Anemia from interferon

[traveler65]

I know that most of the time anemia is caused by the riba and it can be corrected with either procrit or lowering rhe riba or both.
In my case the procrit (started at hgb 9) seemed to hold me up for a few weeks, but after 8 weeks of it my hgb was down to 7.4 and I ended up stopping the riba and getting a transfusion.
I have just read a couple of articles that the inf can also cause a different kind of anemia. Has anyone experienced this or heard of it?
I am due for shot #16 on Monday and was OK with it as I thought the anemia was only from the riba. Now I don't know.

[ladybug52]

Good Luck. Glad to see the transfusion worked. You have come this far with Hgb so low,you deserve a medal. I bet you're gonna hate popping the riba again. Any sides from procrit? I'm glad you explained the pegasys effect on the bone marrow and anemia. Congrats for rmaking it to week 16, magic number to achieve (at least, I guess) with your stats, right?
Bug

[GrandOak]

Sorry, that was thread by Compto, not illo, where I testified to my experience with riba reduction during tx.

[GrandOak]

Watch that Procrit w/o riba does not elevate the Hgb to far as it can result in cardio-vascular issues. There was a FDA warning to this effect a short while ago that had a lot of folks asking questions and concerned about usage of Epogen (Procrit).  I appeared to me to have been a standard warning most medical professionals already knew which makes me think the warning as more of a flag to those with normal CBC's who use it for althletic doping, like cyclists, for increased endurance.

You can see my post above to illo on my experience with Riba reduction during my tx, but I had mine cut withing the first few weeks of  tx.

[traveler65]

going for cbc this morning. They have not done a cbc since before the transfusion. So I really won't know until mid week when I do another cbc if stopping the riba helped. I sure feel a lot better though. My main concern is doing shot 16 tonite as I am on pegasys. Will talk with doc today to see what he says. May do shot no matter what. It looks like the inf supresses bone marrow that makes red blood cells and the riba kills off the ones you have.
So hopefully being off the riba will help. If the doc says that I should not re-start the riba than I guess I am done. The other worry is if I do not SVR then how do I treat again?
Thanks for the info.

[nygirl7]

Wow Traveler that is dreadful those numbers.  We had a member Mr. Beagle Bailey (my GOD I miss him what a wonderful wonderful man) who had Thalessemia (can't spell that one) and he started very low like you.  He had such a horrible time the whole time but finally they did give him transfusions and they did help for a while too.

I must have missed it but did you have a pre-existing condition that contributed to the extremely low starting hemo number?

[traveler65]

Heard from doc hct up to 31.3 and hgb at 10.5. Best since week 3. Doc says go back on riba 800mg / day and take shot 16 to-nite as scheduled. Will get 60000 procrit on Wednesday and check blood next Monday. So I ended up missing 7 days of riba (15th week) hope that it does not effect my chances. It sounds like if blood drops real low again they will pull me off. At least I will have made it past the 16th week.

[sunspot]

Here is a short Google on the anemia that tx brings us.

Hemolytic anemia
Hemolytic anemia is a condition where there are not enough red blood cells in the blood. It is caused by premature destruction of red blood cells

Hemolytic anemia occurs when the bone marrow is unable to make up for premature destruction of red blood cells by increasing their production. When the marrow is able to make up the loss, anemia does not occur

[ladybug52]

Has stopping the riba helped with the anemia? i know you posted that the transfusion was an immediate help, how long w/o riba? Are you on the pegasys or the peg-intron? B-in-charge has a help line, pegasys has a patien assist too I think. Call and ask a nurse. I googled it but only found out that interferon can come with a side of anemia. Doesn't say it's a diferent kind other that destruction of red blood cells due to the medicine.
Take care,
Bug

[illo]

I just mentioned to my PA about anemia, and she explained there were 3 different ways one can get it.  I can't remember a word of it except that.  I had asked her if she thought B-12 shots would help prevent that, and her answer was -it's a different kind.  Take them anyway if wanted, but they probably wouldn't do much to prevent drug induced anemmia.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help.  

[FlGuy]

Here is one article:
http://www.clevelandclinic.org/health/health-info/docs/0000/0012.asp?index=3929

If you google 'types of anemia', you'll get a lot of hits and more articles.