sulphasalazine

julies
julies Member Posts: 68
edited 9. Mar 2009, 15:30 in Living with Arthritis archive
MY son has been on sulpha for about 6 weeks now and has been having cramp like pains in his legs and his hand.
I read on the leaflet that came with the medication that muscular pain can be a side effect.
Has anyone else had this problem and if so how how do you deal with it.
His consultant is not keen to take him off them just yet and we have been told to continue for another month and if they are still not having any effect he will arrange for him to go on anti tnf's.
Julie

Comments

  • suzster
    suzster Member Posts: 1,328
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    not sure if this is the same but when i started on sulpha i did get alot of cramps in my calf muscles. it has stopped now, so i'm not sure if it was connected to sulpha or not.
    sorry not much help really.
  • scattered
    scattered Member Posts: 326
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    It could just be the illness taking its toll. Have you tried giving him tonic water with quinine in it? It's very good for cramps - it might be that he is low on some vitamins and minerals. The quinine replaces them. Also, how's his potassium level? Low potassium can cause muscle cramps - easily solved with bananas!
  • julies
    julies Member Posts: 68
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    suzster wrote:
    not sure if this is the same but when i started on sulpha i did get alot of cramps in my calf muscles. it has stopped now, so i'm not sure if it was connected to sulpha or not.
    sorry not much help really.

    hi Suzster
    thanks for your reply.
    It was the calf muscle that Sam had the cramps in. In seems to have lessened in his leg but got worse in hands.opefully in time that will also get better.
    Julie
  • julies
    julies Member Posts: 68
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    scattered wrote:
    It could just be the illness taking its toll. Have you tried giving him tonic water with quinine in it? It's very good for cramps - it might be that he is low on some vitamins and minerals. The quinine replaces them. Also, how's his potassium level? Low potassium can cause muscle cramps - easily solved with bananas![/quote

    HI Scattered

    Thanks for your reply
    Where do you get quinine?
    Not sure how his potassium levels are, he gets bloods taken every 2 weeks but I don't even know what they test for
    :oops: I am a bad mother :)
    Maybe feed him up on bananas just in case.
    julie
  • scattered
    scattered Member Posts: 326
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi Julie,

    Quinine occurs natually in normal tonic water, not the diet version though, apparently. It can be very helpful.

    You're not a bad mother! Maybe you could get Sam interested in what they're testing for, as he will have to live with the disease. I feel much more in control of my disease when I know my blood results, what's being tested and why. If the GP hasn't flagged the potassium then it's probably within normal, but a few more bananas can't hurt! I struggle to keep my potassium levels up, they're usually just normal, so I eat lots of potassium containing foods.

    Scat.
  • woodbon
    woodbon Member Posts: 4,969
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hello
    If you were a bad mother you wouldn't be here :) Love Sue

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