About Neulasta....

Mama G
Mama G Member Posts: 762
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I have to say that I am truly blessed to have an oncologist who has been through breast cancer and all the "crap" that goes along with it. She firmly believes that you should allow your body to build the blood cells back up on their own if possible. I have never had to take a neulasta shot through the whole A/c and taxol (9 so far). She HATED it and told me how painful it was for her, so she avoids giving it if at all possible. The lowest my count went was 1.9 and she still didn't make me take it. I got through all of these and my body did the work to build back up by itself. My last white blood cell check before the taxol was 6.0. It bounces up and down, but has been building steadily on the taxol, thank goodness.

The first Onc I went to was going to give it to me every single treatment whether I needed it or not. Some of you who are going through this and having bone pain from the neulasta might want to ask your onc about holding off. just an idea....

Comments

  • Sher43009
    Sher43009 Member Posts: 602 Member
    #2
    My oncol. told me I had to
    My oncol. told me I had to have the neulasta shot because I was having A/C every 2 weeks. If I wanted to go every 3 weeks I didn't need it. In my case going every 3 weeks lowered my survival rate so I opted for the shot and every 2 weeks. Fortunately it wasn't too bad.
  • Mama G
    Mama G Member Posts: 762
    #3
    Sher43009 said:

    My oncol. told me I had to
    My oncol. told me I had to have the neulasta shot because I was having A/C every 2 weeks. If I wanted to go every 3 weeks I didn't need it. In my case going every 3 weeks lowered my survival rate so I opted for the shot and every 2 weeks. Fortunately it wasn't too bad.

    That makes sense now
    My first onc wanted me to do it every 2 weeks, but never told me why. The 2nd one changed it to every 3 weeks. I hope it doesn't effect my survival rate!!!
  • chenheart
    chenheart Member Posts: 5,159
    #4
    The neulasta shot was far
    The neulasta shot was far worse for me than any of the chemo ever was....within 36 hrs of the injection, all 206 of my bones ached sooo badly that I needed help even sitting up in bed. My face bones and shoulder blades were so pained that sitting unaided and eating was a near impossibility. My oncologist never even hinted that any discomfort might be involved with neulasta~ I was scared half to death when this excruciating pain set in, seemingly out of nowhere! When I told him about it, he scoffed and said most ppl experience no pain or minor "discomfort" at most. Never did he suggest I could take a pain reliever, or that anything would help, so I toughed it out. Horrible! The good part is, my WBC stayed high and I never missed a chemo.

    He also never let me skip an injection, even though knowing what was to follow brought me to tears more than once. Sigh....my A/C schedule was also every 3 weeks; evidently that didn't factor in with my oncologist~ you had chemo, you had neulasta!

    Hugs,
    Chen♥
  • Katz77
    Katz77 Member Posts: 598
    #5
    Nuelasta
    Sure wihed I knew about that. You know I had a shot after each cocktail x8. Normal WBC's 5,000ish, mine, on the last shot...72,000. My bones were killing me. My surgeon said he'd never seen WBC's like that ever. Oh well lesson learned. Maybe others will benifit from this. Good post. Peace and happiness
  • Jacque101
    Jacque101 Member Posts: 75
    #6
    chenheart said:

    The neulasta shot was far
    The neulasta shot was far worse for me than any of the chemo ever was....within 36 hrs of the injection, all 206 of my bones ached sooo badly that I needed help even sitting up in bed. My face bones and shoulder blades were so pained that sitting unaided and eating was a near impossibility. My oncologist never even hinted that any discomfort might be involved with neulasta~ I was scared half to death when this excruciating pain set in, seemingly out of nowhere! When I told him about it, he scoffed and said most ppl experience no pain or minor "discomfort" at most. Never did he suggest I could take a pain reliever, or that anything would help, so I toughed it out. Horrible! The good part is, my WBC stayed high and I never missed a chemo.

