Day 10 & 11 adjusting well

Hi all, I hope that you're having a great weekend?

So I just wanted to say that I seem to be adjusting quite well to Aza right now. 2 things I was worried about since day 9 were that I still had a stuffy head/headache and constipation for the last couple of days.

My head has since cleared up a little, and the wooziness has subsided more which is great. On both days I have gone to the loo later in the afternoon and although loose and mucusy, my number 2's are coming out which I'm glad about.

I am still taking 100mg in the morning and 75mg for dinner. If there is anything unusual that I'm still experiencing its that I get the odd sensation of sharp pain in my back and sides, and sometimes my chest area, which radiates for a short while before disappearing. I think that it may be wind, as I do pass A LOT throughout the day, and am quickly running out of matches, but the area of the pain has me concerned as its close to my kidneys and stomach. So far things going in and out see, fine so I will not worry too much about this.

I'm also glad that sleep wise things have gone back to normal I'm not being disturbed by further nausea. The feeling of constant indigestion is still there but getting slightly better each day.

Anyway folks, I'm gonna go catch up with some Saturday evening television. I hope you all have a weekend!

Day 9: Improvements...

I managed to get to bed the night before without any major nauseating symptoms, just some a really weird headache, and slept throughout the night (yay!)  I woke up at around 5:50am which is fairly normal for me, got ready, and make 2 slices of toasted bread with a sliver of peanut butter on each.  I took my 100mg morning dose of Aza with these, and left early, as we went to vote for our local and national constituent and party representatives respectively for the upcoming elections for London Mayor.

When I got to work, I made a cup of tea, and for lunch had 2 slices of cold meat feast pizza (I love cold pizza!)  So far so good, only a feeling of constant indigestion and burning, but I've found I can live with this for the moment.  Through the rest of the day, I also had a couple of tiny egg mayo sandwiches, a glass of orange juice, and a tiny chocolate chip cupcake.

It's nearly time for home, and we've got the final bits of leftover pizza to eat, this time of the vegetarian variety.  Not planning much tonight, except for possibly watching a movie, and watching a livestream of Samsungs UnPacked event, which should showcase the new Samsung Galaxy S3 phone.  I am very excited about this!

Will update with more info if there is anything else more interesting, if not have a good one all!! :)

Day 7-8: Puke-tastic

I woke up today already feeling quite sick to my stomach, as several times through the night, I'd get a wave of uncomfortable nausea, which occurred around 1am, then 4am. Upon waking, I got ready for work, and had my 175mg of Aza with a granola bar, which is what I've been doing from the start.

Left for work with my wife, and as we reached the trains, already my stomach was churning and at times whatever acids and contents felt like the we're bubbling up to my neck. Wife gave me a polo to help calm my stomach but unfortunately that didn't really have much affect.

When I got to work, I raided the fruit again, and headed straight for the grapes, before taking care of a few work related issues. I went for a number 2 about 10:15am, and everything came out pretty normal, which has been a first for the last week. At around 10:50, I had an uncontrollable wave of nausea and quick stepped to the 2nd floor toilet, and let loose my stomach contents for the morning, really only th grapes and half a glass of water came out. My stomach was spasming and I decided that I was going home.

I left the office, and couldn't stop dry heaving all the way. I had to walk pretty slow because it felt like I was balancing a glass of liquid over a rocky slope, and the slightest tip would set me off puking again. Reached home in one piece and squirmed about on my couch for about an hour and got about 30 minutes of sleep. Upon waking, I made some lunch, fish and chips which took me about an hour to get through as my appetite felt completely shot. I shared most of the fleshy fish bits with my cat who was highly appreciative, and managed to eat through the chips.

I spoke to my GI nurse over the phone and she said that my blood work levels for the last day came back absolutely fine. I told her about the nausea, and she suggested splitting the dose, maybe 100mg in the morning and 75mg in the evening. Wasn't filled with confidence and expressed that I would much rather have a break altogether, but she convinced me to stick with it a bit as the symptoms are said to lessen once the body adapts.

