OH - you crack me up! I do like the vision of baby neutrophils! Go for it, you artist!
"Maybe I should start a portrait:
Mama Neutro and her babies Eos and Basos "
Flycclist -- Oh my gosh -- you were getting 2 CBCs a week? Your poor arms. My veins are just awful. I try to alternate arms but some of the techs can only hit one vein in one arm.
Just got the call this morning that my doctor wants to put me on Neupogen for 4 weeks because my white blood cells are so low. I'm so disappointed, I really wanted to be done shooting into myself!! Anyone else out there on this drug? I don't know a thing about it.
HI ALL,HOPING U CAN HELP ME OUT WITH WHERE TO FIND/BUY MEDS LIKE NEUPOGEN FOR LOW WBC,IV HAD LOTS OF TROUBLE WITH LOW WBC AND MY DOC SAID AUSTRALIA HAS NOT APPROVED IT.
IM AN AUSSIE AND HOPING SOME1 KNOWS OF WHERE TO GET THIS STUFF,OR ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP.IV HAD MY DOSE LOWERED AND IT SHATTERS ME COS MY CHANCES WOULD BE MUCH HIGHER WITH FULL DOSE OF INTERFERON.
I DONT CARE WHAT IT COSTS I JUST WANT TO BRING MY WBC UP COS IV HAD SO MANY INFECTIONS AND FLUES ETC.
You can look back and find lots of discussion (and I use that term lightly) on when to start neupogen. The problem is that most doctors rxing neupogen are associated with the oncology departments in hospitals. With cancer you cannot let that ANC drop below 1.0 (1000) -- can't remember exact numbers -- because of risk of infection. However, under hep C treatment you can actually sustain a much lower ANC without risk of infection. I believe 500 is a borderline ANC for starting neupogen.
Yes, you inject in the same manner as INF. I used to save my thighs for INF and use my belly for the Neupogen and Procrit. It is the procrit that you want to let come to room temperature as it burns going in. The neupogen does not. I had no visable side effects from the neupogen although after I completed treatment and was still doing the Neup for a few weeks to bring up the whites, I noticed the side effects (bone aches).
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.
Anyone get any help with bone pain and seems like a migraine after neupogen ? I am on my second shot and it's 4:30 am and I have been up all nite with a horriable headache and severe nausea. Will call docs today and ask for something.
A serious lung problem called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been reported with NEUPOGEN® use. Call your doctor or seek emergency care right away if you have shortness of breath, trouble breathing, or a fast rate of breathing.
If you have a sickle cell disorder, make sure that you tell your doctor before you start taking NEUPOGEN®. If you have a sickle cell crisis after getting NEUPOGEN®, tell your doctor right away.
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.
have been receiving aranesp and neupogen for the last 8 weeks to help with my anemia while going through treatment. My wbc, rbc, hemoglobin and ANC held steady for the first few weeks, then started increasing and now as of last week took a decline. My wbc's went from 3.4 to 2.3, rbc's went from 2.9 to 2.7, hemo went from 10 to 9.33 and ANC went from 1770 to 930 all in one week. Is that normal and why would that happen when they were on the incline?
There is no concrete data that taking Neup will have an effect of lowering platlets.,however there is significant data that the use of Neup is for the most part unnecessary for patients receiving HCV therapy.(you may be interested in the discussion here I linked below.
Having said that many doctors will prescribe it if the ANC(neutrophils drop down to approx. .5 . even given the data that says HCV therap patients having problems with bacterial infection is extremely rare.
The most common are injectable meds Neupogen and Neulasta. Neulasta is the pegylated version of Neupogen. Referred to as colony stimulating factors they are both effective in raising the absolute neutrophil count, which is the usually the focus component of the white cell count. Generally speaking, these meds will temporarily raise the counts and then the treament meds effects will usually repeat. So, the use of Neup and Neu will probably not be one-time events.
Bill, many experienced hepatologists use the ANC threadhold of 0.5 before administering neupogen. You might have other issues going on which led to your doctors decision to begin earlier at 0.7. Some doctors use 1.0 for the threshold for fear of risk of infection, but there are many published references to dispute this risk for HCV patients. For cancer patients? yes.
My ANC was often 0.3 or below and I was taking two neupogen shots per week.
My husband was on daily Infergen injections with increased dose of Riba in fall of 2010. It was a very, very tough treatment. He had the two log drop initially, but didn't get to a low enough VL to continue at 12 weeks. I think his VL was something like 1000 when he had to stop. Infergen is a different variety of Interferon, but it didn't clear the virus for him. The side effects were much worse than SOC and triple therapy (so far), because of the daily injections.
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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