    He also never let me skip an injection, even though knowing what was to follow brought me to tears more than once. Sigh....my A/C schedule was also every 3 weeks; evidently that didn't factor in with my oncologist~ you had chemo, you had neulasta!

    Hugs,
    Chen♥

    Question???
    Does the bone pain from neulasta last for X number of days or during the entire time of treatment? Also, do you have more pain in an area that you may already have had trouble with...like lower back pain or knee pain?
  • Sher43009
    Sher43009 Member Posts: 602 Member
    #7
    Mama G said:

    That makes sense now
    My first onc wanted me to do it every 2 weeks, but never told me why. The 2nd one changed it to every 3 weeks. I hope it doesn't effect my survival rate!!!

    It wasn't by much, but I
    It wasn't by much, but I wanted it over with asap. He did say if it was too hard every 2 weeks I could drop it down to every 3 weeks.
  • Skeezie
    Skeezie Member Posts: 586 Member
    #8
    Katz77 said:

    Nuelasta
    Sure wihed I knew about that. You know I had a shot after each cocktail x8. Normal WBC's 5,000ish, mine, on the last shot...72,000. My bones were killing me. My surgeon said he'd never seen WBC's like that ever. Oh well lesson learned. Maybe others will benifit from this. Good post. Peace and happiness

    I never had the horrible pain
    from my 4 Neulasta shots. The first one was the worst and my legs and my lower back hurt and it lasted for 2 or 3 days but Tynelnol or Vicodin helped a bunch. After that my legs would hurt for 1 day. However, the chemo made me sicker than a dog. Each one got worse until the last two I was sick from Day 1 until the next cycle. So I guess it's one thing or the other.

    But in 1984,if they would have had Neulasta maybe my Mom wouldn't have had to stop her chemo because her white blood count was so low and maybe she could have completed her chemo and lived. We'll never know. But I kept thinking about that each shot I got. It's all tough but somehow we get thru it. My white count stayed up but maybe because I couldn't eat my Potassium dropped like a stone. I wasn't nauseated, just too sick to eat.

    Hugs, Judy :-)
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #9
    Skeezie said:

    I never had the horrible pain
    from my 4 Neulasta shots. The first one was the worst and my legs and my lower back hurt and it lasted for 2 or 3 days but Tynelnol or Vicodin helped a bunch. After that my legs would hurt for 1 day. However, the chemo made me sicker than a dog. Each one got worse until the last two I was sick from Day 1 until the next cycle. So I guess it's one thing or the other.

    But in 1984,if they would have had Neulasta maybe my Mom wouldn't have had to stop her chemo because her white blood count was so low and maybe she could have completed her chemo and lived. We'll never know. But I kept thinking about that each shot I got. It's all tough but somehow we get thru it. My white count stayed up but maybe because I couldn't eat my Potassium dropped like a stone. I wasn't nauseated, just too sick to eat.

    Hugs, Judy :-)

    Neulasta not bad for me
    To be honest, I was *terrified* of the Neulasta shots because of all that I'd read on this board....I just knew I was going to be one of the people who got terrible pain from it.

    Thankfully, I lucked out -- my legs were moderately achey for a couple of days after each one, but no worse than when you have the flu, and I didn't feel I needed to take anything for it. So everyone really is different in how we react to it.

    I also liked how my oncologist approached it -- I had 4 rounds of Taxotere/Cytoxan, and he suggested we try the first one without the shot. He doesn't like to give drugs unless they're necessary, which I really respect. Unfortunately, both my WBCs and my neutrophils tanked after the first one, so we then did the shot after each of the 3 remaining rounds. But a co-worker of mine did the exact same chemo cocktail, and her cell counts stayed nice and high throughout without Neulasta, so I like the approach of trying the first one without, if your doctor feels that's appropriate for your own health situation.

