Low WBC and Absolute Neutrophil

[myboy12]

My son is currently on 6mp and receives Remicade infusions every 8 weeks. Blood was drawn prior to his last infusion this past Friday and, while his Crohn's symptoms and blood work indicates his Crohn's is well controlled, his WBC was 4.0 and his Abs Neutrophil count was 1.7.

We are retesting this week, but concerned about his immune system being overly suppressed especially now that we are entering cold and flu season. An adjustment may need to be made in his 6mp dosage.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

 

[ChicagoMom]

Yes, we just went through this in September. L was on 50mg of 6-mp a day and in late August her bloodwork showed that her WBC was 2 and her Neutrophil count was 1! Her platelets also dropped really low too. At the lowest they were at 78, and the normal range is over 140. She was in bone marrow suppression. As a result (in my opinion anyway) she got CDiff and we had to then deal with that too. The doctor (we actually saw your son's doctor instead of our own for that visit) took L off of the 6-mp right away to give everything a chance to bounce back, and also sent us to a hematologist. She had to do sooo much labwork for like 3 weeks so they could check things really closely. Like almost every day!

Her numbers are SLOWLY coming back up, but after this there was no way I was putting her back on the 6-mp and our doctor agreed with us. So, now we are doing Remicade, Pentasa, and she's still on Prednisone. We hope to wean off the Prednisone again soon, and then she'll start on Methotrexate with the Remicade, and discontinue the Pentasa also.

I was totally freaked out by this but the hematologist wasn't, so that was reassuring. I was spitting nails for a few days there though. Good luck! I hope you can get it all figured out! PM me if you want more info!

 

[alex_chris]

4.0 (that is 4,000 white blood cells per micro litre) is the lower boundary for the normal range. That is actually were you want to be with 6mp, you should be somewhere between 3.5 and 4.5 on the WBC count in an ideal situation. Of course, what you don't want is rapidly falling WBC that is if the next blood test would show 3.5, then one may think about adjusting the dosage of 6mp.

My WBC has been around 4.0-4.5 for years. Back a few years ago it was 3.5-4.0 for at least 2 years in a row. For some strange reason, I have still never caught the flu or any other serious infection ever since I started taking aza (6mp form) in 2003. I might just be lucky, but it is a strange thing seeing others around me constantly getting a cold or being out sick, while I don't even get a sore throat...

 

[my little penguin]

^^^yeah that
DS wbc has always been around 4 as well.
No extra cold etc if anything he gets less illness than his sibling.
He is only in elementary school .

 

[Farmwife]

My dd was even lower for the WBC count but has gone up with Remicade.
It did seem that she caught everything out there but since Humira now Remicade she is very healthy.

 

[myboy12]

Bloodwork a week later has WBC up to 6.9 and Abs Neutrophil up to 3.7. Hurray!

Thanks everyone!