6mp

We guys I've been on 6mp for almost 3 months now (50mg for the first 2 months and 75mg for the last few weeks).

I'm doing as bad as ever so it's so far not doing anything for me at all. My doc is probably going to recommend remicade on Thursday when I see him. At this I just want something something that works... I've even started accepting getting surgery done... I've been in a non stop flare since March and it's getting really really old.

My question is, I weigh 170lb right now... I should probably be on a higher dose of 6mp...should I try going to 100mg or just go straight for remicade?

The only other meds I'm taking now is 20mg of prednisone... Pred only seems to help just a little bit, even at the higher doses. Asacol and the enemas didn't seem to do anything at all, maybe even made me worse.

Thanks

UCHater, 6mp is prescribed in a range of 1.0mg to 1.5 mg of medication per Kilogram of body weight for uc. If you weight is 170lbs (77.1107 kilograms) and you are taking 75mgs of 6mp, then that puts you in the 1.0mg per kg range (you were even less before). Yes, you could likely take more 6mp to get you closer to the 1.5mg per kg range according to the uc literature. Although, that statement really needs to be qualified with how good your blood test currently looks like. If your platelets or white blood cell counts are close to the minimum or maximum thresholds then your GI may not want to up your 6mp to more.

I was in your boat, was on 50mgs of 6mp, then 75mgs of 6mp per day. Neither seemed to heal me all that much; only pred did; even though I could have been prescribed a larger dosage of 6mp (as could you). My GI put me on Remicade and that really has been a game changer for me. I am now tapering down the pred (at 10mgs currently) and I am feeling the best I have in a year, possibly two years. I'm not entirely out of the woods until I am entirely off of the pred. I've basically been pred-dependent for nearly a year and really need to get off pred before it reeks havoc on the rest of my body.

Which route to take, for me Remi was the choice that worked. I wasn't getting much, or any response from the 6mp, so remi made more sense in my scenario. Best of luck in your choice!

Gonk...sorry to hear about your blood work. I'm going to find out Thursday how my blood work looks as well, it was find the past two times at 50mg (though I guess it doesn't matter anyway since it's not working). Maybe your blood counts will bounce back? Good luck...hopefully it works our or Remicade does its job...

That good to hear iPoop...how long did it take remicade to start working for you? I may just go the remicade route since I don't know how much longer I can take this, I seem to have been going down hill the past few weeks, seems besides the frequency/urgency issues every BM is a struggle now. I'll see how it goes at the doctors on Thursday.

Thanks Gary, I do plan on talking to my doctor. That response can be used for every single post on this forum though.

UCHater, I started noticing positive improvements just after my 2nd infusion of remicade. The 3rd remi infusion has had the biggest positive improvements so far. I am now done with the first 3 remi loading dosages (done at weeks zero, two, and six). My 4th remi infusion, is at the end of this month and will be a full 8 weeks after the third dosage.

Before my first remi infusion I was on 15mgs of pred, and my GI said I had severe inflammation from zero cms to 70cms in a flex-scope. I was having 4-6 bms a day, strong urgency, a few assorted accidents during the day, and having to poop the moment I woke up (wake up and running to bathroom basically).

After infusion 3 of remi, I have been going 1-2 times a day, no urgency (I lay in bed for 1/2 an hour, get up and eat my breakfast, and then poop at my leisure before it is necessary to leave for work). I haven't had an accident since starting remi. I dropped to 10 mgs of pred. Afterwards, Thanksgiving week, I had a string of 1 poop a day, events. I've had a mix of a few 2 poop days since. Some 1's as well. Pretty big improvement over all. I have another flex-scope in a couple weeks just to check on my healing, and if things look good then I'll continue my pred taper!

That's great to hear gonk!

Hope it continues to work out well for you.

Notsosickly girl is referring to tests done by Prometheus Labs. They can tell a lot based on your bloodwork, whether you are in the therapeutic range for a 6mp. How much remicade is in your blood, and so forth. The downside is not all insurance covers it, and the Prometheus labwork is in the $400 range if you are paying out of pocket for it. Just something to check into before exploring that avenue.