Neupogen shots

lisa42
lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I'm starting Neupogen shots for the first time tomorrow. My oncology nurses thought it was amazing that I've gone for a year and a half and have never needed them before, so I guess I'm grateful for that. What should I expect? I will be administering to myself because the insurance won't pay the oncology nurses to give them to me. I know how to give shots, but have never given one to myself before! I've heard they sting going in. I also have read it's common to have bone pain from them. Will this be minor or debilitating in your experience?

Lisa

Comments

  • katienavs
    katienavs Member Posts: 88 Member
    #2
    hello,
    i gave myself
    hello,
    i gave myself neupogen shots for five days following the rounds of folfox and never experienced any bone pain whatsoever. i think i did it for six or seven of my rounds. i have heard that it can be really bad for some people (one friend described it like a million little men doing construction work inside his bones!) but i didnt have any side effects from it whatsoever. as for stinging as it went in, it seemed to hurt more when i would have someone help and inject it in my arm than when i would inject it myself into my thigh.
    good luck and i hope you will also encounter minimal side effects!
  • LisaMiami
    LisaMiami Member Posts: 3
    #3
    shots
    Lisa I had the shots after each treatment. My treatments were from May 2006-Oct 2006. I had 12 rounds of chemo first day apprx 12hours then went home w/the pump for additonal 24 hours, shot the day after they disconneted the pump. I didn't feel any of the symptoms they told me I could of had. May God bless you! You will be fine. Merry Christmas! May next Year be full of good health and happiness. God is always with you!
    Love
    LisaMiami
  • krystiesq
    krystiesq Member Posts: 240 Member
    #4
    neupogen
    My mom had her first neupogen shot after going almost a year without, similar to you. Her back/spine and hips hurt really badly and her body ached. It wasn't unbearable. She took tylenol and it subsided. It lasted a few days. Happy holidays and I hope you are feeling great.
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #5
    no problem for me
    I did the neupogen shots for a while. I had no bone pain. I gave myself the shots at home (in my thigh). No pain whatsoever. If you pluck your eyebrows, I'd rate the pain just below that - ! I was lucky -- and I hope you are too. Good luck with that -- and I'm thinking HIGH BLOODCOUNTS for you!!

    Love and Merry Christmas

    Tara
  • Buzzard
    Buzzard Member Posts: 3,043 Member
    #6
    taraHK said:

    no problem for me
    I did the neupogen shots for a while. I had no bone pain. I gave myself the shots at home (in my thigh). No pain whatsoever. If you pluck your eyebrows, I'd rate the pain just below that - ! I was lucky -- and I hope you are too. Good luck with that -- and I'm thinking HIGH BLOODCOUNTS for you!!

    Love and Merry Christmas

    Tara

    No Pain here
    A slight headache is all I had....No pain at all......
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #7
    Thank you everyone for your
    Thank you everyone for your words. It's reassuring to you some have didn't have any of the bad side effects. I guess I'll find out for myself how I react, but I feel less nervous about it now after hearing from you all.
    Thanks and Merry Christmas-
    Lisa
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    #8
    neupogen shots
    since I am so late in reading this, you already know that the shots are easy breezy! Being very "fluffy" I gave myself the shots in my abdomen and they were no problem at all! I had some pin in my sternum and some aching in my thigh bones, but totally tolerable with a little bit of tylenol. I also was pretty far in to chemo before I started needing the shots, but once I needed them, i seemed to need them after every treatment. I guess the body has a hard time catching up once it drops into a default.
    mary
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #9
    update
    Hi,
    Just thought I'd let you all know that I still haven't started the neupogen shots that I was supposed to start on 12/24. My company (Aetna Rx Home Delivery) screwed up twice now. When the delivery of shots didn't come on 12/24, I waited until the day after Christmas to call. I called then and they said they didn't get it out on time, so they rescheduled it to deliver on the 30th. I asked why they did that without calling me- they shouldn't just reschedule it for a week later without even talking to me! So, they apologized and said they could still ship it that same day (Friday) for a delivery of no later than 12:00 p.m. Saturday, 12/27. Well- you guessed it- 12:00 came and still no delivery. They've been closed all weekend, so I can't call them to gripe and see what happened until tomorrow (Mon) a.m. I hope it gets delivered Monday, because I don't think I'll be able to get chemo without before my next chemo, which is supposed to be Tuesday morning. Not that I'm looking forward to giving myself the shots, but this has been frustrating. I've been sooo tired- thinking maybe my red counts are down too. I don't think the neupogen addresses the red blood cells, just the white cells, right?
    Well, I should find out sometime this week what the shots feel like, their side effects, etc. Hopefully they'll work to bring the white count up. My husband had the flu during this last week & I never caught it! (neither did my kids!) Interesting that I've had sick family members three times now during the time my white count has been low & I've come through it all okay so far.
    Well- blessings to you all!
    Lisa
  • msccolon
    msccolon Member Posts: 1,917 Member
    #10
    lisa42 said:

