What are most common side effects when starting HU (Hydroxyurea)?

Is anyone on this list serve taking any of the new weight loss drugs along with HU? What has been your reaction?
Thanks. Linda (I have ET and take 500 mg HU per day.)

I was on HU for 24 years. Only side affect was fatigue and yes- thinning hair.
Then I developed a bad case of locally advanced skin cancer on my head. As you know, on HU, you are sensitive to the sun and should be diligent with sunscreen all year round. But who put sunscreen on their head? I didn’t.
I was able to control it with a topical cream that took 6 months to eradicate it but I scared me off of HU. Please all- use sunscreen.

I am now on Anagrelide. I had no previous heart issues so it works for me.
Yes, it initially gave me some heart palpitations but my body adjusted.
I also take nicotinimide which works to thicken my hair and has been shown to be helpful in keeping skin cancer at bay. I am 66.
Was diagnosed with ET at 39.

I've been on Hydroxyurea since 2021. I was 69 when diagnosed with high platelets - 800,000 in a routine blood test and a bone marrow biopsy confirmed ET. The hematologist put me on Hydroxy starting at 3 doses a day (500 mg/pill) then a blood test, then dropped to 3 one day, 2 the next, then a blood test, and after 6 weeks of testing I was finally stable under 400,000 platelets. Now I'm at 2 pills a day for the last 3 years. I had no real side effects, maybe a little fatigue. I am moderately active, walking almost daily and doing some other exercises once a week. I take the 2 pills with a glass of water before breakfast and that has not given me any stomach trouble. I stopped taking baby aspirin because my mother had stomach problems and I am more sensitive to some foods now. I put on gloves before handling the pill bottle and pills (disposable gloves are everywhere now thanks to Covid). I wear a hat and put on sunscreen anyway as the sun here in NM is intense and I'm fair-skinned.

I started out taking HU 1x week for a month, 2x week for 8 months, and this week, at the one-year mark of my ET/Jak2 diagnosis, I am taking it 3x week. I have fatigue and dry skin. If you are taking HU daily, maybe a slower intake might help. My platelets started at 780K a year ago at age 69. Mine have gotten down to 500K, but they recently jumped to 580K, so I am taking HU 3x week. I also take daily iron and baby aspirin. My general blood work related to RBC has also improved.
Take care,
Karla

Your 40s have been very rough on you. I hope that despite the ET you have that the years ahead will be much kinder on your body.

Cool. Thanks for the additional info @dkmitchell ……. and @cdurbin I also had a meniscus repair in my right knee when I was 23. I’m 46 now and my knee is certainly more painful after exercise since I’ve taken Hydrea. It hasn’t hurt in so long but now it’s like it needs to warm up a ton before exercise and just feels stiff and painful the day after. I’m told your body “gets used to it” and that stuff stops after a while but I don’t know.

My brother and I have the JAK2 gene sibling mutation, and he could not handle the side effects Hydroxyurea and he is taking a different medication for the condition. I will have to ask him the name of that medication. I think he has fewer side effects than I have.

@dkmitchell- That's good to know. My 40's have been rough on me. I'm 47 & have had 2 meniscus repairs & currently have another tear in the remaining meniscus of my right knee. I've had 4 ankle surgeries for torn tendons & a ligament. I also had bells pulsey on the left side of my face in my 20's & now this ET diagnosis.

Anyone else try something different? There are other strings within this connect community on alternatives to Hydrea. I’m wondering.

I have been taking 500 mg. per day of hydroxyurea since August of 2023. Daily leg pain is caused by hydroxyurea for me. Also, any former injury I have had in the past is attacked by the hydroxyurea and causes pain. The knee I injured in high school gymnastics in 1969 never had an issue with pain and instability until hydroxyurea and the knee has become more unstable and painful. 40 years ago I had Bell's Palsy when pregnant with our son, and I never had pain in the eye that is located on the side of my face where the Bell's Palsy occured. A few times a month I get a stabbing pain in the Bell's Palsy eye and that never happened unitl I was prescribed hydroxyurea for essential thrombocytosis. Weird as can be.