Overview

Tacrolimus is a medicine that’s used to treat some liver and bowel conditions, including:

• autoimmune hepatitis
• Crohn’s disease
• ulcerative colitis

It’s an unlicensed medicine for these conditions.

Tacrolimus is a type of medicine called an immunosuppressant.

Immunosuppressants help to calm or control your body's immune system. Your immune system fights infections, but sometimes it mistakenly attacks your body’s healthy cells. This causes long-term inflammation.

Taking an immunosuppressant like tacrolimus can help reduce inflammation in your liver and bowels.

At our hospitals, we prescribe tacrolimus as capsules that you swallow, suppositories that you push into your bottom (anus) or a topical ointment that you can apply to your skin.

Before taking tacrolimus

You’ll have blood tests to make sure you can take tacrolimus safely. These blood tests might check things like:

• your blood count
• your blood sugar levels
• your liver and kidneys
• if you have any viruses, like hepatitis B and C, HIV, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or the virus that causes chickenpox (varicella)

We might also check your blood pressure and heart rate.

Taking tacrolimus with other medicines and herbal remedies

Other medicines and herbal remedies can affect how tacrolimus works in your body.

This includes:

• antibiotics
• anti-epileptic medicines, like phenytoin and carbamazepine
• antifungal medicines, like fluconazole
• herbal remedies, like St John’s wort
• non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, like ibuprofen_­

Tests during treatment

You’ll have regular blood tests and check-ups during your tacrolimus treatment to make sure it’s working for you. Your doctor will tell you how often you need to do these tests.

We might ask you to change the time you usually take tacrolimus on the day of your blood test. This helps make sure your test results are accurate.

We might increase or decrease your dose depending on your test results.