Brands > Purinethol

Prior to under-going a 3-stage sub-total collectomy & J-Pouch surgery, I suffered from debilitating severe pan-Ulcerative Colitis. No matter what regime of drugs I took, I couldn't get my UC into true remission. However, after getting my UC into the closest thing to remission that I had ever experienced, my doctor prescribed 6-mp as my remission "drug"...

You start off with a low-dose of this drug and slowly ween yourself onto it to make sure that you don't experience one of the several potential adverse side effects. First of all, despite the fact that doctors might downplay the potency of this drug, IT IS A FORM OF CHEMOTHERAPY, & a STRONG IMMUNOSUPPRESANT. While 6mp is used to treat patients with inflammatory bowel disease, it is also often used as a treatment for cancer patients, so don't take it lightly. Once you're on the drug, it's also important that you get CBC blood tests every 2 weeks to make sure everything looks ok. One of the major side effects of 6mp is that it can at times cause a significant drop in your white blood cell count and ultimately destroy your bone marrow if you don't monitor it closely.

While I didn't suffer from low white blood cell counts, I did end up with liver functions that were out of whack, but not to a point that I had to be hospitalized--just so that the dosages had to be altered. However, the worst side effects I suffered from this drug was debilitating exhaustion & lethargy to the point that I was always exhausted and required unfathomable amounts of sleep. Moreover, the drug gradually caused me to slip into a severe depression. At the time, I didn't even realize it was the drug causing the depression because I had so many other issues going on with my UC and because it happens so gradually. After I had a severe flare and abnormal liver functioning, I was forced to discontinue my use of 6mp. It took a couple of weeks to get the drug out of my system and I immediately felt as though a veil had been lifted from me and I felt so much better overall. Even if the 6mp had succeeded in keeping my disease in remission, had I realized what the 6mp was doing to me, I would've discontinued it much sooner. The 6mp basically made me sicker overall than the disease, itself did.

I advise patients to be very careful with this medication & look out for any signs of the potential side effects very vigilantly.