PURINETHOL Reviews (MERCAPTOPURINE)Average Rating: 3.5 (315 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare PURINETHOL with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) |
More on PURINETHOL: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR PURINETHOL | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 3 | crohn's | Many side effects. Massive energy loss. There are periods of time where I can literally not move. They are incredibly scarry. During them, I seem to drift in and out of consciousness. Prior to purinethol, on a good day I could bike for 30+ miles. I would be happy with half that now. Slow but steady hair loss. No one in my family has a receding hair line. I did not prior to purinethol. Red dots all over my body. Weight gain. I expect that is due to an appetite loss which encourages me to eat more junk I like and less food that is good for me (common with chemo). My doctor said two years ago it's my last chance so I guess still being here is better than other options, but I'm not sure. I am a vp in my company and the fatigue is killing me at work. I am more absent minded and have lost most of my sharpness. My liver functions have deteriorated. Joint pain goes from moderate to unbearable. I was always active in sports including football and basketball. The last few years have taught me I knew nothing about pain. | The worst thing for me with this med was I was not told that this was chemo for cancer patients until I picked up the first prescription and saw the warnings. I have faith in my doctor, but it worries me that he minimizes the dangers. About six months on the med, I felt like a new person. Then the bottom fell out. My wife was diagnosed with cancer at the time so I assumed that I was having a rough time dealing with the extra physical effort of keeping the house going while she went through chemo, surgery etc. When things continued to get worse they realized that there had been a lowering of my liver performance. The only good I can say is I am still here and the medicine seems to have stopped the really lowest points with the crohn's. It's a huge trade-off. | M | 43 | 26 months | 4/2/2004 | 5 | Crohn's Disease | No side effects..maybe some fatigue but I think that's normal for my age and activity level. | Purinethol is a miracle drug for me. I suffered for 15 years before a wonderful doctor in Arizona prescribed MP6. It took several months of ramping the dosage to start working. I have not had any symptoms for 10+ years. I had 15 years of hell before taking purinethol. I had multiple surgeries,resections,fistulas..all of the worst symptoms before taking this drug. My present activities include weightlifting,running golf..totally normal life..and yes I even have a couple of beers on the weekend. I've even lost about 40 pounds from my peak weight.All of my bloodwork to date has been as my doctor puts it | M | 47 | 10 years | 3/31/2004 | 2 | Chron's disease | I was terribly nauseated and fatigued while taking purinethol. I was unable to take it even at low does. The nausea associated with the drug prevented me from being able to work. | F | 39 | 30 days | 3/22/2004 | 2 | CROHN'S | HYPERPIGMENTATION, STRANGE RASHES, ACNE | Been on this for 1 year. Doctor prescribed it with no info whatsoever. Never even scheduled blood work. Weird things have happened within the last year that I have never had before. Hard to say whether the side effects are from the purinethol or not. Every once in a while I also will get the tingles all over my body sometime for days. Still get bad bouts of pain from the Crohn's. | F | 34 | 1 years | 3/22/2004 | 4 | uc | very dry mouth.ringing in ears.weight loss 45 lbs. | been on purinethol for 10 month.could not take any of thre other drugs.was very sick for 5 months.it has worked we'll for me.but im afraid of side effects that no one wants to talk about.i have 3 dr's.they all want me to stay on it. | F | 47 | 5 months | 3/20/2004 | 5 | Ulcerative Colitis | Slight weakness, thirsty and weight gain (Could possibly have some effects from the prednisone I'm tapering off currently) | Well so far I've been taking this medicine since back in Nov of 2003. I had been on a max of 60mg of prednisone at one point and I really had all kinds of energy and now that i'm tapering off it my doctor says that this Purinethol is what's going to keep my UC under control. I can't even imagine having bout after bout and the fact that people will consider the UC symptoms and effects over the side effects from this medicine. I'm currently taking 75mg (6mp:purinethol) and I'm 25 years old. 6 months ago I was in the worst pain of my life going to the bathroom at a minimum of 2 times per hour nightly and 1 time/hour daily. I did get a cold and I've noticed some weight gain but I think I can attribute that to the prednisone. I'm coming off the prednisone at 1mg/week and I'm on 14mg of that right now. Please for your own benefit give 6mp a try and stay with it....I thought I was going to have a ileostomy and luckily things seem to be working for now. Feel free if you have any questions to email me and I'll definitely respond ASAP. | M | 25 | 6 months | 3/17/2004 | 4 | auto immune hepatitis | none that I know of...I was also taking prednisone for 4 months.. I had some effects, that I presume were mostly from the prednisone, such as fat face...but I was able to lose some weight... | F | 65 | 4 days | 3/16/2004 | 3 | ulcertive colitis | some hair loss. | I have been on purinethol 50mg for 2 months, and my doctor just up it to 100mg. My recent scope showed uc healing but not in remmision yet. Down to 5mg prednisone, 9 colazal 750mg, cortafoam, and rowasa daily. I feal good most of the time, the only signs of uc is the slight blood and mucas in my stool daily. I do drink beer on the weekends and I'm not sure about the purinethol especialy with upping it to 100mg. So far it has not bothered me, does anyone else know about the effects of alcohol and purinethol. I am open to anyone who wants to e-mail me on any subject on uc. | F | 39 | 2 months | 3/15/2004 | 4 | Ulcerative Colitis | Hair loss, acne, constantly sick with sinus infections, bronchitis, flu etc.. Also extremely naseuas in the morning. | I've had UC for 22 years and this drug is the only thing that has worked. Its like I don't