Actually I think I was just typing it in wrong. Looks to be a few topics.

When I was first diagnosed, I was on Sulfasalazine. It worked for about two years. It's important to drink a lot of water when you're taking Sulfasalazine.

I was put on Sulfasalazine for the same reason as the OP. Mthx was driving my liver enzymes up too high! I took it in combo with Kineret. I didn't have any flares, but I did not have quite as much energy as when on mthx.

About 8 months after I started Suflasalazine, I started having an allergic reaction, in the late morning. I would take a Benedryl, but I couldn't figure out what was causing it. I wasn't on any new meds, and it was hours after I had eaten. Plus, I was working on school, on my computer, so no new factors.

My whole body would turn beat red from top to bottom and itchy!! This went on for a couple of months. One day I realized I was taking Benedryl daily, and I stopped taking it. We were driving home after a vacation, and I remember I had such a bad allergic reaction, my husband had to stop the car, so I could get some Benedryl and water. Lucky I didn't need an epi pen because it would have been too late.

It took months, before one day it hit me. Sulfasalazine is enteric coated. It digests in the intestines, not the stomach, and it takes 2 to 3 hours before it starts releasing into the body - about the same amount of time after I took my morning dose of Suflasalazine.

I phone my rheumatologist and he told me to go off of it immediately, and made an appointment for me to see him the following week. Before I got in to see him, I went into full flare. Kineret did not work at all unless it was in combo with a DMARD for me.

I woke up, and I could not lift the blankets off my body to get out of bed, let alone get out of bed. I called my husband, and he gave me a Diclofenac he had around. I felt much better in a short time. We drove to town to pick up some meds. Within half an hour, I was back in a severe allergic reaction. I was in the pharmacy when it happened, and they went wild! Stuffed me full of Benedryl and got out the epi pens.

So I took some prednisone and about 2 days, later, I took a baby aspirin. Half an hour later - allergic reaction, although not as severe.
I concluded I was allergic to all aspirin based medications, and my doctor agreed.

Except I wasn't! When my meds failed last year, I took some NSAIDS that were aspirin based. I took them with Benedry. but no reaction. I finally dropped the Bendryl, and no reaction. I tried aspirin, Ibuprofen etc, and no reaction.

Then I tried 3 Suflasalazine pills. I had such a reaction and hives all over my body. It was excruciating!

So a long story to tell you to be aware it is enteric coated, so if you start having allergic reactions, 2-3 hours later, it is the Sulfasalazine. I did not have any allergies to NSAIDS or aspirin before I started it. I think my system just got totally overwhelmed by being forced to take Suflasalazine for so long, that it became sensitive to all aspirin products. I had used Naproxen, Celebrex and Vioxx prior to getting on a biologic and I never had a problem. I use Ketorolac now, and no problems.

But probably most people do not become allergic to it! And just for your info, if your rheumatologist doesn't tell you,, Suflasalazine is made up of 4 aspirin derivatives and a Sufla drug. It apparently was the first designer drug ever put on the market.