u/Soft-Arachnid-4969

😅😅😅🥲🥲🥲

Has anyone experienced lower back and leg pain on Imuran?

I used to take it and recently restarted it after being off it for 6 months trying and failing a couple of biologics (major allergic reaction - twice - to humira, remicade didn’t do anything for me at all). I am restarting at a low dose and I’ve been pushing through the initial stomach upset and headaches but I am suddenly experiencing a lot of back pain and leg pain.

I don’t want to stop taking it because I actually do feel like it’s helping. I’ve been having crazy skin issues on my back for months and they’ve almost completely resolved. Also my doctor has no idea what else to prescribe for me after the humira reaction besides prednisone (I also take colchicine), so I feel like if this doesn’t work out he’s giving up on me.

That said, the back and leg pain is pretty bad, especially in my lower back basically in the back of my pelvis. It was so bad that I couldn’t sleep last night. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I can do to minimize it? I don’t remember it being this bad the last time I was on this medication even at 5x the dose I’m taking right now.

I’m in Japan and the language barrier, lack of patient portal, and complicated hospital system make it really hard to contact my doctor between appointments unfortunately. Obviously if it seems like something urgent or gets any worse I’ll figure something out. (If anyone has a good English speaking doctor recommendation in Tokyo please share.)

I know there are some folks in this sub who live in Japan; can anyone recommend an English-speaking rheumatologist in Tokyo? I’m unhappy with the doctor I’ve been seeing (who at this point has basically given up on me, he said there’s nothing else he can do for me after an allergic reaction to Humira) but the language barrier is obviously a problem when looking for another doctor. Appreciate any suggestions 🙏