Neupogen

Maybe this will help:

Can Neutropenia be Prevented?

Provided by CancerConsultants

Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia occurs because the chemotherapy drugs have destroyed many of the normal rapidly dividing cells in the bone marrow responsible for white blood cell production. Naturally occurring substances called cytokines exist in the body to regulate certain critical functions at the cellular level. One group of cytokines is commonly referred to as blood cell growth factors. Blood cell growth factors are responsible for stimulating the cells in the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells. With today?s technology, several blood cell growth factors have been discovered and manufactured in large quantities and can be administered to patients to help the recovery of bone marrow blood cell production.

Prior to the development of blood cell growth factors, neutropenia commonly prevented patients from receiving their chemotherapy treatment at the full dose according to the treatment schedule. Moreover, the occurrence of bacterial and fungal infections, as well as fatalities from these infections were frequent. Doctors have long known that the administration of more chemotherapy kills more cancer cells and to kill greater numbers of cancer cells results in more patients being cured of their cancer in certain malignancies. Because neutropenia has long prevented doctors from giving full-dose chemotherapy treatment, doctors have for many years been interested in strategies that can not only reduce the severity of neutropenia once it occurs, but prevent it from occurring altogether.

The Food and Drug Administration has now approved blood cell growth factors that increase the production of neutrophils, red blood cells and platelets for the treatment of neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia, respectively. The blood cell growth factors are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia are Neupogen® (filgrastim) and Neulasta® (pegfilgrastim). In multiple clinical trials, pegfilgrastim and filgrastim have been demonstrated to reduce the severity and duration of neutropenia associated with many kinds of chemotherapy regimens. By reducing the duration and severity of neutropenia, filgrastim has been demonstrated to decrease a patient?s risk of fever and admission to the hospital for treatment of neutropenic fever. The drawback of filgrastim, however, is that it must be administered daily. In an effort to address the daily dose requirements of filgrastim, researchers developed pegfilgrastim. Pegfilgrastim may be administered as a single dose for each chemotherapy cycle. In two clinical trials, a single dose of pegfilgrastim has been proven to be as effective as an average of 11 daily injections of filgrastim for the management of neutropenia.

Use of filgrastim and pegfilgrastim after chemotherapy has also been shown to increase the likelihood that patients will receive their chemotherapy according to the treatment plan. Pegfilgrastim is generally well tolerated by patients, with minimal side effects. Approximately 1 of 4 patients treated will experience some mild aching or discomfort in their bones. Symptoms persist only while the pegfilgrastim is being used and can typically be treated with non-narcotic analgesic medicines.

Sounds like Neulasta IS better than Neupogen!
(((HUGS))) hummingbyrd

I had Neulasta 4 times after A/C treatments. I didn't have any significant bone pain or headaches. I did have very bad bone pain and muscle ache while on Taxol and having to take Neulasta with that. It was extremely painful...I had to take pain medication for it and it lasted longer after each Taxol treatment. I am guessing it depends on the chemotherapy treatment...at least that's what it did to me.

I hope you feel better soon. You'll soon grow to count on the great people this board. They have been a huge support for me. LorettaB

Kathy1108 said:

I had Neulasta 4 times after A/C treatments too. My whole body ached. It was very painful to touch any part of my body. The good thing was that it only lasted 1 day. By the next day I was fine.

i had neulasta the day after my last 4 a/c treatments, the bone pain wasn't more than i could handle, i just switched to taxotere and had the neulasta the day after, that was thursday, i am still in so much pain i am in the bathtub every 2 hours. i thought it might be a little bit easier, but i guess not. some times i wish God wouldn't put so much trust in me, you know....won't give me more than i can handle. thanks for letting me vent