I was dx almost two yrs ago and was put on HU which I stayed on for a year and could not handle it. I was sick and had extreme fatigue all the time, my Dr would not listen to any of my concerns and kept saying I had to stay on it for life. He had no bedside manner or sympathy at all. I would cry all the way home after appts or I would be so mad. My PCP gave me a name of a different hemo/oncologist. I went off the HU on my own a month before my new appt and when seen my new Dr my platelets were normal and have still been since March 2025. I asked my Dr if maybe there was a mistake and I don't have Jak2 or even this disease but he said no mistake your tests were positive for JAk2. I have been handeling it naturally with a baby aspirin, green tea every morning as well as 100 percent Welch's juice every morning 100 percent cranberry juice mixed in carb water couple times a week. I read the tea and juices are known to bring platelets down and keep them from being sticky plus a few squares of dark chocolate 72 percent and up works the same way. So far so good for now and it has been 8 most since being off HU. My Dr said we will wait and watch for now w/o going on a new med because he knows from me and records from other Dr how bad HU was for me. I was on 5 pills a week at first then 4 then 3 then 2 all the way down to one a week and I was sick all the time and could not handle it. I hope and pray everyday that my platelets keep hanging in there in the normal zone for a long while by doing my daily routine. I hope all goes well for you and you have an easy time with HU if that's what you go on. Take care!! Janet