4th week, bad cough, low platelets

[Spiffy1993]

My hubby is in 4th week of triple tx, and has developed a bad cough and low platelets.  I don't know the platelet count, but his nurse called him this a.m. and wants him back for another blood test on Tues. next week.  His words to me were that his platelets "bottomed out".  Also, he has had a horrible cough for about 5 days now, not sure if it is tx related or if he's gotten a cold or flu.  The last 3 or 4 days have been his absolute worst.  Anyone who can advise on platelet issue and what to expect, and whether or not tx has caused the cough?
I wanted him to tell his nurse this a.m. about the cough ( he didn't.....) and am tempted to call her myself, but also feel like I need to not "mother" him during all of this.  

[Idyllic]

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

This sounds grim. Platelets bottoming out is not a term I am familiar. What does it mean as far as Triple Therapy is concerned? I mean, I know that is what you are asking but what did the nurse say?It would be great if you could post your husband's baseline platelets and the subsequent values for weeks two & three.

You might want to consider calling the nurse back and ask her to fax or email your hubby's labs - or maybe even have the copies at the front dek the next time you go in. That way you can post certain lab values and people might be able to give more meaningful advice. Plus, the other thing is it will go a long way into alleviating your anxiety not only now but in the future should other issues arise. Googling this stuff is not very easy since it often requires threading together information beyond what is in some website about lab values.

I hope this works out and you post your husband's progress. Hang in there!

[Kristina538]

I marched into the hospital 3 weeks after started tx because I was sure I had a chest infection because of the cough but my chest was clear (I was worried about my neuts which had taken a dive, and may not have held up to any infections.  (I still believe it's better to be safe than sorry when checking on infections and was almost paranoid during tx - to the point of not hugging my animals - which caused a wee storm on here, but I did get through).

I kind of got used to the cough, and did find that anything that made me laugh produced phlegm afterwards and helped (American funniest home videos was my only tv watching!).   I also developed sinus problems and used a sinus rinse bottle which I think also helped with alleviating the cough.    My platelets dropped from 140 to 110 in the first few weeks and stabilised there for the rest of the tx.   I think the first 3-4 weeks really whacks your whole system.  

The affects of the ribaviron on the blood (and hemolytic anemia) is more likely to set in after week 5 (but not always) when they've accummulated to their peak...  the treating psychiatrist advised me that symptomatically week 7-8 can be hard and then there is a plateau.  

[willbb]

The most significant side effect of ribavirin is hemolytic anemia. Hemolytic anemia is a type of anemia due to destruction of red blood cells. While most patients will be able to continue treatment despite this hemolytic anemia, about 10% of the patients may need to reduce the ribavirin dose to ensure that the anemia does not become more severe.

Other side effects with ribavirin include cough, and some shortness of breath. There also may be some rashes although generally this is very treatable

Best to you..
Will

[can-do-man]

It seems different doctors have different comfort levels when it comes to platelet levels. Some will reduce the interferon dose if they fall below 50 (50,000) and then others seem not to worry until they drop below 30. I started at 80 and dropped as low as the mid 20's with out to much concern.

As for the cough thats pretty common on treatment, known as the "Riba cough", though it might be a good ideal to run it pass is dpctor... Best to both of you.