Seeking advice from Vaccine trial participants

[Becky]

GM-CSF is also known by its brand name, Leukine. Go on www.leukine.com

Leukine (only the first dose) can give extreme fatigue side effects and even a hive at the injection site. I took Leukine instead of Neulasta (or Neupogen) as my white blood cell booster because it boosts the dendrites (as well as the other white blood cell components such as monocytes, lympocytes and the important neutrophils). The dendritic effect is what makes vaccines work and I was using it alone to try to self vaccinate during chemo. I had such extreme fatigue (only with the first dose) that I could not even move. This is extreme and at least they are making you stay 2 hrs just in case. You can read about Leukine online and you should so you know what to expect. I did not do a vaccine trial but I did do 87 doses of Leukine.

[anna4969]

Hi JillaryJill

Yeah for you to be considering a vaccine!!!

I did the GP2 with Herceptin trial. I am thrilled that I did. Very little side effects from the GM-CSF which was given in tandem with the GP2. Just a little redness was my experience. I did not notice being tired from the vaccine. Vaccines are consider quite safe and with very few side effects if any, thus why it is such a potentially hopeful and encouraging solution to prevent this rotten cancer.

In regards to insurance, I did let my insurance know that I was participating in that trial. They did not have a problem with my participation but did say that I had something in my policy that made it acceptable. I thought that a bit strange but did not ask any more questions. As long as they gave me the green light, and we were sure about the decision from our end, I went for it. I would be a little leery to not inform them before hand. Reason being, just as you said, if something happened, I would not want to have the worry about an insurance problem on top of everything else. Though again, side effects, I believe, are likely to be very minimal.

Best of luck with your decision.