    Traci
  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #10
    Katz77 said:

    Nuelasta
    Sure wihed I knew about that. You know I had a shot after each cocktail x8. Normal WBC's 5,000ish, mine, on the last shot...72,000. My bones were killing me. My surgeon said he'd never seen WBC's like that ever. Oh well lesson learned. Maybe others will benifit from this. Good post. Peace and happiness

    personal choice
    as everything in breast cancer treatment. I had 6 Taxotere/Cytoxan treatments and 6 Neulasta shots. Shots did work for me and gave "complimentary" side effects to Chemo drugs, I could not guess how my body would react, but these two drugs have consecutive/ sequential nadir points from day 5-14. I was more afraid of infection than Neulasta shot. I also did not want to extend Chemo treatment beyond 18 weeks. In ideal situation you should trust your oncologist while going through Chemo treatment.
  • pattimc
    pattimc Member Posts: 431
    #11
    New Flower said:

    personal choice
    as everything in breast cancer treatment. I had 6 Taxotere/Cytoxan treatments and 6 Neulasta shots. Shots did work for me and gave "complimentary" side effects to Chemo drugs, I could not guess how my body would react, but these two drugs have consecutive/ sequential nadir points from day 5-14. I was more afraid of infection than Neulasta shot. I also did not want to extend Chemo treatment beyond 18 weeks. In ideal situation you should trust your oncologist while going through Chemo treatment.

    Neulesta
    I was never even offered it! I had four rounds of Taxotere/Cytoxan every 3 weeks. I had some achey bones and joints after chemo for a few days but extra strength Tylenol was fine during the day. I would take a Percocet or Vicodin at night if I was in alot of pain. I was lucky that my white cells did dip quite a bit but not in the danger range. All levels are now exactly where they should be.
  • Mama G
    Mama G Member Posts: 762
    #12
    pattimc said:

    Neulesta
    I was never even offered it! I had four rounds of Taxotere/Cytoxan every 3 weeks. I had some achey bones and joints after chemo for a few days but extra strength Tylenol was fine during the day. I would take a Percocet or Vicodin at night if I was in alot of pain. I was lucky that my white cells did dip quite a bit but not in the danger range. All levels are now exactly where they should be.

    great stories.
    THank you for sharing your experiences. MY onc had the horrible side effects, as I stated, so she was very sympathetic and I lucked out. I would take it in a heartbeat if I needed it. My sister and one of my best friends took it without any side effects at all. So I was not afraid, but I do NOT like putting anything in my body that is not necessary.
  • sallyf
    sallyf Member Posts: 33
    #13
    pattimc said:

    Neulesta
    I was never even offered it! I had four rounds of Taxotere/Cytoxan every 3 weeks. I had some achey bones and joints after chemo for a few days but extra strength Tylenol was fine during the day. I would take a Percocet or Vicodin at night if I was in alot of pain. I was lucky that my white cells did dip quite a bit but not in the danger range. All levels are now exactly where they should be.

    2 days of back pain
    I'm about ready to have my 2nd chemo. I DID have the Neulasta shot after my first chemo and 4 days later, I had a bad backache. It lasted 2 full days, and I was able to keep it at bay with 2 extra-strength Tylenol every 8 hours. I'm going to use the same approach again. Like I've said before on this site, I'm going to check into taking Claritin the day before my shot.
  • chenheart
    chenheart Member Posts: 5,159
    #14
    Jacque101 said:

    Question???
    Does the bone pain from neulasta last for X number of days or during the entire time of treatment? Also, do you have more pain in an area that you may already have had trouble with...like lower back pain or knee pain?

    For me, after the onset of
    For me, after the onset of pain 36 hrs or so after the injection, it lasted 3 to 5 days. It progressivly wore off~ but I sure wish my Dr had told me that I could take painkillers!
    Being that all of my bones ached, I couldn't tell if my back was worse than sny other place on my body! What I actually remember the most is how my collarbones and face ached; probably because those are body parts I didn't usually associate with pain!So, my upper ribcage and collarbone pain made it so difficut for me to sit up from a prone position, and face pain made eating/drinking/brushing my teeth owie!

    Sigh! LOL

    Chen♥

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