Eczema and ulcerative colitis medication

LP12

I have had eczema all my life, and was recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. They are both autoimmune diseases and so are often treated with similar medications. When I was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis I was put on deltacortril (cortisteroids) and both my ulcerative colitis and eczema went away. Now I am on imuran which is also an immunosuppressive and is used for both ulcerative colitis and eczema. Since being off steroids and on imuran my eczema has returned but my u.c symptoms are gone. I am wondering if anyone can tell me why this is?

Vorsprung

This is just about ok as long as the discussion centres around the effect of imuran on eczema.

Links to scientific papers are encouraged but delve into personal medical histories and discussion of management without an evidence base and we'll have to close it.

LP12

Vorsprung wrote: »

This is just about ok as long as the discussion centres around the effect of imuran on eczema.

Links are scientific papers are encouraged but delve into personal medical histories and discussion of management without an evidence base and we'll have to close it.

Ok thanks

candlegrease

Eczema isn't autoimmune. Some forms are allergic

Kurtosis

LP12 wrote: »

I have had eczema all my life, and was recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. They are both autoimmune diseases and so are often treated with similar medications. When I was first diagnosed with ulcerative colitis I was put on deltacortril (cortisteroids) and both my ulcerative colitis and eczema went away. Now I am on imuran which is also an immunosuppressive and is used for both ulcerative colitis and eczema. Since being off steroids and on imuran my eczema has returned but my u.c symptoms are gone. I am wondering if anyone can tell me why this is?

Hi LP,

I am not sure there is a clear answer to your question. I have done a quick search of Pubmed to see if there are any scientific papers on systemic corticosteroids vs Imuran (azathioprine) for eczema. However as topical (i.e. applied to the skin) steroids are considered first-line treatment for eczema, research has focused more on these and I could not find any studies comparing oral treatments. The best I could find was a systematic review on systemic/oral treatments, but all it states is there is evidence of efficacy of azathioprine and there was a lack of evidence on oral steroids in the studies they reviewed.

While oral steroids can be effective the main drawback is their side effects and hence they are normally only used short term for severe exacerbations. As I said, I know this doesn't really answer your question, but from the evidence it seems oral steroids have a rapid effect on eczema but cannot be used long term, while azathioprine has a slower effect and may not be as effective overall against eczema. Hope this helps.

LP12

penguin88 wrote: »

Hi LP,

I am not sure there is a clear answer to your question. I have done a quick search of Pubmed to see if there are any scientific papers on systemic corticosteroids vs Imuran (azathioprine) for eczema. However as topical (i.e. applied to the skin) steroids are considered first-line treatment for eczema, research has focused more on these and I could not find any studies comparing oral treatments. The best I could find was a systematic review on systemic/oral treatments, but all it states is there is evidence of efficacy of azathioprine and there was a lack of evidence on oral steroids in the studies they reviewed.

While oral steroids can be effective the main drawback is their side effects and hence they are normally only used short term for severe exacerbations. As I said, I know this doesn't really answer your question, but from the evidence it seems oral steroids have a rapid effect on eczema but cannot be used long term, while azathioprine has a slower effect and may not be as effective overall against eczema. Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot for your help, this has definitely helped me understand the problem and the different effects of the medication options. I definitely think this will help me tackling the problem in the future.