Dear doctor,
My mother is receiving chemotherapy for colon cancer, her doctor prescribed neupogen after each cycle because she had low WBC counts. She gets 3 shots in the 3 days after treatment and her counts reach about 12.000 .but after two weeks when its time for the next cycle the counts fall again and they say that they have to delay it for another week.
1) what would be the solution for this problem ? could another 2 shots of neupogen in the 2nd week help?
The safety and efficacy of NEUPOGEN® given simultaneously with cytotoxic chemotherapy have not been established. Because of the potential sensitivity of rapidly dividing myeloid cells to cytotoxic chemotherapy‚ do not use NEUPOGEN® in the period 24 hours before through 24 hours after the administration of cytotoxic chemotherapy.
http://pi.amgen.com/united_states/neupogen/neupogen_pi_hcp_english.pdf
(see bottom of pg 13.
Therefore Neupogen is not a substitute for Paclitaxel. Neupogen may be given with chemotherapy to prevent the depletion of WBCs. In your case, chemotherapy is an essential part of treatment since it has been shown to decrease recurrence rates.
All the best!
low blood count started neupogen injections to build up white blood cell count so I can have chemotherapy, can I drink beer with this?
I am not on chemotherapy but I have to take Neupogen 2x/week at 480mcg a shot. The bone pain I have is horrible, the weirdest pain I have ever had before. My bone marrow gets so swollen that I can actually feel my heart beat in my femur, pelvis and ribs. That happens if I get up too fast, or bend over. On top of that I have the "bone aches and sharp zings" of pain for a day and a half after a shot. The first night I woke up shaking, because of the pain my body was experiencing.
The primary reason for using growth factors such as Neupogen or Neulasta is to be able to maintain the full dose and schedule of the chemotherapy regimen. Some chemotherapy protocols are much more likely to result in low white blood cell counts that cause dose reductions or delays than others. In these cases, and for older frailer patients, there may be an argument for prophylactic Neupogen/Neulasta.
s immunity) and/or bio-identical hormone supplementation (to help improve moods) be helpful while on a course of chemotherapy (incivek (teleprevir) or victrellis(vocepier), interferon, riboferon, and neupogen, procrit ) for a Stage 3 (advanced stage) Hep C patient?
Has any one tried these therapies?
My mom went this morning for the second chemo and they sent her home because her WBC was 2500. She has to have 3 shots of neupogen before she goes back again for another blood test and hopefully chemo.
My question is, after her first chemo she received 5 shots of neupogen within 72 hours of chemo, so why her WBC is still that low?
Is there any risk that she won't be able to continue chemo?
In that case what will be the alternatives?
P.S. Her WBC was always abnormally low for years.
My husband just went in for Blood work up for his up coming colonoscopy. We got a call withing 45 minutes to go directly to the hospital to the ER and get a Neupogen 300vg sq x 1. They told me his WBC was down to 1.5. A few weeks ago it was 2.2. What is causing this consistant falling of the WBC? No one can seem to figure it out. I am confused and seems no Dr. is too awful concerned about this. I have been told by his last Dr. that it may be related to bone marrow or maybe something else. Dah!
Congrats! It looks like you're well on your way to SVR. The rest just appears to be a formality, but you should be able to breath a sigh of relief now. It does take some time for the skin issues to calm down as your body continues to adjust. I was on neupogen for about 40 of the 48 week tx, and I'm not aware of any spleen issues resulting from its use. If you haven't already, you may also want to check your TSH levels to see how your thyroid endured the tx.
Once I was late for an neupogen injection because I forgot it when I went away and it was at .3 again just being a couple of days late.
I just wondered in general how the doctor handles getting these drugs approved. Many people have treated and kept taking procrit to stay at 10-11 hgb throughout treatment.
She is currently in the hospital for neutropenia from chemotherapy (Herceptin + Vinorelbine). Both her hbc and wbc counts are quite low.
Does neutropenia cause back pain?
She also experiences severe side effects from taking medications containing codine and morphine. Doctors prescribed hydromorph contin but she gets very nauseous after each dosage. Tylenol extra strength does not seem to have very much effect either.
frijole, thanks for the feedback. I've read various things and I have been getting hit with this and that thing lately. I can't afford to have it impact my work any more than it already is so I need to weight it all out.
Jim...possibly low because of the infection but it won't matter why they're low, just that they're low. However, if the levels go up as I shake off the infection, I'll hold off on the neupogen.
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