Prednisone and Azathioprine Side Effects

So the good news is that my required blood test 2 weeks after I started prednisone and azathioprine came out fine. Your blood should really be checked, especially if you start taking a double whammy of immunosuppressive drugs like me.

I've become quite the pill popper. I now take Colazal with each meal. This makes sense, to constantly keep it running through my system. Before I was taking it just with breakfast and dinner. I suggest making sure your doctor prescribes it for you to take 3x a day.

This week I will call pharma companies that make 5-ASA drugs and see if they can help me cover the cost of my medication. I will have to take 5-ASAs indefinitely, and the cost of Colazal is simply too high to do so, especially with taking it more frequently than before. I'd then ask my doc to prescribe the drug I found the discount on. I will post if I have any luck.

I'm drinking ginger apple juice to fight the nausea and trying all kinds of dark berry juices for the possible cancer fighting properties. Ever since my GI told me about azathioprine and cancer I've been buying more juice.

So... the side effects. There are actually some positive side effects. I've got bad arthritis in some of my joints. Azathioprine is sometimes prescribed to fight arthritis, this drug has kept my swelling way down. My joints sometimes feel like they did when I was 20! Good for lifting... sorta. Ha. Prednisone can be prescribed for asthma, it is easier for me to breath now when I work out and I never get light headed anymore when I stand up. It is nice to have some positive side effects...

But the negatives outweigh the positive side effects... this can be handled because overall the meds seem to be helping! Colazal made me nauseous, these meds more so. Sometimes much more so, that I don't want to look at food. Colitis is kind of a cruel joke to me since I can be a mighty eater. I do not have the energy to work out as much as I am used to, but I am grateful to get in the gym at least a little.

My vision has gotten quite hazy twice. I am happy this has happened only two times since this bothers me more than feeling sick to my stomach. I often get a light headache and usually feel off most of the day due to the new meds. It is harder to focus, on reading a book for example.

I am having decent success just concentrating on what the goal is: remission. This helps me handle feeling a little sick or like I am hungover throughout the day. Then I just get tired at night. The drugs also don't let me sleep as well. I often wake up way too early, and am wide awake when I do so.

*Possible TMI incoming...
Thankfully I can deal with this because overall my condition is improving! Trips to the bathroom are less frequent, with less blood. I am 'evacuating' (sorry, I thought it was funny when my doc used that term) more completely. Yay, drugs.