Chemo and claritin

HazelFrances

I will be starting chemo on sept 28, with neulasta sept 29. When should I start taking Claritin - or should it be Claritin D

ksusan

Regular Claritin, not D.

SpecialK

Regular Claritin, as ksusan said, start it at least an hour prior to the Neulasta injection - but you can also start it the night before. How long you should continue, at 24 hour intervals, depends on how you react to the injection. Some take it for a few days, some a bit longer - it requires some experimentation. Claritin, or rather the antihistamine in it, helps with bone pain by controlling the edema in the bone marrow as it produces excess white cells - this is what causes pain. Claritin may not eliminate all pain, so some combine it with an NSAID - Aleve seems to work for many. I was fine with Tylenol and a daily warm bath.