Nupogen question....

[illo]

Can you tell me of your experiences with neupogen?  How long before the WBC came up and what else you might have done to get it up?  How you felt when the WBC was low.  Anything related.  Thanks.

[illo]

Orphanedhawk, thanks for the tea tip.  Glad to hear your liver is improving.  Boy this sure is a rollercoaster ride.  BTW, there were 3 baby robins outside my window, and today, another egg must have hatched.  They help me get thru the 'daze'.  My interpretation of that symbol is - new life, or if you wait long enough, something good will happen!   :)

GoofyDad, I used to do my own wheat grass all the time and got tired of all the juicing and powders, etc.  I think my liver was getting to the point of not being able to keep up with anything I was doing that was healthy, because the HCV was winning.  I'm giving all of that a hiatis now and will start again soon.  I think with the improved BW stats, it's worth trying again.  (BTW, I can tell I'm starting to write and spell a little wierd - sorry)

Tired with the low WBC, very tired.  Have a great day if you can!

[GoofyDad]

what else you might have done to get it up?
I'm not sure that's on the approved usage list for neupogen.

Neupogen works very fast - 12 hours or less I think. It's amazing the body can turn out cells so fast. I sometimnes felt really yucky when my WBCs were way-way down. Coincidence or not, I dunno. Wheat grass juice is rumored to help WBC productions, but I don't know about that.    
  

[painterlady13]

I am on Peg/riba combo and have beev on Procrit since sept and Neupogen since mid October.  Neupogen usually works faster than the procrit.  and other than some minor bone pain in my shins I really haven't noticed it.

[illo]

Bill-  I'm not sure about the #'s.  I'm going to have them faxed to me Mon.  The docs sec & the doc are out and the PA is handling everything via long distance.
I think she said everything else is normal.  I've had a low WBC for about 3 years now.  Hovered around 3.5.

Orphanedhawk-  The PA did lower the dose to 135ug.  I'm only 110lbs and had mentioned to her earlier that I thought it was wierd that they'd give someone that weighed 200lbs the same as someone weighing 100lbs. Did you get undetected early on?  If you did, did they lower your dose after that, or before?  So there is discomfort with Neupogen, too?

Was it Oxymatrine you were taking?  I took that before tx and my stats were starting to look pretty good, but stopped with tx.  I know Dr Zhang has an herb to raise it and might give that a try.  It takes a long time and is slow.

Geez, I am so sleepy, I can't keep my eyes open.  

[orphanedhawk]

I should preface this by saying, I have cirrohsis which complicates things.
     I had a panic after my 5th week of tx, when my platelets and wbc were low. My GI wanted to have me stop interferon for a week to see if they'd come back up. Instead I changed doctors. The new one put me on 300mg of neupogen 2x weekly.  I hate the stuff although it does give me a boost about two days after the shot. I haven't had much luck in getting my wbc to stay higher. Apparently the neup acts fast but also leaves the system quickly. My wbc have continually hovered around the same low place they began. He recently had me increase it to 3x weekly and that was the last straw for me. Achy bones, down attitude, I was ready to quit.  I got very depressed and the voice in my head that whispers "I'm being poisoned," started shouting.  I just saw my doc. I've now been txing for almost 6 months He lowered my interferon dosage and as my wbc rise, I'll gradually decrease the neup.
   I wasn't able to find any alternatives. I tried the hepc powder from alchemistlab but it didn't help or taste that great.   Hope that's of some help. If you want more neupogen complaints, just ask me!
  

[orphanedhawk]

I started out weighing 105 and was on 180 of Pegasus, the full dose. ( Now I

[orphanedhawk]

The tea I'm using is called Dragon Heart. Its mostly red clover with some liver friendly herbs like dandelion and milk thistle thrown in. The red clover might take care of the itchies by itself.
   I went with pegasys because I moved onto a piece of land with an orphaned hawk and some horses. Maybe I pay too much attention to symbols, maybe not enough. I did read somewhere that pegasys was harder on the wbc's than peg-intron. Of course that was after I'd started tx!
    BTW: the good news; my liver is improving.

[illo]

We're pretty much in the same boat. 2b and cirrhotic.  I didn't know that Peg-Intron was weight based.  I wonder if it is as effective. Can you please tell me what tea it was you were drinking for 'itchies'.  

(You're not repetitive, esp when I have a bit of brain fog.)

Hope you get thru this OK, without any more sides, and SVR forever.
I hope everyone on this list achieves the same.

[Bill1028]

I think they should be looking at your absolute neutrophils, not just the WBC.  The absolute neutrophils count gives a more complete understanding of your WBC.  My WBC is 1.7 but my ANC is 750 and I don't need Neuprogen. My doctor got a little concerned when my ANC got down to 340 early in treatment, but it has rebounded. Hopefully the same thing happens as you adjust.  Having low ANC does not give a feeling such as low HGB.  What are your numbers?