Sulfazine ED Side Effects--Breathing

Hello,

I take seven 500 mg tabs of Sulfazine EC daily for Ulcerative Colitis and have taken it almost constantly for the past 17 months. The dosaage has varied over this time due to whether or not my condition is flaring or is without sumptoms. I have been on either 7 or 8 tabs daily since the end of Dec. 2005. This is higher than the level at which I began this med in Jan 2005.

I have developed a problem with breathlessness over the past two to three weeks and am wondering if it has to do with the higher dose of this medicine. My oxygen saturation has been measuring in the very low 90's at rest and drops to 88 or 89 when I am simply walking around my house. I was montiored during sleep early last week and my sat was 91 some of the time. I saw my cardiologist last week and my heart function is fine.

I had interstitial pneumonitis in June 2003 which the docs decided was caused by long term use of methotrexate for severe arthritis. I was told that that drug is also used for ulcerative colitis. I know that Sulfazine is used for arthritis and am concerned that i I could be developing a lung problem similar to what I had in 2003.

What are the chances that these two medicines are so closely related that I could be reacting to the sulfazine in the same way I did the methotrexate?

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

J J Goss