Connect
Comment receiving replies
Bone marrow felt like a quick bee sting for me. Over in 10 minutes. I would have gone back to work, but they gave me Ativan.
Bone marrow biopsy confirms diagnosis and measures any fibrosis in the bone marrow. Gives the doc an idea of your overall marrow health.
Some ET patients (24 percent or fewer?) progress to a more serious disease, myelofibrosis. As I understand it, interferon/Pegasys is the only treatment that researchers think MAY stop progression in some patients.
However, Peg is prohibitively expensive for a lot of people, and it seems to be less well tolerated by older patients. My doc said she would not prescribe it as a first-line drug for anybody over 60 because it causes acute depression.
But I hear from some older patients that they feel fine and that doctors are dosing at lower levels to alleviate side effects.
Worth discussing with your hemo?
Replies to "Bone marrow felt like a quick bee sting for me. Over in 10 minutes. I would..."
Connect
Great post. I'm 67 and recently diagnosed with ET and Jak2 mutation. My Hemo Dr started me on weekly injections of Pegasys 1/4th vial. I went from 951 to 900 in one month. May need to increase my dose as they wanted to see more movement. Will wait to see next month's number. I seem to tolerate this dose so far ok. A little sleep disruption, but not as fatigued. Main hope is that it stop the progression. And yes, tier 5 medication...yikes $. Blessings to all on your recovery journey!