HU & Titanium Oxide

Hi @vicky56. Titanium dioxide is ubiquitous in the food and drug industry. Studies have shown that larger amounts of the whitening ingredient may present a health hazard. But there are standards set by the FDA and the amounts of titanium dioxide consumed with the outer coating of your Hydroxyurea wouldn’t be a concern.
I’m posting 2 articles that you might find helpful.

~The essential role of titanium dioxide in pharmaceuticals
https://www.tdma.info/uses-of-titanium-dioxide/the-essential-role-of-titanium-dioxide-in-pharmaceuticals/
~Healthline
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/titanium-dioxide-in-food
May I ask what type of cancer you’re being treated for?

Hi, thanks for your interest, I have been suffering from essential thrombocythemia for 1 year

Hi Vicky58, There’s a large network of members in Connect who also have ET and share their experiences with the blood condition as well as some of the treatments they’re on to help lower and keep their platelet count to a healthy level.
I hope you’ll read through some of the conversations and feel free to jump into a discussion with questions or comments.

Here are links to 2 of the discussions
Essential thrombocythemia (with members @tessa @preacherswife1977 @nohrt4me @nyjean and many others who have ET)
~https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/essential-thrombocythemia-26a26f/

~Essential Thrombocythemia: Looking for information and support (with members @shenriq @maryandbud @nohrt4me @richie123 and others)
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/essential-thrombocythemia-1/
When you were diagnosed with ET did your blood results show a mutation such as JAK2 or CALR?

Yes, perfect, thanks.
They found the CALR mutation on me.
I still haven't figured out if it's worse or better than JAK2

Hi, Vicky, I am 70, CALR+, have had ET for about 15 years. Doing OK, no clots, fatigue is my main issue, but we are all different. I actually felt better when I went on HU. Many patients do.

CALR was only very recently discovered as a driver mutation and it's rare. But generally CALRs are less likely to clot than JAK2s. Your hematologist should be able to assess your individual clot risks by looking at your age, clot history, mutation type, and other contributing factors like smoking, drinking, family history, obesity, etc.

You may want to ask your doc if progression to myelofibrosis or leukemia is different for CALR patients. I don't know but researchers were looking at that.

Good news is that CALR is not associated with polycythemia vera, so progression to that can be scratched off your worry list.

In VERY general terms, CALR patients under age 60 often just take aspirin, and docs may let platelet levels approach 1,000. The danger of running over 1,000 is acquired von Willebrand syndrome (avs), which can cause internal bleeding.

Yeah, weird that a disease that carries clot risks also causes bleeding, but welcome to the weird world of ET.

I don't know if this addresses yr concern about titanium oxide, but some ET patients I have talked to who have dye allergies get their HU in clear gel capsules. You could ask yr doc or pharmacist about this.

That's all I got. Hope some might be helpful.

Hi,.. Thank you very much for your answer, it was useful and reassuring, apart from the first few times I feel good, no tiredness, yes you and this website have given me more information than my doctors, at least the ones I have known here in Italy.

Hmmm
I am from Canada.
The HU capsules I was given are bright pink and blue. Perhaps different countries use different capsules. 🤷‍♀️
I just blindly take it to hopefully prevent strokes!
I have ET with Jak2 mutation