When my wife got from work, she kindly made me a Mugshot, as I wasn't feeling anything heavy to eat, the Mugshot consists of a small cup of soupy noodles which was pretty tasty. I was feeling exhausted so when 21:00pm rolled around, I went to bed and finished reading The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. If you haven't read it already its worth checking out but really thick with content digestion for the first 170 pages. Shortly after the pace quickens and becomes a lot more gripping for about 200 pages, before getting boring again towards the end.

I fell asleep shortly after 22:00pm, but was up with nausea again at 2am. I came to the living room squirming n the couch to get comfortable. My wife got and got me some crackers and milk, which helped a little, but I left half my milk and once cracker. I fell asleep for about 30 mins at 3am, and then after a bit of pacing around, went into the bedroom and managed to fall asleep at near 4:15am. I woke up around 7:50am with a really stiff neck and jaw, and of course, the nausea. My wife left for work shortly after, and I decided to call in sick at work, and make some crackers and peanut butter, as I had lost my appetite for the granola bar since puking the day before. After finishing I debated in my mind whether I should call the GI specialist, and tell her I want off the Aza. But decided against, and took a 100mg dose just after 9am. Some more dry heaving ensued and also the obligatory neon yellow pee.

I fired up Netflix on my iPad and decided to start watching a bt of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movie, and over the first half, I noticed the nausea had subsided a little. After the first half of the movie was over, around 12:30 am, I decided to shop for lunch and get some bread. I got a chicken korma ready meal, and saw an ice cream van, so couldn't resist the urge for a 99. The hit my stomach and felt good!

On arriving home, I cooked up the Korna and watched the last part of the movie. I didn't think it was very good and lots of parts have been changed from the book, I suppose to squeeze everything in 3 hours.

I found my nausea symptoms to have been less so far through the day and feel more akin to acid indigestion now. I still feel very tired and my head feels dizzy but this is some small consolation compared to the last few days (fingers crossed!)

My wife rung up on the way home and we both decided to settle for Pizza, so I ordered a medium vegetable supreme and a meat feast as well as some potato skins with bacon and sour cream. I was impressed with how fast it got here, from web order to my door in 15 minutes flat!!

So I took one slice of each pizza, had the veggie first the took my evening dose of Aza, 75mg this time and prayed to god that the nausea will not bother me for the rest of the evening/night. Now for my potato skins. I will update with another exciting post soon! Thanks for sticking around.

Day 6 - Time for blood, very nauseated

I woke up at 6am, and shortly afterwards, hit with a major tummy ache.  Tried to go to the loo, and managed to pass a few narrow bits of mucousy/liquidy stool after about 30 minutes, even though I felt like I could definitely pass a lot more.  Attempted to go one more time after another bout of aching 10 minutes later, and only passed a very tiny bit of mucous, which I guess was enough to make the pain subside.

As I got ready to go for my blood test, I started feeling an intense sensation of nausea, and dry heaved a little around 7am.  I had a granola bar, along with some 175mg dosage of Azathioprine, and was determined to leave home for the hospital at 7:15, but the feeling of nausea made me extra sluggish and feeling tired.  I managed to get my stuff together, and head out of the flat at 7:20am, and made it to the hospital at 7:35am.  

I was shocked at just how long the line was for blood tests, as usually in the morning, my testing is done within 5 minutes.  Got my ticket, which made me number 43 in line.  Got to have my test done an hour later, but just before, I had more bouts of nausea and aching.  When my ticket was called out, I got to my booth, and my Phlebotomy guy recognised my surname because my dad had been in hospital.  He asked about him, and I had to break the news to him that he had passed away a month ago, and he showed a real flash of surprise before apologising.  My dad was well known in the hospital, as he had been in and out for years for dialysis, and other illnesses, but historically, my dad was a senior nurse for nearly half his life. 

