Azathioprine blood schedule

[SashaT64]

Can any of you lovely people please advise the bloods schedule for Azathioprine? I had my ‘education’ appointment the other day prior to getting ready to start on this but didn’t write it down quick enough. I think there were 3 stages starting with 2 weekly tests for first 8 weeks ? And then?

Thank you 🙏

[Prunes]

I was every 2 weeks to begin with, probably for a number of months not just 8 weeks but that may be because my white cell count is so low.After that I switched to every 6-8 weeks but with the arrival of covid that has been lengthened to 12 weeks. I've been on azathioprine for more than ten years.

Hope that helps.

[Spanielmadlady]

I was on azathioprine but only managed 7 weeks before developing drug induced hepatitis .I'm now on mmf but pretty sure dmards blood tests are similar.this was how it went for me.weekly until stable then fortnightly for 1 month then monthly .once dmards are happy you are stable its usually passed over to your gp with a shared care agreement to continue monitoring and prescribing .any increase means back to weekly.im still on monthly bloods 18 months later.once handed over to gp remember to get bloods done in plenty of time as they wont issue script until your bloods are back ...I usually have mine done 1 week beforehand.other peoples regime may be different

I hope azathioprine helps you for me it made me poorly .good luck xxx

[Spanielmadlady]

I've continued to have bloods done throughout covid .just go with the flow as it's going to depend on how you react to it .prunes and I are opposite ends of the scale as her reply shows everyone is different. X

[Prunes in reply to Spanielmadlady]

Yes it does show how we're all different. Azathioprine has been the only thing I can tolerate - I've had methotrexate, leflunomide, sulfasalazine and mmf and none of them helped or in the case of sulfasalazine made me very sick.

So thank goodness there are so many options available to us.

Best wishes

[Spanielmadlady in reply to Prunes]

Azathioprine made me very poorly I had to wait 3 months for my liver to recover before I could try mmf which thankfully I've been able to tolerate.i hope azathioprine continues to work for you.Keep smiling xxx

[Allydee]

I started azathioprine 7 weeks ago... I had to go for blood tests every two weeks x 3 then it’s dropped to monthly. I was reluctant to go on then but so far they’ve made a huge difference (been in a flare up since February).

[SashaT64 in reply to Allydee]

I’ve put it off for a year. But have have a bad flare since Xmas. I also have low neutrophils and platelets and my haematologist was not keen on the other options, so I hope it works. The constant bloods worry me tho , seems like life will now have to revolve around them 😞

[Allydee in reply to SashaT64]

I think it remains monthly after rheumy are assured the first 6 weeks arnt causing other issues??? It’s been worth it for me and hope it does for you too

[Wendy39]

Hello

I’ve just started methotrexate and was already on MMF.

My bloods are at 2, 4 & 6 weeks. If all goes well, I’ve been told I can then go to 6 weekly, but I think some go monthly at this point.

Once I’d settled on MMF I could go to 3 monthly, but this doesn’t happen with methotrexate.

So not very helpful. The DMARDs seem to each have their own pattern.

Can you telephone your Rheumatology Nurse helpline or your GP surgery to get clarification ? They should both know.

GPs do blood monitoring for so many patients taking DMARDs for rheumatological diseases, RA, psoriasis etc.

I hope it suits you and you get some benefit from it.

Wendy