Anyone ever heard of or taken sulfasalazine? I have tried Plaquenil and Imuran and had allergic reactions to both so now I am going to try sulfasalazine. If anyone has any helpful info on this medicine, feel free to comment. Seems like every med I start, I end up in hives 2 weeks into taking it. :(

Thanks for any help any of you might can offer...

South

South,

I've been following your story and I'm sorry you've been having so much trouble. I noticed that no one has replied to your post. I don't know a whole lot about Sulfasalazine. My doctor wanted me to take it along with my Plaquenil but I was hesitant because its an antibiotic and I'm prone to candida infections. The doctor said that its a sulfa drug and I think he said that is was the drug they usually give to pregnant women.

Its also a drug they give to people who have ulcerative colitis and irritable bowel.

I've never had any experience with it. Let me know what you think. So far, the Relafen and Plaquenil are working pretty well for me but I'm afraid that I'll start having side effects from the Relafen. Those anti-inflammatories always seem to irritate my stomach.

Cheri.

Cheri- Thanks for following my story. :) I need all the help and advice I can get. I read up about the sulfasalazine and it seems like it is used in the same way as the Plaquenil, or atleast they are in the same catergory. I am not going to start on it until the 12th, when I go back to my rheumy for more blood work results. But I hope it is not going to cause any problems for me, like the other meds. I am usually not allergic to anything...this is a first for me. I have noticed though, since my doc reduced my prednisone intake my ankles have started to feel kind of sore and achey. I sure hope another flare isn't coming on. Since I've been on the prednisone (about 3 weeks now) my RA has not acted up at all! But I can't be on it forever, so the doc is trying to wheem me off of it, slowly. I just wish I could find something that works for me. Thanks again for listening, your thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated! I'll let you know how it all works out.

South

Hi there

I am taking sulfasalazine tablets for my arthritis (4 a day - 500mg each) and find them to be very good. I have tried loads of tablets over the last 3 years and must admit sulfasalazine have been the only ones that seem to have worked for me and given me a 'more normal life' again.

I have been on them for nearly a year and a half now, although recently they have not been working so well. After a while your body tends to get used to a certain medication, I did go up to 5, then 6 a day but found they left me sick. Last week i was started on some new anti anti inflammatory along with the sulphasalazines and again am feeling a lot better.

I would def recommend them, although as you doctor or rheumatologst has probably told you you do need to get regular blood tests. Its a bit of a pain and was one of the reason i wasnt sure of them at first, but if they help you....a few blood tests are nothing. I think if i remember it was every 2 weeks for the first 4 months, then once a month up until a year. After that, so long as everything ok you only need one every 6 months. I didnt find i had any side effects with them... oh apart from that fact it turns you urine either bright green or orange lol

They do take a while though until they start working, I think doctors say up to 6 months, and it was about 3 and a half months before i felt any improvement.

Anyway, hope this is of some help to you
good luck with them if you decide to give them a go.

Fiona

Thanks for all the info MissChatterBox. :) Wow..you have to take a good many of them huh? You got up to 6 a day? Geez...that seems like a lot to me! I already have a hard enough time with all of the pills I have to take now and I take about 3-4 a day, can't imagine adding 4 or 6 more to that! Well I haven't had any luck with any of the rest of the medications I have tried. I can't even get past the 2 week mark b4 I have an allergic reaction to them, so I wouldn't even be able to last the 3 months it takes to find out if it works or not. :confused: But hopefully with the sulfasalazine, it will work. Maybe the 3rd time will be the charm. ;) I sure hope so. I have been getting blood work done about every month already, so unfortunately I have gotten used to that. Thanks again for your help. Hope all goes well with you!

good luck on the sulfasalazine i took 2000mg. a day for 6 weeks in that time i threw up daily and the nausea was terriable, i also lost a lot of hair to the point of wearing a wig. the worst was it didnt help the p soriatric arthritis either . sorry about the negativity, hope it will work for you

Sulfasalazine was one of the first drugs my first rheumy recommended. It can make you feel nauseous, so I started with a 1/2 dose the first week and worked up to a full dose. I felt so sick those 2 weeks and then had sharp stomach pains, so we discontinued it. He then tried me on the encoated version (in hindsight, I would definitely start with the encoated version first) which is supposed to protect the stomach more. I took one 1/2 dose and had an allergic reaction (hives, breathing issues, itching). That's the only time I've had an allergic reaction to a drug. But, from your experience, it sounds like you know what to look for. It's great that some other people have had such a good experience with sulfasalazine, which means maybe you will too. It is a lot of frustrating trial and error to find the right mix. Fingers crossed for you! As others mentioned, you have to get the bloodwork done, but otherwise it is a well-known and relatively safe drug.

