Sulphasalazine

[SLEepyhead123]

I have been on sulphasalazine for 4 weeks and for the past two nights have had horrendous acid reflux when I wake up in the morning. The first time I even wondered if I was having a minor heart attack. Have consulted with Dr Google who says you should take 2 hours separately from any antacids. No one had mentioned this to me. I take esomeprazol twice daily for GERD. Has any one else suffered from this and will it settle down?

Desperate to get rid of yet another drugs side effects, tempted to stop taking them! I was injecting methotrexate and had one bad day a week which was more bearable than 24 hours a day pain in my chest and oesophagus! Any advice would be very welcome. Xxx

[PMRpro]

I may be wrong but I'm not sure that by antacids they mean a PPI - it usually means calcium containing antacids like Rennies or Tums and the like. A PPI has a 24 hour effect which takes a few days to build up so it won't make much difference when you take other drugs. It is one of the more common side effects of sulphasalazine.

[SLEepyhead123 in reply to PMRpro]

I take a calcium and vitamin D supplement daily as well. Would I be better taking that separately?

[PMRpro in reply to SLEepyhead123]

As far as I can see it won't have any effect on the sulphasalazine though it is probably better to allow a couple of hours between. And if you have two tablets to take, take one at a time, the calcium is absorbed better your body can only absorb about 500mg at a time.

[Paul_Howard Partner LUPUS UK]

Hi SLEepyhead123 ,

I'm sorry to hear that you are experiencing a suspected interaction between your medications. Please don't stop a medication before discussing it with your doctor and doing so under their supervision. Are you able to make an appointment with your local pharmacist to review all your current medications and discuss a timetable for taking them to ensure you don't have any reactions?

[SLEepyhead123 in reply to Paul_Howard]

Yes will go to farmacia today. Thanks Paul