Upper resp infection

[cierra2007]

Hello to all and thank you for being here.

I'm new at this with the treatment and the side effects and all the sh.........
Treatment starting date November 27,2007  just completed week 12 getting viral results on
Monday. But my problem is this chest cold and has not gotten better in 2 months went to PCP
3 times was given antibiotics ashma pump cough medicine and still sick. Going for 2 chest x-rays
Monday to see if anything else is wrong with my lungs. I just hope to get better with stonger antibiotic

I also found out that my white blood cell count went from 8.1 to 2.0 is that bad?

I will post the names of antibiotics later feeling sick now

Any help will be appreciated...

Cierra

[TeeVee36]

I have been on TX for 8 mos now and at my second appt I was given a Neupogen shot right in the Doctor's office because of a low WBC's.  I have been taking Neupogen for the entire 8 mos and I still have a pretty low WBC's.  My last WBC was 1.9 and ANC was 589.  They usually look at those two numbers together.  Absolute Neutrophils (ANC) that is with the WBC's.  I used to freak out every time i saw my labs, go on the internet and research etc and really get worked up like it was the end of the world.  Now, I don't really care about it.  The Doctor's say that they are really annoyed with my WBC's because they can't understand why they go up and down all of the time.  I take the Neupogen 3 times a week, they just added Procrit.  Some days that turn into a week I feel pretty horrible and then all of a sudden I feel pretty good for awhile.  It is soooo upredictable.

Hang in there girl!

TV

[wed1942]

Oh and normal WBC is anywhere from about 3.8-11 depending on the lab. Mine was already down to 3.8 and I haven't started treatment yet. That's up from 2.9 when it was checked in Nov. Not sure why mine is so low already.

[wed1942]

Your white blood cells help to fight infection. They can drop from the Interferon. Think they can give you an injection of Neupogen which helps to make bone marrow produce more white blood cells. your doc should know that yours are that low and if you are that sick it might make it more difficult to fight the infection. That's why it's important to try to stay away from sick folks when you are on treatment and those levels are low. I'm going to try to avoid taking care of kids (I work in a recovery room) and anyone who has some kind of contagious disease as long as I'm going through treatment. I wash my hands like crazy at work too. Even when I'm working with other staff members who are sick. I have started going around with a spray bottle of antibacterial stuff to clean off phones and keyboards, etc. if there is anyone sick. Might be over kill but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Be real careful cause you don't want to end up with pneumonia. From what I'm hearing we get so compromised with blood counts dropping, etc that it's going to be hard to fight off infections. Dread this. Hey, and thanks for contacting me. Means a lot. Ricki