Brands > Neoral
| CYCLOSPORINE, MODIFIED 100 MG Oral Capsule | CYCLOSPORINE, MODIFIED 100 MG/ML Oral Solution |
| CYCLOSPORINE, MODIFIED 25 MG Oral Capsule |
| Formulation: | CYCLOSPORINE, MODIFIED 100 MG Oral Capsule |
|---|---|
| Rating: | Good |
| Continuing Use: | No |
| Duration: | 6 Months |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 24 |
| Weight: | 163 lb / 74 kg |
When I was first diagnosed with severe pan-ulcerative colitis, I was hospitalized for 3 months in 5 different hospitals. After running out of options & not responding to steroid treatments, my doctors all inevitably resorted to using Cyclosporine.
Cyclosporine is a VERY POTENT & "SIGNIFICANT" drug. It should not be taken lightly by any means. Before taking it, patients should ask their doctors about ALL potential side effects & risks. It is usually prescribed as one of your last resorts to avoid surgery because of the various potential side effects & complications. You really should weigh your options & considerations (like whether you want to have children in the near future) carefully before deciding whether to take the drug or opt for surgery. Also, many doctors debate whether after taking Cyclosporine you are able to try using Remicade. Most doctors suggest ONLY using one drug or the other to avoid surgery. If you end up using both drugs, the potential to suffer a serious complication increases exponentially. (With that said, due to my ardent desire to avoid surgery, I did ultimately go against conventional medical thought & used both drugs without suffering any major complications.)
Cyclosporine is not a precise "surgical" strike on your disease. It is a very blunt offensive and has all sorts of potential significant side effects including birth defects. My doctors went so far as to describe the drug as a "sledge hammer". They also advised me to bank my sperm (while in the hospital) before beginning any treatments and cautioned me not to have any unprotected sexual contact while on the drug because it takes a long time to break down & can have serious unintended effects on your sexual partner. One of the more serious side effects is that as an extreme immunosuppressant (that is even used as an anti-rejection drug in transplant patients), is that it can make you vulnerable to extremely dangerous opportunistic viruses, fungi, & bacteria.
In the end, while Cyclosporine did help me get out of the hospital & buy me some time, it did not improve my condition enough to allow me to live any semblance of a normal life.