Talk to me about Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) experiences

@denisestlouie Oh, dear, Denise. I understand why you haven't been posting after your explanation.

We are here regardless of how you are feeling. You are dealing with a serious disease and so why wouldn't you feel anxious and depressed? It sounds to me that you are continuing your efforts to advocate for yourself even when your doctors and providers aren't listening to you. How frustrating that is.

I took 6 weeks off from work to live in Rochester, MN during my radiation therapy. At times I could work remotely however I was working P/T by then and had saved enough during my full-time years of working that I was OK financially. Like you I wondered then and wonder now how people who are on a time clock or have little or no savings can make their way through serious illnesses. I often see fundraisers for local people who are under treatment out-of-town to meet their living costs.

Your personality qualities include assertiveness and tenacity. It's good that you saw your functional medicine physician last week who prescribed an anti-anxiety medication for you. Have you noticed any positive changes since then?

I'm going to close with how I started. We are here whether you have something good to say or not. We are here to support you.

Neulasta is not just a patch; it is an injector (needle). I was given the choice of patch or shot, and also told many people preferred the shot because they couldn't always tell if the patch injector worked. I chose the shot. I also took Claritin the day before the shot, the day of and the day after. I never had any issues. Good luck.

I had to start getting Neulasta after my first round of chemo. I did take the Claritin as prescribed. I didn't have any side effects, either short term or long term. For me I went into my clinic on my 3rd day after treatment to get my F5U "grenade" (this is what we called it) of chemo removed. At that time I also got the Neulasta shot and I would also get a liter of fluids pumped in. The fluids helped me a lot.

My husband had the neulasta onpro done on Dec 11th. I had bought the claritin but he said he did not need it as he did not have bone pain. Then on Sunday, Dec. 15, he went by ambulance to the hospital. He went into respiratory distress due to his copd. He called me this morning to come get him. He left AMA. Then after he was home, he said he was getting what he thought was bone pain. So I gave him a claritin and explained that he needed to take it at least 7 days. He agreed. So I don't know if it will help him or not. WE will see.

Oh gosh, I’m so sorry your husband (and you!) had such a harrowing event with a trip to the ER! I’m glad he’s ok!

It very well may be the bone pain your husband is feeling. My bone pain always seemed to come about a week after the injection. Hopefully the Claritin does the trick for him. If not, are there other pain meds he’s ok’d to take?

My husband is already on 100 mg of narcotics a day. But I did convince him to start taking the claritin for seven days. It may be too late to help now but he would not take it before. Thanks for you concern and God bless you.