Azathioprine tapering

[jolittle93]

Hi, I've been on Azathioprine for nearly two years now after chemo infusions for my anti gbm vasculitus. My consultant is starting to reduce my doses monthly....I'm wondering if anyone has ever got completely off it and if they had any with-drawals or side effects etc. I'm excited at the prospect of not having to take it but also worried about it if that's makes sense! Thanks

[Debbie_50]

Good luck with tapering , I’m also on azithroprine nearly two years for susacs syndrome my consultant hasn’t mentioned tapering yet I’m still on 8 mgs of prednisone daily and I’m struggling to get down to 7 mgs

[Chris-Bromsgrove]

GBM vasculitis is not one I've come across but it sounds pretty similar to MPA which I have (kidney involvement). Not everyone can get off the maintenance imumonosuppresants such as Azathioprine and Mycophenolate (which I am on). They are on them for life. I don't think withdrawal causes any side effects with these drugs. The main reason for gradual withdrawal is to allow monitoring to check that no symptoms of your Vasculitis start to return. I reduced my Mycophenolate from 2000mg to 1000mg in stages without any noticable side effects. In my case that's as far as I'm likely to drop

[Grannybean]

I was diagnosed with GPA 4 years ago (so cyclophosphamide then azathioprine, which sounds like what you've been given). I'm still on 50mg but they tapered me down to this from 150mg over a couple of years, and I think they plan to taper me off completely once I'm off prednisolone. Each time I've reduced aza I have felt better. On 150mg I had quite a few bad days, the number reduced the first time they reduced the aza, now I have very few.

[jolittle93]

Thank you for your replies! Yes I was on 150mg now on 100 and tapering 75 next month and then to 50mg. Luckily I've been off the pred for a year now! Kidneys seem to be stable bouncing between 54-56% been been this way for nearly a year. I'm so sick of picking up every bug! Terrified of this Corona virus....x