Neulasta pain

mnsotamom74
mnsotamom74 Member Posts: 126
edited April 2020 in Pain

Wondering what others oncologist’s let them take for the severe joint pain caused by Neaulasta. My oncologist only wants me to use Tylenol, well Tylenol is a joke for me, I cannot even tell I’ve taken anything and I’m so incredibly miserable. Any thoughts on what could help? Thank you and sorry if this has been asked before

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  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited February 2019

    Mnsotamom74, the secret to preventing the bone pain from Neulasta is an over-the-counter antihistamine called CLARITIN. The generic name is loratadine and you can buy it cheap at any drugstore. I bought mine at Costco. You start taking it a day or two before your Neulasta shot and continue taking it for about 10 days.

    My onc told me about this and it really works. I was skeptical that such a simple thing would do the trick so I skipped it for one chemo round to see what would happen. Let me just say...ouch...

    I hope it works for you too! SB

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2019

    Try taking a Claritin 24 hour tab a few hours before you get your injection. It seems the joint pain comes from some kind of allergy (others can explain it), not dangerous, but causes joint pain. Claritin before injections helps a lot to alleviate joint pain.

    Why does your oncologist want you to only take Tylenol? Why not Aleve or Advil or some other NSAID? Tylenol doesn't work well for pain relief for me either. But my oncologist never limited me to a particular pain reliever.

    I know hospitals push Tylenol over NSAIDs, but not sure why.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited February 2019

    I see sbelizabeth beat me to the punch about Claritin! :) We posted at about the same time.

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  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited February 2019

    Claireinaz, two votes for the Claritin cure is better than just one!

    Mnsotamom74, let us know how you're doing. SB

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  • Tpralph
    Tpralph Member Posts: 487
    edited February 2019

    i didnt find the claritin helpful for my neulasta pain; however it did do wonders for the taxol pain. My oncologist gave me a script for tylenol 3s which really helped

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  • Jenkins00
    Jenkins00 Member Posts: 144
    edited February 2019

    My MO told me if the Claritin, Tylenol or Ibuprofen wasn't giving me the relief I need that I could use a pain med. Of course, I haven't needed it because I start the Claritin two days before chemo and then alternate with Tylenol and Ibuprofen. I hope you find relief. Let us know.

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  • mnsotamom74
    mnsotamom74 Member Posts: 126
    edited February 2019

    thanks everyone. Yes I do the Claritin as well but this time it’s just not helping as much as it did the first couple of times. I’m going to use some ibuprofen and not tell my oncologist, I just can’t handle the joint pain and the Tylenol doesn’t even begin to touch the pain

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited February 2019

    Claritin works on the edema that forms in the bone marrow from the burden of artificially producing excess white cells prompted by the Neulasta injection. For some not as yet understood reason the antihistamine loratidine is effective at keeping the edema at bay. Most people have pain in the larger bones of the body, as that is where there is the most marro - hips, legs, shoulders - but some have pain in other spots as well. 10mg of loratidine was enough for me but when a friend went through chemo her oncologist said she could take 20mg if she felt the need. There was a trial of 10mg loratidine combined with an NSAID, so as long adventure you’re oncologist is ok with that it is worth a try.

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  • Castigame
    Castigame Member Posts: 752
    edited February 2019

    Neulasta commercial still makes me clinch my teeth even though I am 20 months post chemo. I used Claritin, Tylenol w Oxy, Ativan. And Epsom Salt bath. Claritin did help but not enough which also made me really tired and blurry vision. Tylenol w light oxycodone helped next 30% but I was afraid of getting addicted. Ativan helped me to sleep thru the chemo and neulasta pain. Twice daily Epsom salt bath made the difference. Glad Neulasta is behind me.

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  • mnsotamom74
    mnsotamom74 Member Posts: 126
    edited February 2019

    thank you everyone, I broke down and used ibuprofen yesterday and finally had some relief. It’s always surprising to me how different each oncologist is, when my mom went through chemo 8 years ago, her oncologist said ibuprofen and even pain meds, so I was really surprised and bummed out my oncologist said just Tylenol, it felt like ( easy for you to say doc, you’re not dealing with this excruciating pain). I’m day 6 since my last chemo and hopefully I’ll finally start coming around. Thank you everyone for the replies and great advice

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  • santabarbarian
    santabarbarian Member Posts: 3,085
    edited February 2019

    My MO's advice was to begin Claritin (the one pill per 24/hour kind) 2 days prior to chemo day, and to take it daily for 7 days. I did this and never had any bone pain.

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  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited March 2019

    When I did chemo in 2011 and 2012, my onc gave me a prescription for a few oxycodone in case I needed it for the bone pain, and there were a few times when I did. With the "war on drugs," though, many physicians have been bullied into holding back on treating legitimate pain. I'm all for prevention of opioid addiction but we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I have so many anecdotes of people with cancer pain, joint replacement surgical pain, chronic pain, being denied appropriate pain management because of the hoopla. What a shame we can't arrive at a sensible balance.

