Low White blood cell count

[Suzanne Gibb]

Tomorrow I am starting injections for 7 days to boost my white blood cell count. I have just finished 4 days of radiation to the chest and my second cycle of chemo. Is low white blood cell count common so soon?  Side effects are aches and pains in the pelvic area. Any pain killer suggestions? Or wait and see attitude? Thanks everyone. Suzanne

[Tom Galli]

Suzanne,

Are the injections a drug called Neulasta? Is low white blood cell common soon after radiation and chemo? In a word, yes.  Neulasta will boost white blood cell production in bone marrow and should remedy your low counts quickly.  I was advised to stay away from people during my low count periods because of susceptibility to infection.

I did not experience aches and pains on the pelvic area as side effects from my treatment but did experience pain in my joints.  My chemo drugs were Taxol and Carboplatin.

Stay the course.

Tom

[BridgetO]

Hi Suzanne,  It's probably Neupogem, which is the same drug as Neulasta, except that Neupogen requires daily shots and Neulasta is a long-acting form that only neds one shot per chemo cycle,  I had Neupogen some years ago. I was having chemo for a non-lung cancer and my neutrophils (white blood cells) crashed to literally zero. The remaining cycles on the Neupogen my neutrophils stayed up at a reasonable level. I didn't have any side effects at all from it.