Skip to Content

Neulasta - Any advice or tips?

Posted by kirasea @kirasea, Jan 8, 2017

Neulasta - Any advice or tips to relieve the symptoms from Neulasta injections?  (Claritin not helping). Debilitating fatigue & inflammation is worse than chemo side effects.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Pancreatic Cancer group.

@pnnp

My experience was also that the bone pain decreased with the subsequent injections. The first two were the worst.

Jump to this post

I used cetirizine (Zyrtec) for the Neulasta pain. It provided modest relief.

REPLY
@charles

Has anyone else tried Fentanyl? Seems to have good results if Claritin not working.
C

Jump to this post

My sister started on fentanyl about a week and a half ago. FINALLY something is working well for her pain. I’m beyond grateful for that

REPLY

Can someone recommend an oncologist at Johns Hopkins dealing with pancreatic cancer. Please email patpignitor@gmail. Thank you

REPLY

I am so sorry to read about your (not so common, but certainly not rare) experience. Someone else suggested, and I concur, that you ask your doctor about Neupogen. Although it is more injections, the side effects are often less. As a real fall back position, you could speak with your doctor about spreading out the infusions. Generally, women who are receiving dose dense chemo (every 2 weeks) receive these injections to raise their blood counts and keep them on schedule. The other chemo schedule is every 3 weeks, and, for most people, that does not require Neupogen or Neulasta as our bodies' natural rhythm usually brings the blood counts high enough by week three.
Good luck!

REPLY

I had the same symptoms and I started alert tec or something for sinus or allergic.
It really works for me.
Make sure you take this prior neulasta.
Good luck and God bless you

REPLY

I received chemotherapy for my Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a little over a year ago. Neulasta was part of my chemotherapy regiment and Blue Cross Blue Shield paid for it 100%. No problems. I think a lot of it depends on how your physician or Cancer Center is coding what they're doing and whether or not they're including it as part of your chemotherapy package.

REPLY
@dhenderlong1

I received chemotherapy for my Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a little over a year ago. Neulasta was part of my chemotherapy regiment and Blue Cross Blue Shield paid for it 100%. No problems. I think a lot of it depends on how your physician or Cancer Center is coding what they're doing and whether or not they're including it as part of your chemotherapy package.

Jump to this post

If there is a problem with insurance coverage, it likely can be fixed. Ask to speak with an oncology social worker or the NP who works with your doctor.

REPLY

I had neulasta after every chemo infusion and used the On Pro until the last one. The On Pro was a pain but I didn't have any bone or joint pain. For my last one for some reason I decided to get the injection the next day and I had severe bone and joint pain. The On Pro released the medication slowly (took 45 minutes) where the shot was quickly injected. I think that is what made the difference for me. If you aren't using the On Pro maybe you should inquire to see if it will elevate the pain.

REPLY

Have you discussed using Granix instead?
Three injections the three days after chemo.
My wife does this with a visiting nurse (depends on insurance, also easy to give yourself or by family member) but limited to 109 visits per year. She has much less ill effects than when she used Neulasta. Also Granix is much less expensive and works as well. We pick up the shots each time after chemo to use the next three days from the hospital pharmacy. Good luck!

REPLY
@wojahns

Have you discussed using Granix instead?
Three injections the three days after chemo.
My wife does this with a visiting nurse (depends on insurance, also easy to give yourself or by family member) but limited to 109 visits per year. She has much less ill effects than when she used Neulasta. Also Granix is much less expensive and works as well. We pick up the shots each time after chemo to use the next three days from the hospital pharmacy. Good luck!

Jump to this post

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.