Neupogen injection
Common Questions and Answers about Neupogen injection
neupogen
This is called a subcutaneous injection. The best injection sites are the abdomen and the front or side of the thighs. Change the injection site each time you inject to avoid soreness at any one site. For best results, you should inject Neupogen at about the same time each
day.
How to inject
Always follow the instructions of your doctor, pharmacist or nurse - they may be different from those below.
I had itching & rashes which last for not more than 30 min and comes only once in a day, after 3-4 days of stopping neupogen. It's very mild and goes away quickly. Should I consult to doctor or it will goes away by time. Need your suggestions.
Congratulations on being UND since week 4...that is a huge success! As far as your white blood cell count, is the injection that your doctor is giving you Neupogen? When the white count goes low to a certain point, the options are to reduce the treatment meds (which you don't want to have to do) or add an injection (Neupogen). If Neupogen is what your doc is giving you, then you are on the right track.
I take my chemo treatment on Friday morning and do not get the Neulasta injection until Mon. morning. Is there a problem by waiting this long for the injection?
The recommended starting dose of Neupogen is 5 mcg/kg/day‚ administered as a single daily injection by SC bolus injection, by short IV infusion (15 to 30 minutes)‚ or by continuous SC or continuous IV infusion. A CBC and platelet count should be obtained before instituting Neupogen therapy‚ and monitored twice weekly during therapy. Doses may be increased in increments of 5 mcg/kg for each chemotherapy cycle‚ according to the duration and severity of the ANC nadir.
Did you get an injection of Neupogen? If so, that's not at all uncommon for people on TX to have to take that to keep their WBCs up.
I was on Neupogen from the 4th week of peg injection(48 wks) and I was instructed to do the Neupogen on Wednesday and Friday night was the Interferon. My 24 hour hotline nurse told me 48 hours to avoid interaction and the boost for WBCs 2 days before. It takes 24 hours to raise the WBCs and they peak at the 4-5 day which is the when the interferon lowers them. hope this helps. :)
Many blessings,
proud48.
As cm1958 mentioned your doctor could give you more neupogen or possibly you could split your dose into two injections during the week depending on how high your high point of ANC is after your injection. If you high is very high and low is very low splitting the injection might give you a more consistent level throughout the week.
How long have you been on treatment by the way and what genotype are you?
I had awful bone pain when I was on Neupogen. I've always contended for me, the side effects from Neupogen were as bad if not worse than those from antiviral therapy. It stimulates the colonies of white stem cells within the bone marrow causing the level of neutrophils in the blood to rise. It is common to have aching bones and joints for 2-3 days duration starting 1-2 days after the start of the injections.
Neulasta is a peglated version of Neupogen which is also know as filgrastim. It's used to stimulate production of neutrophils, a component of whilte blood cells. It can be taken less often than regular 'ol Neupogen. I found it rougher than Neupgen in that it had some side effects, mainly bone pain. I found Neupogen to be side-less.
Aranesp is Darbepoetin Alfa which is like Procrit (epo). It is also taken less often than Procrit.
"I know my spleen is enlarged but I figure it's working overtime trying to get my blood counts back to normal levels."
That is NOT TRUE. The spleen does NOT get enlarged for that reason. If your spleen was NOT enlarged before you started treatment, the fact that it is enlarged now would be worrisone. I'm not sure using Neupogen on somebody who has an enlarged spleen is safe since Neupogen can cause the spleen to rupture.
So the doc finally agreed to a neupogen shot, after many delayed shots of pegasys. I was supposed to do a shot tuesday, however got bloodwork done today and anc is 620, Doc says to take neupogen tonight (I did, the neupogen is 300mcg, im ~130lbs) and get more bloodwork done on thursday, and then he'll call friday with whether or not to take the shot or not. So here I am, waiting, again. Arggg!
After my first injection and at my first appt after that injection, my PA said my labs were really crazy and gave me an injection of Neupogen and a prescription for it. I have only 9 shots left and have been taking the Neupogen 3 times a week for the entire tx. They almost took me to 4 times a week. Even with 3 weekly injections of Neopogen my WBC and ANC's are still low. I guess without the Neupogen they would be non-existent.
Week 11 I had to lower my dosage of pegasys and then stop treament when my Neutrophils went to 650 and total WBC 1200 I was taking a Neupogen injection every week since week 5 once a week (300mcgs) and was responding at first but WBC was not staying up the entire week. Doc fears I may need 2 shots a week and does not want to do that yet as he does not know what the long term effects could be if I need it for the next 40 weeks.
My experience with Neupogen was 1 injection per week initally, then 2 and several times I was reduced to half dosage or skipped several weeks because my WBC was high. It's a balancing act and usually those on Neupogen require more blood draws than those who are not taking it.
I thought it was some nasty stuff. Caused bone pain and fevers but it kept me from being dose reduced or taken off treatment.
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