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just started taking sulfasalazine

Posted , 3 users are following.

jeanette2838
jeanette2838

I have only started taking this yesterday and ive had bellyache all night and day is this normal? How long before my body adjusts? Thanks

1 like, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • cheria
    cheria jeanette2838

    Posted

    I never adjusted and using this medication made several other conditions evolve..and took myself off within 4 wks..stomach aches, loose stools, digestive probkems, no relief in symptoms but created many new conditions for the go to be able to treat..this is the first drug many doctors try before moving on to effective mrds..as if they are trying to rule out something before going forward with adequate treatment..eventually this med began causing breathing asma like symptoms..don't be shy about telling the doctor thus is not effective and has side effects that cause to much discomfort and ask what the next step would be..you must be proactive in your treatment and have a doctor who works with you on this..
    • jeanette2838
      jeanette2838 cheria

      Posted

      Thanks for your quick reply, I have only had one which was yesterday evening but I feel really wiped out, bad stomach cramps and not myself, I have cold at the minute so it could be that but just odd with the stomach cramps I didnt think any side affects would show so quick? I was hoping these tablets would be a miracle cure 😢 maybe not.
    • cheria
      cheria jeanette2838

      Posted

      Maybe one thing to try is not on an empty stomach and with a full glass of water earlier in the day..you may want to take them with a meal that dies not involve raw foiods,dairy or spicy oily food.. If you continue to feel very sick this may be a strong sign your body is rejecting this type of sulfa drug.. Drs may try to keep you in them but you must decide for yourself if you wish to stop taking them and ask the Dr what is the next step. What is your diagnosis or condition to which you began taking them?
    • jeanette2838
      jeanette2838 cheria

      Posted

      Hi, I have started taking them as my body is showing signs of RA although not showing in my blood, I have had very little mobility in my right leg,hip,knee and foot since November, I have had injections in my bottom, knee and foot which have helped tremendously, Ive now been told I have to take these tablets for ever, it was a sudden onset, I just woke up one morning and couldnt walk (I can now) my knee swelled like a balloon and I had fluid drained from it, my foot is also swollen, im hoping I can get used to the tablets so I can keep it down.
  • cheria
    cheria jeanette2838

    Posted

    Jeanette, you have been thru so much, and i cant fathem your only means of treatment for your extreme inflammation, and RA has been sulfa drugs and the painful procesures of steroid injections and the liquid being drawn off from your knee..wow. Yes, we can have RA without showing the negative factor in the blood test. There are many different kinds of RA. Do you have Reactive RA? Are you being treated by a reumatologist? General practioners vannot effectively manage and treat reumatology conditions. I hope you will ask for the necessary referral if you are being treated by a gp. Are you being treated with a steroid pak for these strong inflammatory RA conditions? A gp will not generally prescribe this, which is often very much needed to knock out these incredible high inflammatory numbers to manage your inflammation and fluid build up. The sulfa drugs are not effective for many, but general practioners and some reumatologists will start with this and move up to other much more effective RA management drugs after seeing how ineffective this is for managing the RA. What you are going thru, is incredible. These sulfa drugs did nothing but cause me very distressing stomach and digestive ptoblems, not treating the RA, while my inflammation rates went out of control as yours are doing. While inflammation rates are high and not properly managed, tremendous irreversable damage to your joints..The steroid injections are only duppoze to go along with RA treatments, and quite far apart so that pitting to the bones whivh makes them brittle and suseptible to breaking, and hip replacements, etc.. when otherwise this may never have needed to be done.
    • jeanette2838
      jeanette2838 cheria

      Posted

      Hi, yes i have a rheumaology doctor, my inflammation is down alot since my injections but these sulfa tablets are making me feel ill, im not sure how long im supposed to give them chance before making the decision to change them?
    • cheria
      cheria jeanette2838

      Posted

      I can imagine the steroid shots are working wonders..the sulfa drugs gave me stomach aches and digestive problems and i took them for about 2 wks..until they started causing asmatic symptoms and said that's it which my Reumatologist thoroughly understood. I did not do well on methotrexate either and felt sooo sick on these..nausiated for about 4 days following..about 8 of them were taken once a week..the only meducation that has worked like magic without side effects for me for 4+ yrs has been plaquenil. To me any medivation that causes stomach pain beyond a few days is a sign from my body that its rejecting it..i have read that a high number of those with RA respond negatively to sulfa drugs but that dictors most often try this medication first..
  • matthew28646
    matthew28646 jeanette2838

    Posted

    What kind of sulfasalazine tablets are you taking? There are normal tablets and then there are gastro resistant tablets, I have the gastro resistant one as they pass through your stomach so you don't get any stomach pains
    • cheria
      cheria matthew28646

      Posted

      The stomach pain is caused by the medication depleting folic acid from the body. It is not due to being Castro resistant.
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