Decreasing dosage?

[aliciars]

I've been taking 150 mg of Imuran for a year now. Have been doing really well on it. So I had the brilliant idea of lowering my dosage to 100mg. Now I feel horrible. Body aches out of this world for the past 24 hours. I'm 4 days into my lower dosage.

My question is this: will my body adjust to this lower level or should I just go back to my original dose? My bowels and CD seem to be fine. So I'm suspecting it's just a withdrawl issue.

Anyone else tried this? And no, I haven't talked to my doctor. None of the doctors in my area seem to have a clue. This forum has helped me get into remission better than any of the doctors I've seen.

I wanted to lower my dosage b/c of the horrible long term problems associtated with imuran and the recent scare of imuran shortage. I was hoping to create my own stockpile so to speak.

 

[heisenberg]

aza needs to be within a certain therapeutic range in order to be effective. The dosage to achieve this is usually decided according to your weight.

anything outside of this therapeutic dose is likely to be not much better than taking nothing at all.

No crohn's specialist would ever put someone on a low dosage of aza. you are either on it properly or they will say you don't have to take it at all. The standard treatment is to take it for 3-4 years, if you are in remission for all that time then they will say you can stop taking it and see what happens.

So I would go back to 150mg. You were given that dose for a reason and you should stick to it, especially as you are doing well on it.

 

[Bec215]

I have had good success with Imuran for the last 5 years. I was on 125mg, and due to a recent severe flare they bumped me to 150mg.

What the other poster said is true - it's not about the dosage per se... it's about how your body is metabolizing it. Originally I was on 100mg, but after 6 months, my body somehow compensated for it so when they did a blood test, my immune function was back to normal - making it appear I'd stopped taking the drug, even though I was taking it religously!

My doctor boosted the amount to 125mg, and that seemed to finally kick my body into submission, and I've been great for years. I had a severe flare recently and they bumped me to 150mg - we'll see how that goes longer term.

But you really need to find a Gastro you like, or at least get your general practitioner to run some blood tests... it's possible that on 100mg, you're on a "subclinical" dose - that is, your body doesn't even register it as having any effect at all.

And I also agree with the other poster - a year is not long enough... I know it sucks to take meds every day, but it's much harder to get well from a flare than to stay well when the meds are working.

Your profile doesn't say where you are, but if you are in the DC-MD-VA metro area, I can highly recommend my gastro, and have gastro docs in NC and Southern California who I implictly trust as well.

I also suggest you look online at doctor rating databases, as well as Yelp, and if you're in a larger city, usually the city magazine has an annual "top docs" issue you could take a cue from there.

There are so many factors that complicate these diseases, and so many new therapies emerging, now more than ever you should find someone you trust - even if you have to drive a distance to get to one. If you're in the areas I mentioned, feel free to contact me and I'll provide some names directly.

Good luck!