even have UC anymore, but I'm so sick with constant infections that I still don't have a life. I've been figting a sinus infection for 5 months now and nothing has helped. Thinking of going off the meds, but not looking forward to the UC flaring up again. Anyone else out there having problems like this. | F | 36 | 1.5 years | 3/11/2004 | 4 | Crohn's Disease | Slight hair loss, sleeplessness, increased acne (?) | It seems to be working very well for me. I can't drink with out severe nausea. I get VERY thirsty as well. I came onto this site looking for contraindications against drinking while using this drug as my Doctor had said it would be ok for me to take 6 MP and drink. That's so not true (for me anyway). I am now reconsidering this drug. It has helped me a lot. In the past year I have had no flare-ups worth mentioning. I have been on Asacol, Pentasa, Prednisone, Entocort (which I do not recommend at all- lots of bruising and did not stabalise my crohn's) and now finally 6MP. I am now worried about my liver and about developping new problems as a result of this drug. I am goign to start getting blood work done again (probabley shouldn't have stopped). Hoping that with this new remission I may be able to get off this drug. Just for interest sake, have had Crohn's since age 12-13. | F | 22 | 1.5 years | 3/8/2004 | 5 | Crohn's | I had horrible joint pian and extreme fatigue, but the Crohn's was doing fine. | I couldn't get off prednisone without having major flare ups. Was on it for 9 years. Started with purinethol, within a week was feeling great. A couple months into it, couldn't stay awake for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time. Joint pain was like ome kind of debilitating arthritis. I started taking Flinstone Complete vitamins. It's like I'm 15 yrs old again. I'm so excited because it's been a while (10yrs) since I remembered how good life can be. TAKE THE VITAMINS. | M | 29 | 1 years | 3/7/2004 | 4 | Ulcerative Colitis | Some hair loss (but at 50+ years old I was already down that road). Chronic fatigue and major joint pain, but I'm not sure those are totally caused by the Pureinthol. The UC probably also contributes. Colds last longer than they did before. | I was diagnosed with UC in late 2001. After two previous attempts to get off Pred during 2002 it was Pureinthol that allowed me to do it on the third try during Jan. 2003. I've been taking 75 mgs a day since. I'm also taking 2400 mgs a day (originally 4800 mgs) of Asacol since my UC diagnosis. The Asacol helps, but it is the Pureinthol that allowed me to get off Pred and lets me function on a daily basis. It's not perfect, but I'm grateful that my side effects are not severe and it keeps my UC pretty well in check. My Dr. gives me OK to drink alcohol moderately; a glass of wine or a beer a day if I desire. The Dr. also monitors me with CBC blood tests every 3 months. The thought of possible side effects from long term usage give me pause, but can they be worse than the absolute hell that UC had me in, I don't know. Feeling pretty good I got overconfident and correspondingly sloppy with my Pureinthol intake during summer 2003 and my UC symptoms came roaring back with a vengeance. Some Pred and getting back to consistent dosing with the Pureinthol got me taken care of. Without good health insurance it is expensive. I'm fortunate to pay only a fraction of the what without insurance would be about $180 for my monthly dosage. Higher dosages than the 75 mgs a day I'm taking would obviously cost even more. Some good news on the cost issue is that Par Pharmaceuticals was just given FDA approval (Feb. 2004) to start selling a Pureinthol generic. Mercaptopurine is the actual drug name for the Pureinthol brand name (see www.parpharm.com and click Press Releases). | M | 52 | 14 months | 3/4/2004 | 2 | Crohn's | Dry Mouth, Darkening of the lips, Nausea, Restlessness & Irritability | I have been on this medication for a year now. At first, there were mild symptoms of nausea; now I am nauseas all the time and my lips are turning purple and I am thirsty all of the time. I'm sick and tired of taking meds. I don't feel like I have this disease. I have changed my diet tremendously and will stop the meds TODAY. I will see how it goes... | F | 34 | 1 years | 3/3/2004 | 5 | Crohn's | For those of you who are experiencing hair loss and taking Asacol while on this drug, it is the Asacol that is contributing. I was losing significant amounts of hair and when I decreased Asacol pills to 4 (was taking 8), I started seeing hair regrowth. I am still taking the purinethol. | F | 27 | 13 months | 2/27/2004 | 3 | Chron's Disease | I have been experiencing many side effects for example: itchiness, headaches, joint pain, anemia, pain in lower back, and stomach pain | F | 22 | 5 months | 2/26/2004 | 4 | crohn's | dry mouth just started tacking it jan.2004 had all of my colin tacking out. | M | 36 | 2 months | 2/23/2004 | 4 | Crohn's Disease | Slight hair loss, not noticeable. | Have been on it 6 months with no side effects. Blood being monitored closely; have had no bad reports so far. Have read all the horror stories but personally have experienced no ill-effects. Have not even had a cold | F | 39 | 6 months | 2/10/2004 | 3 | Crohn's | exhausted. All of the time. | F | 39 | 2 weeks | 2/8/2004 | 5 | Crohn's Disease | Chronic fatigue, dry mouth, slight hair loss (but nothing noticable with the hair loss, get cold more frequently. | I have been in remission 7 months since taking it. This is currently the only medication I take for Crohn's. I am on 75 mg a day and have no Crohn's syptoms. I can't really say to take it or not take it, as I am still researching the drug myself, even after being on it 1 1/2 years. I have had Crohn's for 20 years. | F | 28 | 1 days | 2/5/2004 | 5 | Crohn's | some dry skin on joints (elbows), goes away with hydrocortisone cream (1%) | Just updating my previous comment since I have now been on it for over a year... has been a lifesaver. Has replaced Remicade and prednisone (which I believe is actually from hell) for me with little side effects, none of any concern. One doctor told me I'd be on Remicade forever, my new doctor replaced it months ago and I've never felt better. Get second and third opinions!! | M | 31 | 13 months | 1/30/2004 |