Azathioprine vs Imuran

KokoGirl · 07-09-2009, 09:32 AM

Hello all. This is my first posting as I'm new to the group. I'm a 51 yr old female in Tampa, FL diagnosed with PM in 2002. Large doses of prednisone, along with methotrexate, brought it under control. Now, it has come back and I am unable to take the large dose of prednisone this time due to the previous side effects (eye damage). My CK is up to 2,900. My doc tried Enbrel; however, that made the PM worse. Now we're trying azathioprine in place of the methotrexate. I've read other posts that stated not to take the generic. However, my pharmacist stated there is absolutely no difference between the generic and the name brand besides the price. I have 2 questions:
1.) Has anyone here had experience with the generic azathioprine?
2.) Has anyone taken azathioprine after methotrexate did not work --- and had success?
Thank you all for your time.

keiko · 07-12-2009, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KokoGirl

Hello all. This is my first posting as I'm new to the group. I'm a 51 yr old female in Tampa, FL diagnosed with PM in 2002. Large doses of prednisone, along with methotrexate, brought it under control. Now, it has come back and I am unable to take the large dose of prednisone this time due to the previous side effects (eye damage). My CK is up to 2,900. My doc tried Enbrel; however, that made the PM worse. Now we're trying azathioprine in place of the methotrexate. I've read other posts that stated not to take the generic. However, my pharmacist stated there is absolutely no difference between the generic and the name brand besides the price. I have 2 questions:
1.) Has anyone here had experience with the generic azathioprine?
2.) Has anyone taken azathioprine after methotrexate did not work --- and had success?
Thank you all for your time.

keiko · 07-12-2009, 04:47 PM

I have a cousin who has lupus. She takes imuran but gets the generic. I don't think she has had any problem with it. Give the imuran a chance. It works differently than mtx and my be helpful to you. I think it takes about 2 months to get the full effect.

sammyandcompany · 10-18-2009, 02:11 AM

Hi,
I have Dermatomyositis and it has been a long eight years. I will tell you I also started on huge doses of prednisone, (still on a maintenence dose) and methotrexate which got it under control slowly but after about 4 years the methotrexate caused "terrible" scarry side effects. I then was put on Imuran and have "ALWAYS" used the generic azathioprine it works just fine and I have had no trouble with it. Hope this helps.