does this Imuran dose sound too high?

Hi Gang. I am teetering on the edge of flaring, am using steroid enemas currently in the hopes of staying off pred (just got off it about 30 days ago). My GI and I both agreed that increasing the Imuran is an obvious starting place, as I am currently on 100mg. But.... we disagreed on how much to increase. I was advocating 125 but he doesn't think 25mg increment does much, so he bumped me up to 150mg. I am not a doctor, and I think my GI is an excellent doctor, so I don't want to question him... but.... I weigh about 135 - 140, so 150mg sounds really high to me. I know that the dose is only loosely weight related, and I know I am sort of obsessed with this question of dosing to your weight on Imuran, but does this sound really high to any of you who are on Imuran? I have noticed that most of you - according to your signatures - are on lower doses..... I am not scared of the bump in terms of hair loss/immunity issues etc, as I have read that for whatever crazy reason,side effects are not dose dependent on Imuran. Sounds very counterintuitive, but my fiance, who does a PhD at the med school at Duke, also has understood that to be the case with Imuran, and my GI says the same thing.... and I know we will monitor it with blood test (he is very into the blood test, thankfully).... anyway, I am rambling now so will stop. the point is, does 150mg sound crazy to anyone besides me????? thanks.

I tried 150mg for a couple of months and then my bloodwork showed the dosage was too high. I am now on 100mg. I weigh b/w 105-109 (depending on the day of the week!).

I am currently 118 lbs and have been on 150 mg of Imuran for approx 3 months. Weight is definitely a factor, but most importantly how you metabolize it. It wouldnt hurt to attempt the increase if it will benefit you. You will never know what will work unless you try. You can always come back down if your blood work shows it is too high for your system to metabolize.

The doctor can order a Prometheus (that's the lab) test to figure out your optimal dose.  Ask about it if you are concerned. 

I am in the 120's and I am on 150 mg too. I started at 75 mg, but Promethius tests always bump me up.

Dang that test is expensive!!!! I just got my portion of the bill..close to 175$. Uggh.

Hey, when you say it made a big difference going up 25mg, what is your definition of a big difference.....i am on 200mg/day right now, and am borderline starting to get a flare, the 200mg/day worked great for me for a whole year (i didnt even know i had CD anymore) but my blood counts were always borderline normal-high for my WBC. I have been thinking of having it boosted from 200-->250, but if it made a big difference for u i might seriously consider it....my doctor never actually tried to see how much i could tolerate, he started me at 200mg/day, my liver/kidney scores didnt even move from pre-imuran to post-imuran, so i think i could handle a little more....

 

 

P.S. noticed your profile says u are an E.E. i am in my last year of E.E., cant wait to get that piece of paper.

UCinGV said...
Going from 75 mg to 100 mg made a big difference for me.

I am 172 (78 kg)
now imuran 175