I had it after every A/C, no side effects. If there are, it's recommended to take non drowsy Claratin for bone pain. It is to help keep your white cell count up, which helps your compromised immune system fight off infection. Your MO or nurse can address any other questions.

I've had Neulasta after each AC treatment(just finished my fourth). I do take Claritin beginning the day before the shot until a couple of days after and I've had no side effects. I've had 2 infections so I can't imagine what could have happened without it.

If you have Ac every 2 weeks, you will have to have Neulasta. If you get it every 3, it'll probably be your choice. If you choose to skip it, be very careful to avoid infections. In 2013 when I did TC, my doc tried to see how I'd do without it. I ended up in the hospital for 4 days with a neutropenic fever. I'd take the Neulasta any day over a hospital stay. Even with Neulasta, on AC, my counts were sometimes really low (and they have been fine on Taxol with no shots). Like everything, it is an individual choice; just make it carefully.

Mine was every 3 weeks. Before treatment they did a blood draw to check my count. Next day I was back for the jab. I guess I could have said no, but why should I? Felt crappy enough, didn't need a hospital stay.

I loved my Neulasta shots! I was teaching, and wanted to keep working during chemo. With them, I had one less thing to worry about (dose dense AC every two weeks....no claritan, no problems with it).

>>Your insurance will not cover it unless you meet the criteria of low WBC and other white cell details.

Not necessarily true. My MO gave me Neulasta for TCx4 even though my counts were always good. I think they're able to make an argument for prevention (at least with some insurers). Most of the women in the March/April chemo groups who developed neutropenic fever cost their insurers more in hospitalization and medications than they would have for Neulasta (and certainly for Neupogen).

I had mine after each infusion without any question from my insurance company......BECAUSE of it, my WBC was always good.

<<Nuelasta is MEGA expensive $8-9,000.00 per dose.>>

I'm in Canada (Ontario) and each Neulasta shot was CAN$2,709.85 - I had to pay first and then was reimbursed by my private medical insurance. If I had needed, I could 'owe' the hospital pharmacy until my reimbursement came in but I just put it on my credit card. I don't know where the OP lives.

I got the neulasta after every infusion. No pain, and I did the Claritin just in case. My white blood cell count stayed high, and now two months after chemo is done, my white blood count is back where it was before chemo. I worked full time and have three grandbabies I see three times a week, so it was important to me to keep my white blood cell count high so I could live normally as much as possible. I don't know about the leukemia risk, but my MO told me it was a very, very low risk factor

Despite Claritin, I had terrible bone pain and fever.

Told my doc. If this was it, I would rather go on hospice. He changed to just one dose of neurogen a week after taxotere with great results

Yep, there's nothing like the post-steroid crash. I always felt so energized on chemo day, but two days or so later, small tasks like putting away laundry seemed to take forever.

I never had neulasta but instead used chinese herbs from my practitioner that helped boost my immunity during treatment. There are studies in pubmed that refer to this though they aren't "gold standard". My own blood labs on the other hand I consider to be definitive as my WBC numbers went up round 3 much to the surprise of my oncology team and then went down post chemo when I stopped the formula temporarily.

Astragalus-based Chinese herbs and platinum-based chemotherapy for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer: meta-analysis of randomized trials.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16421421

There is a lot they don't understand about the body.