Questions about Neulasta

[tophermcdougall]

Hi everyone,

I'm on day 5 of my first cycle for 3xBEP. I'm labeled stage IIB with i believe a 90% EC, non-seminoma. Chemo has had its ups and downs, but I'm keeping strong throughout. I'm going to be getting a Neulasta shot for my white blood cells on day 6, but I have some questions.

1. Normally they would attach a dome to my shoulder that would automatically administer the shot on a timer, but the nurse is saying that my insurance isn't allowing it and I would have to self administer the shots. How easy is this to do? I'm not scared of needles but I've never stuck myself. Also my wife is very scared of needles so I won't rely on her for it. I have a friend who is a nurse at City of Hope, a prestigious cancer hospital. So I am asking her to at least do the initial shot.

2. How bad are the reactions to Neulasta? I talked to a friend and another cancer patient who have had the shots and they say it can be so painful it's debilitating. Yet when I talk to my cousin (breast cancer) who has had the shots she said she never felt discomfort.

3. One of the people I talked to said the nurses suggested Claritin of all things to ease the pain, and she says it worked really well. Anyone try this? It's funny that an anti-allergy med is more helpful than a painkiller.

[DavidT]

Hello, I had Neulasta shots on two of the four rounds of 4xep that I had. Both times they did them the same day of the chemo so that I wouldn't have to come back the next day or wear one of those. Even though everything I had read said that it should be done the day after, they insisted it would be ok. My oncologist even said that it was fine.


As for side effects, I did get some pretty bad hip pains for a couple of days about 4-5 days after the shot. It was a lot worse on the first round. Thankfully I had some morphine from a previous er visit so that took care of it.

I hope you all the best.
Cheers!

[tophermcdougall]

Thanks for the response DavidT! So far I have to get the shot done either this Monday or Wednesday since I have the bleo push on Tuesday and they don't want them to interfere with each other. We'll see how it goes!

[Chemin]

My son got neulasta after his second and third round of BEP. Like David, he was given it after chemo. He was hospitalized after round one of bep due to low white blood cell count and getting an infection. He did not feel any of the side effects they warned about. No pain at all. Everybody is different In their reactions.

[jfert]

I did the self administration on one cycle. It wasn't that bad. It's a small needle. On my first cycle, I did get pretty significant bone pain in my hips and back. No one told my about the Claritin trick. I tried it for cycles 2-4 and it worked. No pain. Double check with your doctors or nurses because it is only one type of Claritin that is effective. I think it is regular Claritin, not Claritin D. But double check b/c I'm not sure.

[Davepet]

I can't recall the names of the drugs, but one cycle, I self injected (yes, very small needle, very easy to do, painless) The other two cycles I had a single injection by nurse. I had zero side effects from any of them, but my counts came up as desired.

Dave

[jpboucher]

Hi everyone,

I'm on day 5 of my first cycle for 3xBEP. I'm labeled stage IIB with i believe a 90% EC, non-seminoma. Chemo has had its ups and downs, but I'm keeping strong throughout. I'm going to be getting a Neulasta shot for my white blood cells on day 6, but I have some questions.

1. Normally they would attach a dome to my shoulder that would automatically administer the shot on a timer, but the nurse is saying that my insurance isn't allowing it and I would have to self administer the shots. How easy is this to do? I'm not scared of needles but I've never stuck myself. Also my wife is very scared of needles so I won't rely on her for it. I have a friend who is a nurse at City of Hope, a prestigious cancer hospital. So I am asking her to at least do the initial shot.

2. How bad are the reactions to Neulasta? I talked to a friend and another cancer patient who have had the shots and they say it can be so painful it's debilitating. Yet when I talk to my cousin (breast cancer) who has had the shots she said she never felt discomfort.

3. One of the people I talked to said the nurses suggested Claritin of all things to ease the pain, and she says it worked really well. Anyone try this? It's funny that an anti-allergy med is more helpful than a painkiller.

Hey,

1) Usually, patients are able to self-inject Neulasta, maybe let your nurse friend show you how ?

2) Some patients experience severe bone pain with Neulasta (because of bone marrow activation). Others don't.

3) Yes, Claritin can work for severe bone pain due to Neulasta. Here's a paper published by a colleague pharmacist : www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24664474

It is proposed that histamine have a role to play in bone pain induced by Neulasta, so it's inhibition by loratadine can alleviate pain.

The recommended dose is 10 mg once a day. Use the regular formulation, not the one with decongestant. Usually, there's no side effect to loratadine.

Hope that helps,

Jean-Philippe

[tophermcdougall]

Thanks for the responses guys. I haven't checked the forums in awhile. I'm going into my second cycle on Monday and will have to self administer the Neulasta again on Saturday. The first time I just had my nurse friend do it, and it was really painless. I took regular Claritin as a precaution about an hour before and the next day and didn't experience any bone pain. Met with my doctor the following week and he said my white blood cell counts are good!

I will probably have one of my nurse friends give me the shot again, but if none of them are available I'm confident I can do it myself.

[cormier]

Neulasta gave me bone pain, fever and keep me from sleeping. Took about 8hrs after the shot for the symptoms to start and lasted 24 to 36hrs. In bed with chills sternum and back pain and wide awake. Had to change the bed sheets couple times from the sweating. Doctor said it happens to very few people. Usually they just get a bit of bone pain. It made me feel way worst than the chemo it self. But that was me. It keep my blood work in check and never got any infections.