Dapsone

[lrcooke]

Has anyone had any experience with dapsone. I had a rash possibly due to bactrim so i was changed to dapsone.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

I have no experience with it, I do know it is used to treat PCP pneumonia a fungal infection, so it would have similar prophylactic uses as Bactrim or Septra etc.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dap...

[Jm954 Administrator]

Dapsone can cause haemolytic anaemia, characteristically with spherocytes, we used to see it quite a bit in the past. Need to have regular checks of Haemoglobin.

Refs here:

bloodjournal.org/content/11...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/764...

[lrcooke in reply to Jm954]

Thanks

[Mimula]

Hi

I was given Dapsone as am allergic to septrin. Finished FCR before Xmas - at last check up I was taken off Dapsone and am now having pentamidine- consultant didn’t want me continue with Dapsone.....

Maybe need to ask about long term effects?

[Ballyhoo77]

I had the exact same thing happen.Rash stopped when I stopped Bactrim. Very strange skin on shoulders would blister and fluid would explode. Wishing you the very best.

[Eric70]

Hi, I had a very bad reaction to Dapsone when prescribed for an infection whilst on Chemo. It started to plasticise my blood cause low oxygen levels, which made matters worse. The Chemo had to be stopped and it took 24 hours for Dapsone to clear my system and start to feel normal again. I was told by my Dr that I must never take it again. Hope that you are OK on it, but do act quickly if you feel unwell.

[Senecio]

I was given Dapsone after two weeks on Co-Trimoxazole when I developed a rash and high temperature. I have now been taking it daily for ten months. At first it did affect my metabolism, and my oxygen levels fell - leading to a lot of unnecessary heart and lung testing. (I blame the Dapsone!). I seem to tolerate it better now, and I'm hoping I won't need it much longer. It is a pain in other ways too - the pharmacist has to order it every time I need it, but usually only notices that it needs to be ordered when I go to collect it. I suspect I'm the only person at my local hospital who is using it. It appears to be a drug which has been used to treat leprosy, and it does at least have the benefit that it is cheap. At any rate it has been successful in preventing my catching Pneumocystis, which is its purpose.

[lrcooke]

Yes my local pharmacy did not have it and had to borrow from another. I have had so many reactions to other drugs but have been on for 2 days so far. Thanks

[prichman]

I have been on daily 100mg Dapsone since January 2015. I tend to run anemic, but there has been no correlation to the Dapsone. I too had to switch from Bactrim. I am known to have early history of allergy to Sulfa drugs, of which Bactrim is one. As standard practice my Oncologist prescribes Dapsone if there is potential of Bactrim allergy. From what she says it is not unusual.

[lrcooke]

I thought I read something about anemia and decreased immunity..both we dont need but it seems to be pretty standard practice.

[kohelet]

Dapson is an old Sulafa drug and Bactrim is newer also Sulfa based.

I was stunned when the pharmacy charged me $160 for 90 pills. An internet search revealed that is manufactured by one un-known company in the US and probably there is some scam that it has a monopoly for the US & Canada.

I also found out that GalxoSmithKlein in India makes it and it is about $4 per thousand.

I called Glaxo in the US and also in Canada and they avoided giving me an answer. So I contacted friends who were touring India and got a box of 1000.

I don't use it anymore.