I am now on Plaquinil (6 mos) and Methotrexate (3 mos). The Plaquinil helps a little, but not enough and I don't think the Metho has kicked in yet, (although it shoulds "any day") but if it has, it is not going to be satisfactory from my standpoint! I, too, was on prednisone (esp. after the allergic reaction) and as I have weaned off of it completely now (it's only been 3 weeks), other joints have flared too. The new joints flaring started when I got down to 2mg per day. I'm glad to be off of it though, for the long-term. I am thinking of asking my doctor about Enbrel.

Good luck to you and hang in there!

I took azulfidine for 7 weeks last year and had to stop because of the stomache irritation it caused. It is a sulfa drug and something very similar to aspirin.(I'm very prone to stomache and ulcer problems. They usually start you with 1 gm per day and then after a month to 2 grams. I was having monthly labs while on it. It is really important to take this with food and also to drink 8 glasses of water a day. I was not drinking enough initially and i had the rare side affect of feeling very mentally agitated.AFter I increased my water intake that went away. I've heard of one other person having this symptom on it, even though the docs and pharmacist say that is not a side affect. I found on-line that it was a very rare side affect.
I then tried MTX and was allergic to that. So I'm now back on plaquenil and trying AP protocal,

MissChatterbox-

it's an interesting thing that you say that azulfidine is the only thing that's worked for you. that was one of the drugs i say i've had a positive outcome with as well, but most people don't know that azulfidine has antibiotics mixed in with it. shortly after that my doc did a blood test that shows my STREP count. now this isn't the bronchidal strep you get, but the other one. a normal strep count is around 100, and is an infection level indicator. mine was around the 350 range. we dicovered i had an infection lurking around my system, that might have caused the arthritis, or is agrivating it. the alzulfidine worked because it had an antibiotic in it. this was . . .oh i say 7years ago. i've since had my tonsels taken out, had all sorts of ultrsounds, blood tests, the works to try and find the source of the infection, but have had no such luck as of yet. i immediately started taking strong doses of antibiotics - if you let the strep linger in your system, it will attack the heart. i've since gotten my strep count down to just above 100, but it keeps dancing around there. humira has helped tons and with the infection gone down to almost normal, i've had almost no pain since. however, we still need to find the source of the infection because i just can't keep taking antibiotics all the time. i'm getting an ultrasound of my kidney's and bladder in a couple of weeks - just one more thing to knock off the list.

hi, sulfasalazine is the meds they start everyone out on to see if its going to work. if it doesnt, tell your doc and try something else. i went through hell for 7 months berfore they found the right cocktail for me. i take 5 mg prednisone , vitimans, percocets daily and a shot of enbrel once a week to keep me going. good luck. the best advice i can give you is to take your doctors advice, you have a disease and its not going away. :rolleyes:
good look
radar :wave:

i've been dealing with this illness for so many years, i have no idea what they give everyone now days as a starting point. i'm just thankfull they keep coming out with new stuff. :D

Hi all!

I was on sulfasalazine for a long time, between 1-2 years for my ankylosing spondylitis. It worked great and I had no side effects until I became allergic and broke out in a rash. That was the end of that. I am still sad about that today because while I was on it, I felt like a normal human being. No pain, able to do anything! If you are not allergic to sulfa drugs like I am, you might not have problems with it.

That's my 2 cents worth.

Candibar :wave:

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to update you all on my latest...

Well I started sulfasalazine about 2 weeks ago and have felt great ever since...no allergic reactions or breakouts as of yet and I hope not ever! I think this might just be the med for me! I am so glad I have found something that works for me finally! Let's just hope it stays that way. ;) The only downfall is that I have to take 4 tablets a day :( and that's in addition to the other 4 pills I have to take a day as well. But I guess I can't complain, you gotta do what you gotta do to stay healthy. Thank you all for all of your input on helping me find out more info and details on this and other medications. It has helped tremendously. Hope all of you are well!

South