Been diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis related to having colitis. The doctor wants to treat with a cortisone shot first and see how things go but is recommending after another flare or two to go on Sulfasalazine/Azulfidine.
Has anyone been on this med what were your experiences and side effects?
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No- but try a gluten free and nightshade free diet and see if it makes ANY difference- it should help somewhat
I was on it ages ago, when it was pretty much the only non-steroid UC drug. I may have gotten occasional headaches from it, but otherwise easy to tolerate. The only problem was that I stubbornly refused to be on any chronic medication, so I stopped taking it and avoided treatment for a long time.
Momaioneil posted:No- but try a gluten free and nightshade free diet and see if it makes ANY difference- it should help somewhat
I am working on following the anti inflammatory diet and have gone gluten free and mostly avoiding nightshade produce.
Like a previous post, I too was on those horse pills for UC and they had no affect what so ever. Some of the newer drugs might be more appropriate. Do your research on treating your condition.
I took Azulfadine for 33 yrs. NO problems. 34th yr, my new GI Doc insisted I switch to Asacol.
So, for 2 yrs that's wht I took everyday for my mild UC instead of Azulfadine. Well, after 2 yrs, I went for my screening colonoscopy wen his office called me to schedule it. My colon was ttly clear of polyps and normalized mucosa 2 yrs before. After 2 yrs taking Asacol, I had suspicious lesions up and down my entire colon, high and low grade dysplasia visually, as well as my biospies taken during colonoscopy, + tons of polyps along my entire colon and rectum.
My Dr. told me when my results returned I had to have my colon and rectum removed within a month. So now I have no colon or rectum, but a jpouch.
I KNOW that switching to the Asacol, going off Azulfadine was the biggest mistake, sealed my fate developing colon cancer. Too coincidental not to be the reason. Well, I "fired" that GI Doc after that. Hired a much better GI Dr. while getting scheduled for my surgeries.
Thank you. I have a j-pouch too and this drug would be used to treat my arthritis.
Really needing to know if people who have j-pouch have tolerated this medicine.
My pouch seems to be quite happy with Sulfasalazine for enteropathis arthritis. I gave it up 1.5 years ago, as wanted to be drug free to become pregnant.. but all that happened, was that I didn't get pregnant and had more arthritis symptoms instead! Back on it now after a few injections into the joint (not fun, waiting 3 months for it to work again!). I found that having milk in anything makes the arthritis flare up, so I don't have any now, and try to avoid gluten as much as possible too. Although it seemed to cure the arthritis when not having any... accidents happen when you eat out and am now within a 5 month flare up (and have become lactose intolerant too, from being off milk for so long)...
I've been to the hospital today for a pouch scope and they have found cuffitis and a sloughy ulcer. I didn't have that when I was on the sulfasalazine for a few years either - so isn't a bad thing to take to help both things!
I took sulfasalazine for decades before my final flare that led to colectomy. A few years later, I was back on it for cuffitis. Within a decade post j-pouch, I went on a higher dose for enteropathic arthritis. Another decade and I am still on it, along with a biologic and Imuran.
Bottom line, yes the j-pouch is compatible with Azulfidine.
Jan 
Thank you everyone. I found everyone's input helpful.
And it's pretty safe too, even in higher doses up to 7 gr per day depending on the individual's medical condition of course.
Been diagnosed with Enteropathic Arthritis. Got a cortisone shot in my knee joint. The shot was fine but I am in pain right now.
Cortisone joint injections are not completely helpful for me. The relief is difficult to determine, since my symptoms wax and wane. Plus, you can only get them infrequently. Also, keep in mind that they can take 10 days or so for full effect. The immediate results are mostly the local anesthetic they mix it with.
Nothing works perfectly for me. This is why I have a combination approach.
Jan
Thanks Jan. I knew it would be about 7-10 days for the shot. the Dr also says the disease often comes and goes.
Please be careful with cortisone injections and steroids in general if you take Cipro for pouchitis. I had been on cipro continuously since December 2015 with pretty good control of the pouchitis. I had gotten steroid injections in my left foot for Plantar Fasciitis. In may of 2016 I received an injection and a week later had a tendon in that foot tear. It was determined that it was a reaction between the cipro and steroid injection and I was advised to not get anymore injections and avoid steroids while on the cipro. I had surgery in January of this year to replace that tendon and repair other damage to the foot as a result of the tendon. Well last week another tendon in the same foot is having issues and I've now been advised to stop the cipro (no problem, I am done with that). It also makes me wonder if the shoulder and hip pain is not also a result of the cipro��.
Just be careful and be informed, I wasn't and now I'm paying the price.
Thank you for providing this information as it might be helpful to other. I am on no medications for my j-pouch with no pouch issues either.
