notsosickygirl

pauly, the same exact thing happened to me. I was just off prednisone and then my doctor called very concerned about my WBC. I am thankful I was able to get off steroids even though the counts dropped so low. I didn't have bloating but I was so tired and weak. I could barely walk up a few flights of stairs without getting badly winded. It can take quite a while for the counts to go back up to normal. Yours aren't as low as mine were but I remember going for hematology and they thought mine weren't going to rise and they wanted to give me an injection to raise them but I said I would prefer to wait. I waited and about a month later, I was back into the normal territory. It's kind of scary how "off" my bloodwork looked, I didn't have a single * in the normal column.

Try to be patient, you will feel better when your body starts producing WBCs correctly. I am a lot less tired now but I am concerned the WBC will drop again after being on 6mp for a few weeks. I am only on 25mg

Thanks for the positive thoughts pauly. I think you will do ok on Imuran once the dose is adjusted. 6mp is a more potent medication so I believe 50mg of 6mp is equivalent to 100mg or 150mg or imuran. I don't know how doctors choose whether to go with 6mp or imuran. It's interesting, I think i see more people on imuran. I was so worried I would flare up while I was off 6mp and honestly, my UC behaved pretty well considering. I was wondering if it was necessary to go back on 6mp but my GI said once my blood counts got into normal range, I would probably start having symptoms without taking 6mp. I pair 6mp with allopurinol to increase the effects. That's why my dose is so low. :) Best of luck to you. You should start seeing your WBC increase in the next couple weeks and you will notice your energy returning. When are you getting blood work again? I was getting it every week for a while. Mine was below 1 - it was dangerous.