I am almost 30 and have had ulcerative colitis for 17 years...when I was a teenager, I had a flare up every few weeks and-after countless courses of steroids-which left me riddled with side-effects and unable to live anything even close to a normal teenage life, my doctor put me on Azathioprine 14 years ago. I'm not saying it's been plain sailing, but I truly believe this drug got me through a very stressful undergrad degree at Oxford, a postgraduate degree and every day that I work in my dream job as a broadcast journalist.
Sadly, I have been on the drug so long, the honeymoon is all but over...I can't go out in the sunshine without breaking out in a fierce rash now, too much sunlight makes me so tired I could sleep for hours, I bruise black ad blue every time I sit down too hard and last year I had such severe shingles I still haven't properly recovered. For all that I now feel dizzy and sick most days, I know Azathioprine has given me a very good life these past 15 years. I'm probably going to have to stop taking it...bit would urge anyone deliberating over whether to start, to give it a go...of really is a wonder drug...temporarily at least! Good luck!