low blood counts on navelbine

[pam]

I have bone mets. I take zometa & recently started weekly navelbine & herceptin. I only had 2 navelbine treatments & on the 3rd week my white blood cells & neutrophils took a nose dive, so I couldn't get treated. So I had this week with no chemo.
Next Monday I'll have chemo - even if the counts haven't come up enough, then I will need to start on neupogen shots for the next 3 days (Tues, Wed, Thurs) to help raise the white blood cell count. I guess the plan would be to keep me on these weekly shots as long as I have the chemo. (I already get aranesp for the red cells).

They are checking my insurance for me to see if I need to come to the office every day to get the shots (time, travel hassle, & co-pays) or if my insurance will allow me to learn to give myself the shots at home.

With these shots I wouldn't have to miss treatments, or lower the chemo dose.

With previous chemo treatments I've never had a problem with too low blood counts. Is this common? Or a sign that my body is getting weaker?

I've also heard of neulasta shots. I'm guessing neulasta works like neupogen shots, I'll have to ask my onc. about the differnce between them.

Can others tell if you've had to take these shots & how things worked for you? Thanks. Pam

[Velva]

Hi Pam, I had low blood counts with Navelbine & gave myself Neupogen inj. 3-4 days a week, starting 24 hrs. after chemo. It's very easy since it's a subcutaneous inj., pick a fatty place. I inj. my stomach and sometimes thigh. I think this is fairly common with weekly chemo, your blood cells don't have time to regenerate. I also received Procrit for rbc's. If your insurance offers you prescriptions through mail order, it was the most economical way for me to get neupogen. Hugs Velva

[Ron, Cyndi\'s Husband]

Pam,

We have no experience with Navelbine. However Neupogen was a staple at our house during Cyndi’s first chemo back in 99. A/C at full dose knocked Cyndi’s counts in the toilet and she took Neupogen for seven days after each treatment. At first she took the injections in her thigh although she had the choice of having them in the stomach. The thought of a stomach injection was not a pleasant thought. A survivor friend finally convinced her to try the stomach version and Cyndi never gave another thought to having one in the thigh. The inj. site at the thigh would hurt for several days, this did not happen in the stomach.

Side effect from the Neupogen is bone pain which makes one walk funny (to avoid lifting feet any more than necessary) we called it the Neupogen shuffle. All in all the drug did a good job and the side effect was not overwhelming.

Best to you,
ron

[smith]

This is very common on navelbine. Mine also did a nose dive after 2 treatments. Nueprogen is the way to go. You won't be able to use nuelasta (sp?) if you are getting weekly chemo. It is one shot the day after chemo and then you can't have chemo for 2 weeks. I got one of these just before a vacation to bring my counts up.

[Lolly]

Pam,
While on Navelbine/Herceptin I had counts that were too low on 2 occasions, and for those treatments had 1/2 dose Navelbine and full dose Herceptin, and by the next week my counts were recovered enough that I received full dose Navelbine. I don't think my onc would have continued with that program if I was chronically too low, would probably have gone to shots, but I was fortunate that things seemed to level off and my counts stayed just high enough.
Hugs,
Lolly

[pam]

Thanks everyone for sharing your insights & experience with low blood counts,navelbine, & injections. It makes me feel less panicky about it. And thanks, Smith, for clarifying some difference between neupogen & neulasta & why I can't get neulasta with weekly chemo. Now I have to wait until Monday to find out how exactly this will work for me.