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  • sbelizabeth
    sbelizabeth Member Posts: 2,889
    edited February 2019

    When I did chemo in 2011 and 2012, my onc gave me a prescription for a few oxycodone in case I needed it for the bone pain, and there were a few times when I did. With the "war on drugs," though, many physicians have been bullied into holding back on treating legitimate pain. I'm all for prevention of opioid addiction but we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater. I have so many anecdotes of people with cancer pain, joint replacement surgical pain, chronic pain, being denied appropriate pain management because of the hoopla. What a shame we can't arrive at a sensible balance.

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  • Kkmay
    Kkmay Member Posts: 156
    edited February 2019

    Hi guys,

    Does Claritin work if a person use it after she gets the pain and the aches?

    My mother is suffering now from excruciating pains after three days of getting the Neulasta shot. The MO just recommended some Panadol which is not doing anything

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  • santabarbarian
    santabarbarian Member Posts: 3,085
    edited February 2019

    Best to start claritin 2 days before chemo but give it a try...!

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  • SpecialK
    SpecialK Member Posts: 16,486
    edited February 2019

    I had six rounds of chemo and six Neulasta injections, forgot the Claritin on the 3rd round and took it 30 mins after the injection. It was the only round I had bone pain. Not saying it won't help to take it afterward, it just didn't for me. I have read that Aleve is what seems to work well for bone pain, but I personally can't tolerate it due to a previous GI surgery, it might be worth a try for you though.

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  • PiperKay
    PiperKay Member Posts: 173
    edited March 2019

    I think the Claritin has worked pretty well for me, but for when it didn't, my MO prescribed oxycodone rather than anything with an NSAID (ibuprofen, naproxen) because I am an easy bleeder. She was worried that the NSAIDs may cause bleeding issues. (Tylenol can be bad for your liver, and as some of you have said, it doesn't work on really bad pain.) So there may be a good reason why an MO may not want someone taking a particular pain reliever. Best to ask because, you know, safety first!

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  • Fairydragonfly
    Fairydragonfly Member Posts: 194
    edited July 2019

    My oncologist never mentioned Claritin. When I talked to the nurse giving me the chemo, she only said Tylenol. I'm on 7 days of Grastofil (filgrastim) and will be taking my 6th dose tonight. The bone pain is extremely uncomfortable. I called patient support and they reiterated taking Tylenol, walking, and using a hot or cold compresses. Tylenol did NOTHING. I called my pharmacist and asked about Claritin. He hadn't heard of it, but said it wouldn't do any harm. So I took one and have my fingers and toes crossed.

    I found two articles, but they reference pegfilgrastim:

    Severe pegfilgrastim-induced bone pain completely alleviated with loratadine: A case report

    NOLAN: a randomized, phase 2 study to estimate the effect of prophylactic naproxen or loratadine vs no prophylactic treatment on bone pain in patients with early-stage breast cancer receiving chemotherapy and pegfilgrastim

    Is anyone aware of articles regarding the use of Claritin with filgrastim that I can share with my oncologist and perhaps ensure this bone pain doesn't intensify during my next cycle?


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  • 2019whatayear
    2019whatayear Member Posts: 767
    edited July 2019

    There are a couple articles on this site and also if you google Neulasta bone pain claritin. It's also part of this pdf : https://moffitt.org/media/6207/side-effects-of-chemotherapy.pdf


    BTW, you can get a 365 count of generic claritin 10 mg for under $10 on amazon. :-)

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  • JennieTibben
    JennieTibben Member Posts: 3
    edited April 2020

    I also had excruciating pain from nuelasta. The ONLY thing that helped was marijuana. On the night after the enjecyion it was the worst for me, and nothing touched the pain but that.

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  • DATNY
    DATNY Member Posts: 358
    edited April 2020

    Same for me, I had incredible pain. So I changed to neupogen.

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  • SoCalLisa
    SoCalLisa Member Posts: 13,961
    edited April 2020

    I had extreme pain on neupogen, only to discover they were giving me too much. I used half a dose, got the same result with ANC and no pain.

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  • Cricketdog
    Cricketdog Member Posts: 57
    edited April 2020

    I have also had horrible bone and joint pain with all three rounds of Neulasta thus far. I took Claritin three days before and three days after the first shot. I could barely walk for three days. It felt like someone had taken a hammer to my hips, back, knees and ankles. My femurs just ached. Advil didn’t touch the pain. My oncologist prescribed hydrocodone and it helped significantly. I only had to take 3 pills over the course of 2-3 days and the pain was tolerable after that. I switched to Zyrtec the second round and there was little change. I think some of us just respond differently to the treatment.

    I found that filling long socks with rice and throwing them in the microwave helps quite a bit too. I throw the hotsocks across my hips and ankles and get some relief.

    Hope your oncologist comes around. It’s a shame what it’s come to regarding the prescribing of narcotics. My oncologist didn’t question me one bit. He is probably the most sympathetic doctor I’ve ever had.

    Hope you feel better soon!

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