I had 2 vials of blood taken, and left very quickly after, managed to catch the 9am train, and still have a really upset stomach, but now with acidic burps.  I begin wondering if it is because I haven't eaten enough in the morning to compensate for the drugs.  On the way into the office, I pick up a Sprite in the hopes it'll help calm my stomach, and arrive just a little after 9:30am.  I find grapes on the desk beside mine, and immediately begin working through these, which somehow helps a little...

I also managed to have a banana which exacerbated my indigestion.  At lunch time, I went out and grabbed a roast chicken and mustard coleslaw sandwich which felt good, and a little 'cooling' on my stomach.  Around the 14:30pm mark, the nausea had subsided quite a bit.  I had a tiny chunk of home made rocky road, and a small thorntons chocolate.  Upon arriving home around 17:40pm, the nausea started bubbling up inside me again.  I had the last bits of the left over mixed grill, and some chocolate buttons.  I then had a small glass of milk.  I decided to take an early night as I was feeling shattered, so tried to use the loo for a number 2 to no avail, and then fell asleep reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo close to 21:00pm.

First post! Day 5 plus recap...

I created this blog as a small journal to document my time on the drug Azathioprine, which I have started taking since Wednesday 25th April 2012 after visiting the hospital shortly prior.  Azathioprine is a drug that was primarily designed for patients following organ replacements to stop rejection from the body, but is apparently a common treatment for Crohns disease sufferers like me.

I have been urged and begged to go on it from my gastrointestinal consultant after my last colonoscopy last November, since this was the next logical step for treatment of my Crohns after taking steroids (Prednisolone) successfully for a few months on and off, and also subsequently due to adverse reactions to ASA drugs (balsalazine and pentasa) which left me feeling rough.

I have been a little worried about going onto Azathioprine for the treatment of my Crohns because of the various horror stories of the symptoms and side affects that result from it, which include nausea, hair loss, stomach pains, and huge susceptibility to infections, disease and hepatitis due to inhibition of white blood cell production in the body and an inflamed liver.

Doctors were convinced it would do me good because my TPMT levels following a previous blood test were normal, which is good to stabilise the drug in my body, and the levels also show that I would probably not suffer from some of the worse symptoms that I have read from others.

Soooo...I started the drug, and so far things have been tolerable. 175mg tablets daily with water after food. First sign of scariness were the warning on the package of it being a cytotoxic drug, 'handle with care'. I found that peeing about 2 hours after taking the drug, the colour of my urine is a luminous neon yellow, which has a radioactive glow to it. I have yet to test if this is visible in the dark but suspect it might be.

I had my first encounter with nausea on the evening of day 3, although this probably wasn't helped by the fact I had also drunk 2 coronas and a Yeager bomb. Felt completely sober, but shortly after arriving home I vomited in the toilet.

Feelings of nausea have continued into the next 2 days although no more vomiting yet. Currently at the end of day 5 and feeling exhausted as well as anxious, which I cannot shake the feeling of. I feel like I need holiday. I am drinking water tonight before bed to calm my stomach and wash out the left over mixed grill I had for dinner. Generally feeling a little bloated and uneasy, with a slightly gurgling stomach. Also have the urge to burp/pass wind but seems like a struggle at the moment.

I have the first of my regular blood tests for the Azathioprine treatment tomorrow. This is necessary as my white blood cells need to be monitored during treatment as they will drop significantly. Other levels may be affected as this drug is also known to mess with DNA, and affect bone marrow. After tomorrow, I will have a further blood test in 2 weeks, then 4 weeks, then every 3 months, depending on if I'm still on the drug.

I anticipate that if all goes well, I will be on the drug for between 2 and 5 years, and should notice some positive affects occurring around the 2-3 month mark. I'm looking forward to this changing my life for the better, but at this stage it seems that anything goes. I hope that this blog will go a long way in chronicling the effect this will have on my disease, and my life, for better and for worse, and that it may help those that are in the same boat as I am. Stay tuned folks!