Spiked WBC After Neulasta

Pat634

I had a shot of Neulasta last thursday due to low WBC and today it was 29.19

I have had moderate to severe pain in knees, long bones of legs and spine which by evening leads to headache.  I have been given 200mg of celebrex which doesnt touch it and the alieve they initially told me to take was a joke.

Nurse  made a comment in passing that I may be allergic to Neulasta. Can a spiked WBC hurt me more than just this bone pain?  Has anyone else experienced a Neulasta allergy?  Its been 6 days that I've experienced pain.

Tamara67646

I had my wbc spike to 23 after one round of shots (I get both Neulasta and Neupogen because my wbc drop quicker than the neulasta can react).  My onco said that the spike was nothing to worrry about and wasn't unusual. 

I can't speak to the bone pain or allergy question - I have been fortunate that the pain I have experienced has been minimal and tylenol relieves it for me. But, many women on the board seem to experience pain for several days - so not an unusual either.  Hopefully someone else will come along with other recommendations to help with the pain.

Good luck - hope the next round goes better.

Tamara

nobleanna007

When I was on A/C they would give me a neulasta shot when I was done with the infusion. My WBC would drop but the way I looked at it if I had not had the shot I probably would have been hospitalized for the duration. I got severe bone pain with it. It is hard to describe how it feels its just awful. I sure don't miss the days but unfournatly with Abraxane I ended up with neuropthy which is about the same pain as that stupid neulasta shot. It has gotten better but I am still on pain meds and Lyrica and I am really hoping it will be gone soon. I am sorry your going through this cause although its normal its painful. I took pain meds with mine. Actually Tylenol#3 with codiene and it really helped alot. It does not touch the neuropthy but it did help alot with neulasta. also have they told you about claritin take it 2 days before and everyday until bone pain is gone. One of my chemo nirses told me about that and I have read it on the boards also. But always ask your Doc. first. Good-luck and I am wishing the bone pain to be gone!!!!! And don't worry about the WBC it does drop almost until the next round. especially the first round and then slowly with each round with the shot it would be better then the last. But if your worried just call your Onc. thats what they want you to do they don't want us stressing for sure!!!

Bridget 

Alexis111

nobleanna,

I took the first two Neulasta shots, while on the first two rounds of Adriamycin, and had terrible bone pain as well.  Then began doing research about that drug, and decided not to take it again.  Was told that I had to take it, but instead signed a release, and continued chemo without it.  My blood counts continued to be normal even though I did not take another Neulasta shot.   

However, many people with cancer (who are undergoing intense chemotherapy regiments) already have compromised immune systems, and having low blood counts can be very dangerous.  Mine was a personal decision.  Also, I only had to take one additional round of Adriamycin (without the Neulasta) and was then placed on Taxol.  Continued Taxol without Neulasta as well, and my blood counts remained normal.

bluedasher

I'm not sure if this was based on my particular chemo (TCH) or not, but my doctor said that she would only give WBC raising drugs if testing showed that my WBC count was getting too low. A lot of people don't need it. And then she would give Neupogen which is not as strong - she said that one dose of Nuelastin was about the same as 10 of Neupogen. The downside of that is that I would probably need 3 shots of Neupogen over the cours of 3 days - they would teach me to inject myself. She said the Neupogen would have less side effects. She doesn't want to give the drugs when they aren't needed because spiking WBC too high could cause problems for the spleen.

It seems like there is a lot of variation amongst doctors on this because some always give Neulasta. 

Pat634

Well my count did supposedly go down but in my case this Neulasta worked overtime.  Maybe I wont need it anymore...I hope thats the case at any rate. I am just now (8 days later) starting to feel somewhat human again.

Anonymous

Yes, mine spiked like that after every shot of Neulasta. The bone pain is your marrow being stimulated to make the WBCs. About 40% of women have the bone pain. I was lucky, barely a twinge or two.

If your doc is prescribing it, it's because the chemo is knocking your counts down to practically zero at the nadir. You don't usually have bloodwork done at the nadir, but if you did, you'd be starting a thread saying "WBC count ZERO!?!?!?!" 

bluedasher

The doctor could give you Neupogen instead of Neulasta which would be milder and stimulate a smaller increase of white blood cells. That should prevent spiking high, but you might need shots once a day for a few days.

Panchoandlefty

I'd spike as high as you, but didn't have ANY pain, either at injection or in bones.

One of my chemo-buddies WBC stayed fairly low after shots but had horrible pain during he shot and could barely walk a day later. 

Not sure that spiking and pain are connected. I think stimulation may just be more sensitive to various people.

My counts didn't go down under 18 until 4 weeks AFTER chemo, at which point they fell really low. I finished in mid june and I am just back up to 4.1 (in October). I did rads after ACT, which probably didn't help.

Stephanie