what autoimmune disease in particular this might be closest to. I've had these symptoms for a long time:
- Mild arthritis in right hand (since 17 years old) - maybe once a year, my fingers unexpectedly become swollen and arthritic, and then it goes away after a few weeks. It was most severe a few years ago, when my fingers became very swollen, hot, itchy and red, but it eventually calmed down and has not since returned with the same severity. My fingers in this hand are tilted towards the side, the joints have bended a little a bit sideways. Both of my hands and fingers are always very cold.
- Chronic fatigue
- A skin rash, cluster of small red bumps, that comes and goes on the side of legs. Also get random isolated red bumps throughout the body.
- Underweight and can't easily gain, though this might be genetic. I've always been underweight.
- Hair loss (began at age 18)
- Brain fog
- Vision getting blurrier / sensitive to light
- Eyes sore and red especially in the morning
- Poor looking skin
- Chronic sinusitis for the past 3 years. No cure or known cause (allergies were ruled out) - the sinusitis and red eyes clear up on steroids and antibiotics, but come back afterwards. So possibly a bacterial cause.
- Low blood pressure, low body temperature (96.5 - 97.5 on average)
- Tooth decay. I've had a lot of tooth cavities since I was a teen. I often wonder if tooth decay is the underlying cause of all of my problems. I've had many fillings and a root canal, but continue to have seemingly never ending problems with my teeth. My oral hygiene habits are extremely thorough though, and I try my best to prevent the cavities. I do everything I can to keep my mouth and teeth clean; electric toothbrush, brushing, flossing, special mouthwash, special toothpastes, etc.
I eat a relatively healthy diet and take vitamins and nutritional supplements. I've been experimenting to find the best diet to cope with this..whatever it is. I notice my health and energy levels are very dependent on how well I eat. If I eat junk food, or even the standard American diet, I feel very ill, exhausted and can't function. I can't have "treats" like a cookie or brownie, doing so could make me feel miserable for the next 24 hours. I keep myself semi-functioning by eating as simple and clean of a diet as possible, and consuming a lot of fruit and vegetables every day, along with tea and coffee.
My top two suspicions are that this is all a manifestation of tooth bacteria, or Celiac disease. Or maybe both. Most dentists don't believe that tooth bacteria would cause such an elaborate array of health problems, but I think it might be possible. I've heard of meningitis and heart disease caused by tooth decay. All of my symptoms started after I started to get severe tooth cavities, it was after having a root canal when I began to have severe hair falling out, and from then on my health went downhill. I had a blood test for celiac by a gastrointestinal doctor and they told me the results were negative. I never had an intestinal biopsy.
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I'm sick all the time, flu like symptoms, achy joints, headaches, tired all the time, fatigue.
lab results
Ana titer 1:640 speckled
anti-dna titer 1:20
ra- neg
everything else is neg and normal. What can be wrong with me?
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I am a 20 year old female. for the past 8 months i have had pains in my legs shooting down from my buttocks to my knees in both legs but is worse in my left leg but only while I'm sitting down and after i sit for 10 minutes i start to get pins and needles in my left foot and it is starting to happen more frequently and more painfully as time goes by it makes it hard to drive anywhere and painful to be sitting down. I have had a full spinal MRI and my spine is normal.
i feel like I'm always sick and when i get a cold/flu it never goes away at the moment i have a cough sore throat headaches which i have taken antibiotics for and it went away after 2 weeks of antibiotics but as soon as i stopped taking them it came back even worse. I am constantly yawning and tired.
I had a blood test and my WBC count was low 1.6 but everything else in the test came back normal negative for arthritis. The doctor has said to have another test but he said the low WBC count is most likely just low because of a virus?I have also been loosing hair. It is all making me stressed so the hair loss could be because of that but i don't know are all these symptoms connected? Could the pins and needles and pains be from lupus or another autoimmune disease? i am sick of going to doctors and spending money on MRIs which are useless.
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Has anyone out there been prescribed Azathioprine for atopic eczema? If so, what results have you had - any improvement?
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I am 32 years old female and I am suffering from Crohn's disease. Unfortunately I am suffering from very severe form of this disease and my doctor decided to prescribe me Azathioprine. I know it is pretty dangerous medication with many side affects but I would like to know if it may affect my fertility.