    update
    Hi,
    Just thought I'd let you all know that I still haven't started the neupogen shots that I was supposed to start on 12/24. My company (Aetna Rx Home Delivery) screwed up twice now. When the delivery of shots didn't come on 12/24, I waited until the day after Christmas to call. I called then and they said they didn't get it out on time, so they rescheduled it to deliver on the 30th. I asked why they did that without calling me- they shouldn't just reschedule it for a week later without even talking to me! So, they apologized and said they could still ship it that same day (Friday) for a delivery of no later than 12:00 p.m. Saturday, 12/27. Well- you guessed it- 12:00 came and still no delivery. They've been closed all weekend, so I can't call them to gripe and see what happened until tomorrow (Mon) a.m. I hope it gets delivered Monday, because I don't think I'll be able to get chemo without before my next chemo, which is supposed to be Tuesday morning. Not that I'm looking forward to giving myself the shots, but this has been frustrating. I've been sooo tired- thinking maybe my red counts are down too. I don't think the neupogen addresses the red blood cells, just the white cells, right?
    Well, I should find out sometime this week what the shots feel like, their side effects, etc. Hopefully they'll work to bring the white count up. My husband had the flu during this last week & I never caught it! (neither did my kids!) Interesting that I've had sick family members three times now during the time my white count has been low & I've come through it all okay so far.
    Well- blessings to you all!
    Lisa

    UNBELIEVABLE!
    I can't believe you have to wait to have the drugs delivered and they are giving you the run around on a drug that they KNOW is time sensitive! I hate to tell you this, and maybe it won't be true, but if you needed the neupogen a week ago and you go in for treatment on tuesday, your white counts won't be any higher than they were the last time you were checked, and if you had chemo, they might be even lower! It takes a week for the neupogen to start working as it is! I wonder why the onc's office didn't just send you home with the shots, that's what my office does! Is it an issue with your pharmacy insurance coverage? I would make a MAJOR stink at Aetna with management to ensure it doesn't happen again and be sure to let your oncologist know what happened as well. They probably have procedures to get around such behavior. Good luck! And I never felt any different when my white counts were low, just couldn't go into crowds when they got really low!
    mary
  • lisa42
    lisa42 Member Posts: 3,625 Member
    #11
    good news
    Hi Mary and others,
    As I was walking out the door to go get my chemo this a.m., I practically tripped on the box of Neupogen shots that was finally delivered. The nurse practitioner at the office later reamed the company for screwing up so badly. The mistakes made weren't their fault before, it was the insurance's specialty pharmacy who wouldn't send it to the oncology office and wouldn't let them give me any- everything has to be delivered specifically for me with Aetna (it's hard to complain about them, really- they've covered so much and I've really hardly paid anything except $10 office copays all throughout my treatment- not getting this neupogen out on time when it really could have been an issue was definitely their fault, though). Thinking I'd probably need a shot today &, I took them w/ me to the oncology office. When I got there, amazingly, the nurses gladly told me they were happy and amazed at my bloodwork results- all my counts (except red blood cells) were up in the normal range again! My body was able to pull it together in just a week without ever needing the neupogen!

    So, thanks everyone for your advice on the shots- I may still find out what they're like in the future, but am gladly not needing them for now, anyhow.

    Here's to a Happy New Year with good results for all this coming year!
    Lisa

Discussion Boards