Any experience with Neupogen?

[jeannea]

I just got a call from my transplant coordinator (got my second transplant this March) and she says my WBC is 1.4. I have an appt at 3 pm for an injection. I'm not happy.

[MooseMom]

Pshaw.  I had an absolute neutrophils count of 8 at one point.  I had two injections of neupogen and they fixed me right up.  I wasn't happy, either, but the injections solved the problem, and I was good to go.  I hope the same happens for you.  Let me know what happens, OK?

[KarenInWA]

I've been through this twice, once in March, and again in Sept. I had my tx one year ago today    Neupogen will cause pain in your bones . I was able to control mine with one dose of extra-strength tylenol. You will need to stay away from crowds and sick people until that wbc count comes back up. They also should temporarily discontinue one of your meds. For me, it was Myfortic. Each time I went through this, I had to have more than one Neupogen shot.

Keep us updated...

KarenInWA

[jeannea]

I got the shots. They put my dose in 2 shots. My injection sites are a little sore. Thanks for the warning about pain. The paper they gave me said to call if I start coughing up blood. Lovely. They want me to repeat labs on Monday. I suspect I need to back off on CellCept a little. So I wait.

[MooseMom]

I was told that some patients do experience bone pain because when you think about it, Neupogen acts directly upon the bone marrow.  If your bones hurt, it's an indication that the drug is working.  However, I was also told that since I was having just two shots (one shot a day for two days), I probably wouldn't feel that sort of discomfort.  And I didn't. 

My wbc shot up to 20,000, so I think we overdid it a bit.  I was probably toxic to all living things for a while there.   

Like Karen, those shots DID hurt.  One left a bruise that took yonks to go away.

Good luck with your next set of labs!

[vcarmody]

My husbands was on his way home from the transplant clinic when he got a call saying his white count was still down (1.1).  We were leaving on a cruise in 3 days so they wanted him to get 3 injections of Neupogen before we left.  We turned around and they gave him one injection and gave him 2 to take home, he was instructed to inject himself daily, they warned him he may have some bone pain in his back or his sternum which he was worried about, but he had no side effects.  His white count is now normal, hope it stays that way. 

[jeannea]

Update: i had the shots Fri. I felt just kind of all over crappy for the weekend. On Mon I had my bloodwork done. My WBC is up to 2.2. Yippee. I get another injection tomorrow. I guess I have 2 more days of feeling crappy. I hope this works soon.

[MooseMom]

Update: i had the shots Fri. I felt just kind of all over crappy for the weekend. On Mon I had my bloodwork done. My WBC is up to 2.2. Yippee. I get another injection tomorrow. I guess I have 2 more days of feeling crappy. I hope this works soon.

I didn't experience that all over crappy feeling, but I can see how one might.  I was told that there was a possibility of needing a third injection, so I'm not terribly surprised that you need one more.  Hopefully that will do the trick.  When do you next have bloodwork done?

[jeannea]

She told me to do bloodwork on Monday. I wish I knew what was causing it. I didn't have this problem with my first transplant. I'm on Prednisone 5 mg, Prograf 5 mg in morning 4 mg in evening, CellCept 750 mg bid, and Valcyte 900 mg. I would usually say CellCept but I wonder if the Valcyte is the problem. The problem is CMV colitis was a huge factor in the failure of my last transplant so they're being very cautious and I want them to. I actually have my regular appt in about 2 weeks at the transplant clinic. Maybe I can get answers then.

[MooseMom]

Jeanna, the anti-viral I took was acyclovir (Zovirax).  I don't know if it caused my neutropenia, but I was taken off of it when the neutropenia appeared.  Then again, I was taken off of several other things, too, like allopurinol (anti-gout).  They took me off of every med that wasn't absolutely necessary.  So, I don't know if your anti-viral (Valcyte) is "causing" your problem, and I can understand why you'd be hesitant to go off of it, but it could be the reason why your wbc is more difficult to elevate.

I'm glad you'll be at your clinic in two weeks time.  Please let us know what they have to say.  Also, let us know what your next labs show.  I'm really curious!