I've been taking plaquenil (200 mg twice a day) and sulfasalazine (500 mg twice a day) for about 6 months. My dr recently increased my dosage of sulfasalize to 1500mg and for the first time in almost 2 years, I feel fantastic. She (my Dr) called me today and told me my white blood cell count is 2.0 and I need to go back to taking 1000mg of sulfasalazine. Other than decreasing the dosage, does anyone have any suggestions regarding the low WBC count?
Q: Sulfasalazine and low white blood cell count
Answers (1)
12/18/09 10:55am
Unfortunately, no. I would definitely recommend that you speak to your rheumatologist about this - it's one of those questions that is best answered by medical expert. You may also want to talk to you rheumatologist about how well you felt on the increased dose - after all, the goal of treating your RA is to get you back to feeling fantastic and if you have to reduce your dose due to your white blood cell count, you may want to explore treatment options like e.g., supplementing the sulfazalazine with one of the other DMARDs like methotrexate or Paquinil.
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By MelleBelle— Last Modified: 02/11/12, First Published: 12/07/09
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i have been on methatrextate for just under a year and my dr suddenly took me off it ,,because of low blood count ,,ive been off it for 5 mths now ,,and my dr wants to put me on sulphasalazine,,but my low blood count is still low ,,so my dr wont let me take the meds ,,but in the mean time im still suffering badly with my RA.. i have tried to control the pain of my RA, but pain killers just don,t work any more,any suggestions would be very grateful ,,i am a 62 year old female