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I have left sided colitis and have been on azathioprine 75mg x 2 daily and two 5mg prednisolone tablets. Have been on the full dosage of azathioprine for four weeks and now suffer from constant constipation to the point where I have to take laxatives and eat prunes. Has anybody else had this problem? Have purchased a tub of benefiber but unsure as to whether I should use it.
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I'm a 48 yr old lady who has UC now for 25 years. I was diagnosed when i was 6 months pregnant and the flare lasted until my daughter was 2 years old. I have had several episodes over the last 20 or so years, but all have been controlled with rectal Mesalazine. Sept 2012 I had a major flare up while on vacation in USA and hadn't brought any meds with me. I have been bad ever since. I have had the 10 weeks of steroids which cleared it up, but as soon as i stopped them it started all over again. I was put on 200 mg of Azathioprine, 400 mg Ferrous Sulphate, 4 g of Mesalazine oral as well as the supositories. Grim.......so tired, so low. Jan I was put on Adacolumn for 8 weeks of dialysis. This gave me a months break, but the symptoms returned along with leg ulcers (pyoderma gangrenosum) and an amazing pox, warty virus all along my abdomen, and thighs. The skin Dr said it was all due to the Azathioprine. Weighing up the pros and cons, My consultant and I have decided to stop the Azathioprine and start me on Arsenic suppositories.....sounds gruesome. Has anyone else been down a similar path?
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I almost feel a fraud here as the docs say I don't have PMR.
On the recommendation of this group I requested a 2nd opinion. I asked to be referred to see Professor Bowman at The QE Birmingham.
Today was my big day. Well the Prof was lovely. He listened really well, gave me a good examination and is following up with loads more blood tests.
I was also treated to xrays on my chest, hands & feet.
Now the downside (again) he went over all my blood results from the last 9 months and said that every result pointed to PMR. But bigggg BUT,
he doesn't feel he can say it is as I am too young! (44) I certainly don't feel to young when I am trying to get out of bed and get moving in a morning.
I have been on pred for few months now after begging my GP. Then refusing to leave the surgery until they listened. My GP agreed to a trial. Base line bloods for ESR & CRP 6 weeks on pred at 15 and then more bloods. Results were amazing and my bloods came back almost within the normal range. Good news my GP has since said I do need steroids.
I am now at 10mg a day but I feel it could do with being higher. Today Professor Bowman said he is really worried about me taking steroids. He agreed I needed them but is concerned about long term use and my age. I got moon face very quickly on pred and Prof commented that he could see pred was already making changes to me that he didn't like.
He wants me to come off pred using the dead slow method and wants me to start another drug.... Either Methotrexate or Azathioprine. I get tp choose.
So my lovely people have you had any experience of these drugs?
Which one would you choose?
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I have been on azathioprine for 9 months now for my UC and is well under control now.
I have recently been having episodes of extreme abdo pain (not bowel) that comes on all of a sudden and lasts for a few hours..also these episodes include vomiting and passing blood in my urine (last one looked like there was sand in it).
So I'm thinking this is my body trying to pass kidney stones??
Has anyone had this experience after taking azathioprine?? Maybe I'm not drinking enough to flush the toxins through from the meds?
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I've been on azathioprine for Approx 6 weeks and the last 2 weeks have been hell. My knees feel like they've been shot i'm not sleeping in the nights always have a headache cold sores chesty cough sinus trouble.
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my father is 66 years old, it has been found out through blood test (ANTI HCV) his cutoff value is 1.00 and patient value is 12.51. which further reveals reactive hepatitis. what do you suggest for him?
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I'm wondering if anyone has any advice regarding diagnosing graves and thyroid eye disease in pregnancy. Having never had any problems until being pregnant I'm very confused as to why I've suddenly got it? At around 12 weeks into my pregnancy I noticed a change in my eyes (one was protruding), after seeing an eye dr, he advised I'd be tested for hyperthyroidism and following his advice the bloods came back as a positive for hyperthyroidism. I was put on PTU by an endocrinologist for the rest of my pregnancy and at week 39 I noticed a yellowing in the White of my eyes and admitted myself to the maternity unit for blood tests following speaking with a midwife. It turned out I had developed severe jaundice (Which I now have learnt through research to be a severe side effect to PTU) and that my liver was failing; I had to have an emergency c section that night. I am pleased to say I have a had a healthy baby boy but I'm so anxious as to whether these conditions will worsen post pregnancy.
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