Pale=Anemic?

This coming Friday will be my 4th shot of peg interferon.
My wife tells me I'm almost white, and I do feel weak all the times.

I'm not stuck in bed or nothing like that, I still go shopping
but I feel "no spark"...tired

Could I be getting anemic?

[jmjm530]

Sounds/looks like anemia.

Tbis early in treatment you should be having your complete blood count taken weekly. If you haven't, insist on having it done right away.

Like revenire said, don't let the doc reduce your ribavirin, ask for Procrit instead. If you doc doesn't prescribe Procrit, find another. Whether you need Procrit or not now, this would be a good time to ask your doc how he plans to deal with anemia and/or low white blood counts during treatment.

[dutch_boy]

Yes, Mauka it is another subcutaneous shot given in the same way your Interferon is. I rotate between stomach and thighs depending on where the last Interferon shot was....you don't want it too close to the most recent Interferon shot location. Depending on how severe your anemia is and how well you respond to the Procrit you may have to take a shot once a week up to about once a month.(everyone is different) I'm responding to Procrit but my Hemoglobin is still very low so I am on once a week shot.  I have heard of others who have to take 2 shots a week however that is not common.  IF after your blood work comes back and it is determined you are anemic and need Procrit be sure to take the shot either 2 days after or 2 days before your Interferon as the Procrit will not work as well if taken too close to when you inject the Interferon.  This was not told to me until AFTER I started taking it and it prolonged my anemia until I got the advice I just gave you.  Don't worry about having to take another shot a week...you get used to it.....and you like many others may not need it that often. Some people who become anemic don't have low enough hemoglobin counts to merit taking the Procrit...So your blood work is critical throughout tx to monitor where you are.  Those blood tests are what you should be concentrating on right now.  You may actually not be anemic yet...just feeling the effects of Interferon/Riba in the beginnning of tx which can create what you described in your post.
I did not feel any side effects that I'm aware of from Procrit but it is hard to tell when you are having a bad day what is causing what...I suspect most of my sides are from Riba and less so the Interferon and Procrit.  Others may respond to your question about side effects from Procrit. Keep us posted and hope you are doing well.
Scott

[mauka]

thanks to everyone....what I'm worried about is taking *another* med...
any side effects from procrit?
Is it another *injection*??

Thank you

[dutch_boy]

What you are experiencing sounds very much like anemia....we all get it to some degree or another on tx.  The suggestions above are very good....get the blood work done.  The good news here is that Procrit is very effective in getting your counts back up to some degree. (for myself I started Procrit week 3 and it took 3 weeks to work....I have leveled off at very low levels and am still very anemic but I am doing very well in spite of it)  I KNEW something was wrong when I had fatigue, lightheadedness, dizzy when excercising (walking biking), cold all the time, very white bottoms of feet and hands, and lost my breath all the time....sneezing was frightening as I almost would pass out.  You may be at the early stages of anemia and not experiencing all of these symptoms but it is best to get Procrit sooner than later as there is a lag time before it works.  I went through a tough time before it worked and it also took me over 3 weeks to get the medication...so I had over 6 weeks of feeling terrible...not a good time.  So get that blood work ASAP and if you need Procrit fight for it from your doctor rather than reducing your dosage..and get it BEFORE you experience bad times so you can start early in the game if needed....Good luck and keep us posted.
Scott

[cuteus]

that is interesting, my doc did not tell me to do the Procrit at a different day than interferon, he said it did not matter. well!
too high hematocrit is not good either, the drug co reccommends discontinuance when normal levels are achieved. Too high RBC can cause its own set of cardiac problems. I found that 10 days no longer than, kept the hgb at an acceptable level, after it went up in the high range.