My hemoglobin dilemma

Hi just joined; I'm in my 8th week of a 24 week tx. Got a call from the nurse today with my blood test results. My hemoglobin has dipped from 13 to 12 to 11.4 to now presently 10.3. I feel winded like crazy!! I am fifty years old...but I previously was a very physically active person. Have had to suspend my daily gym workouts now. Nurse said Procrit is possibly the next allocated step. Will this help substantially? What can I do, if anything else, to help this (aside from the obvious...water, rest). Aside from this problem, and weird little itchys here and there, I have been blessed. Tx going great with no other side effects. God knows I have been through worse things in my life! Good luck to others...

[Marcia2202]

From what I've read, Procrit is one of the rescue drugs administered during treatment and it is supposed to be very effective.

Marcia

[geterdone]

Hi nersayner, and welcome.

I am sure you are feeling winded and fatigued with the drops in HGB like this. I am surprised that the doc has not written a prescription for the Procrit already with the progression of the drops but it seems the doctors are pretty reluctant to do so for various reasons. Procrit takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to kick in and maybe a bit longer depending your body mass and does have its own sx’es so you may want to google it to get an idea of what may be in store if you should have to take it, the hgb range for Females is 12 - 16 gm/dL and at week 8 your doing great! In your treatment course.

jasper

[Texas714]

I'm a few weeks ahead of you with my tx.  My #s have dropped about like yours.  My dr. has not given me anything either.  He indicated that if need be, he would most likely tweek my meds a bit.  I do not want to do that!  I haven't told him I'm winded because I don't want to lower any of my meds.  :-)

[frijole]

Fear not.  Procrit will help significantly.  I believe as tx progresses, your body becomes more adapted to the lower hemoglobin but in those first few weeks of the drop, it hits you like a rock.  I begged my hemotologist for procrit when my HGB dropped below 11 and took it for about 44 weeks of tx. Only at first did it raise my HGB to 12, and then kept it steady in the low 11s.  

A little warning, it burns during injection.  Let the vial warm to room temp (doesn't take too long) and inject slowly.  I used my belly for the Procrit (and Neupogen) and saved the thighs for the interferon. Also, get the inny teenie needles!

You will need to have more CBCs -- I had them once a week, waited at the hemotologist's office for the results, and conferred with the nurse on how to space both the Neup and Pro.

Do try to keep up some form of excercise as long as possible.  The gym may be too strenuous, but try walking.  I walked 3 mi @ day 3-4 x a week for the first 6 months of tx.  By the end of tx, when I walked, it was more like a slow shuffle, but I did think it was important to keep moving.

Good luck
frijole

[JennyPenny]

Most docs will wait til the hemoglobin drops below 10 to offer the shots. They do work but it takes times. Latest studies on procrit have shown that it is not as safe as once believed and doctors should do a lot of thinking before they prescribe it.

[nygirl7]

Procrit works fantastic but it does take 2 - 6 weeks to kick in.  Sometimes also they need to ge the dosage right. For example my hemo dropped down to 9 one week and they gave me a once a week shot. It STAYED at 9 but it didn't get any higher. So then they increased it to 2x a week but that made it shoot up TOO high. So finally we agreed on once every five days and at least that kept me at 10.5

functional.

You'll never feel "great" on treatment but with the epogen...you will make it through.

[nersayner]

hey thanks everyone really appreciate the supportive comments!