[fenrus]

I recall reading like a summarized case study about how it concluded that Immuran had carcinogenic effects. I asked my GP about it and he did confirm it as he had a patient who was on long term Immuran recently be diagnosed with cancer.

I'm a little bit annoyed that my rheumy never told me about that fact.

I've been off Prednisone from like Nov-Feb, I'm now back in 10mg of it because I started to flare up a bit. I've been on 75-100mg of Immuran for like a year now, it didn't seem to be very effective in maintaining my Lupus while I was off Prednisone from Nov-Feb.

I'm wondering if it's even worth taking Immuran if it can give me cancer AND it seems to do so little in suppressing my Lupus. I mean, I took 10mg/day Prednisone for 3 days and I already felt better. I talked briefly to my rheumy about it over the phone and he said I should definitely stay on Immuran, saying it was like my "potatoes" of my medications.

I'm wondering if I should get a second opinion. Have you people some thought about the long term effects of your medications?

 

[Katharine]

Hi,

As far as I know, all rheumies agree that it is far preferable to be on Imuran long-term than prednisolone (if there is a choice) which has pretty severe side effects too.

There is also the non negligable question of lupus out of control being extremely dangerous too.

Katharine

 

[Clare.T]

I wouldn't take anything that didn't seem to be helping but sometimes the only way you can tell is by not taking the medicine and risking a major flare with serious longer term consequences.
If your doctor doesn't mention risks it is because they are very low.Or he isn't such a good doctor
I read up about Imuran before I started taking it and was satisfied with the risk level, compared with all the other risks of life and could accept the small risk for the sake of improvement of symptoms and better quality of life
Very personal choices I guess. The disease itself and Sjogren's too seem to carry increased risk of certain cancers.
We certainly need to check out our medicines for ourselves and tell our doctors about any misgivings

All the best
Clare

 

[Maia]

Just a quick thought... what other medications are you on or have you tried?

The risk of cancer from Imuran is pretty low, especially in the low doses that lupus patients take. Sometimes a medication doesn't seem to be helping at all until you stop taking it and then you know how much it was in fact helping. If you truly noticed no difference in your symptoms, and are concerned about the risk of cancer, you can always tell your doctor how you feel and that you'd like to do a trial without the Imuran and see how it goes. Ultimately, all medication decisions are up to us. But we also, ultimately, have to live with the side effects and risks of taking a medication or not taking a medication.