told to stop interferon

[jt57]

Had cbc today.  wbc 1.8
                        anc  .8
                        hgb  9.2
                        plt    40

My GP called my hep dr. and he said to stop the interferon and have cbc next week.  In my opinion, I think we should be discussing reduction in dosage, not stopping.  But I have had this sort of issue with my dr. in the past....

What do you guys think?

Jean

[jt57]

no.,  did not get the pneumonia vaccine.  dr. did not want to give it to me, because my hgb and wbc's were low.....think you are right.  STAY HOME!

[merryBe]

you know one week I went lower on all the blood despite procrit...and they said, no big deal, it was just probably the time of week you took it..

so the next week I mage sure and spread them out...took the procrit 3 !/2 days after the INF, figuring the INF surge would be done and that procrit might work better not in its presense...

and sure enough the next weeks lab I was up again over a point.

I know that's not your whole issue, but lots of docs let platelets get quite low without stopping,  The hepatologists that is...GPs know nada.  

anyway, plenty of info in here for you to make a quality choice.
One thing I would wonder did you get a pneumonia vaccine, and if not I'd stay home and do my shopping by mail.  I'm doing that anyway because of the anemia, but the lower the platelets the more chance a simple cold can turn into something real nasty so you want to keep that in mind.

Hubby has a bug now...and we are staying at separate ends of the house.
That's the only precautionary that I think is worth persuing since bugs can act very different in an autoimmune compromised person.

[jt57]

yeah.  I think I have decided to not reduce tonight.  Give it another week and see how I do.
jt

[epiphiny]

When I was told to reduce my IFN due to low counts, I said I would, and based on information I found about other people's numbers, I didn't.  

I made a deal with myself that if things didn't improve by the next week's blood count I would reconsider.  As it happened, my numbers jumped back up and I have just carried on as if nothing happened.  

I'm just relating my experience, not offering an opinion and certainly not giving any medical advice.

All the best with your decision :)

[jt57]

yes, I did.

[geterdone]

Question, did you take the procrit shot this pass Saturday?  

jasper