7 yesterday, called the doc. Had a blood test this am. The nurse called and said that the normal range for whatever they were looking at was 1.5-7.2. Before chemo mine was 6.9 now I am at 0.4 They put me on Levaquin. My question, because their office is closed... what are they measuring?... I was feeling pretty yucky & neglected to ask.
Sometimes I really believe that when we treat with Filgrastim (marketed by Amgen as Neupogen) we are actually treating for ourselves more than for the patient. What I really believe is a more important issue in terms of treating infectious complications in cirrhotics is using prophylactic antibiotics. What we do in our practice for anyone that has cirrhosis and portal hypertension. That individual is on what is equivalent SBC prophylaxis….
Thrombopenia...
Are you saying your mother in law has Leukemia? Filgastin or Neupogen is used for that. I don't know of other uses for it. She can't get it in the Philippines? If you can get a prescription from her doctor perhaps you can get it from a pharmacy here. Have a talk with a pharmacist here at one of the stores like Rite Aid, CVS any of those and see if they allow that.
Hi there. You need to be investigated for multiple sclerosis since you have multiple neurological symptoms suggestive of MS. MS is a chronic demyelinating disorder where the disease phase is characterized by active phase and remissions. It has multiple symptoms and signs and is a diagnosis of exclusion. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis are loss of balance, muscle spasms, numbness in any area, problems with walking and coordination, tremors in one or more arms and legs.
My husband is 53 years old and in excellent health -- doesn't drink, exercises regularly. He has a bicuspid aortic valve that is being managed with Lisinopril, and he had a prostate biopsy last year that came back negative, and since then, his PSA is within normal range. Last month he had a routine physical and his wbc came back at 1.9 with neutrophil ABS at 0.4. He has received no treatment thus far, the doctor has adopted a "wait and see" attitude and ordered weekly cbc's.
You can ask your hematologist for G-CSF injection if you have persistent neutropenia. Patients with CML are immunocompromised and can easily acquire infections. Neutropenia also puts a patient in an immunocompromised state.
For now, it is very important to prevent acquiring any infection. You should avoid crowded places and persons with ongoing infection.
Good luck.
Right now, the low neutrophils can be remedied with filgrastim (Neupogen, Neulasta), but nothing is prescribed for low platelets (whites involved in clotting) except for reducing the interferon. There is a drug (eltrombopag) that stimulates platelet formation but the FDA has not approved it to go with the HCV treament drugs, so insurance may not cover it.
It is always better to use the rescue drugs instead of reducing the peginterferon or riba, especially if you have not cleared yet.
Thank you so much for your advice. My feeling has been that I should follow the recommendations of my oncologist, but my husband and daughters have been urging me to get a second opinion. I really didn't want to see another doctor. I feel much better about doing the chemotherapy now.
That is something you need to discuss with your doctor and your dental surgeon.
After a quick read on Neutropenia I would say having a tooth pulled carries more risk for you than for me, but I don't know if anti-biotics would remove that risk or not.
Last Monday I stopped by the lab and left town. I called in on Thur. and was asked to come in for another blood draw as soon as I get back...didn't know that there was any problem. Usually have results faxed to me. So this news was a surprise to me tonight.
My concern is that I started having sinus and throat issues last Thur., ears are a bit achy tonight. I am still out of town. How concern should I be about infection? See Urgent care clinic? Start antibiotics?
The first group--22 patients who received granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF, or filgrastim) 300 mcg s/c weekly for correction of neutropenia and the second group--19 patients treated either with Interferon dose reduction or temporarily inhibit of Interferon treatment. In all 22 patients of the first group neutropenia was normalized without reduction and/or inhibit of Pegylated interferon.
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