Miss CassieKate - you're an Aries, so you're a warrior woman not a scaredy CAT. I hope others here will be able to give you some feedback. I just want to know that I support and love you.

oops - that would be CassYKate - doh.

nope never took it....but i did take nuepogen for 47 of 48 wks,,for the whites....it made my joints and bones hurt..........actually it's a common side effect of both...here's u some reading.............sorry u're having this problem........even though i hurt i continued neupogen,,7 shots the 1st wk..but they shot triple way to high,,leveled off at 5 per wk...very painful........

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/procrit-side-effects.html

3 per wk..sorry

My HGB is always 9.1 to 9.3 and has been for over a year. I'm not on treatments, but had a transplant almost 2 years ago and the hep c is active now in my new liver. My white count, red count, platelets and some of the other blood counts are always low. My blood is checked every 2 to 3 weeks. It seems like the section of my reports that has to do with liver enzyme levels, like AST, ALT, AND alkaline phosphatase is what they focus on the most, and those levels are always high. My liver specialist, who is also part of the liver transplant team told me I'm anemic, but I haven't been put on any kind of meds for all the low readings. I assume those low levels are more important when on treatments. I stay busy and feel pretty good most of the time, except for fluid retention that I'm now having and I'm on fluid pills for that. I've never taken procrit. I try to follow my doctors' advice about everything, but I also don't want to take every kind of med under the sun, so I ask a lot of questions at the med center. I was on a whole aspirin a day since my transplant until I finally questioned my doctor about that, and he said I don't need to take it anymore. Good thing I asked. I'm no help to you about the procrit, but just putting in my 2 cents.
The best of luck to you. Marilyn

Hi, 10 weeks ago I finished Victrelis, and also needed Procrit. I have arthritis is my knees and ankles, but they didn't get any worse during treatment (oddly, they seem worse now that I'm done with treatment)

What's interesting is that I took 4 procrit shots a week, 4,000 units per shot. When I mentioned to the doc about taking a single larger dose her opinion was that spreading it out was a better approach. I never thought of asking is it better for the anemia, or are there lesser side effects.

But anemia was without a doubt my worse side effect of Triple, and i would never have considered skipping a procrit shot

Thank you everybody, for your responses. That is interesting about the 4 Procrit shots, at 4,000 units, spaced out, instead of my 40,000 weekly. I can see why the Doctor did it that way, they sat the lowest dose is best, for safety.

I haven't had any problems with the Procrit. make sure you take in alot of water each day though.

I get joint pain from procrit but it got my HGB up from 9.3 to 11.7 I started procrit after the incivek was done.

Thanks, people. I did notice the joint pain began after a big cup of strong coffee, so perhaps I was dehydrted, so thanks for the water reminder, now I am sipping from my little 8 oz bottle. I try to drink about 14 bottles of it, thru out the day and night...but it ends up being more like 10, usually.
I did pull myself up by the boot straps, and gave my self the Procrit shot today...I was two days late, because I take my Interferon shot on tuesdays, so I switched the Procrit to thursdays. (I had started out doing them simultaneously, at my Doctors' office, until I learned how to do it myself...so easy)
This way I thought I'd try to analyze which med was causing the joint pain, but so far, no pain today : D
I should be getting at least bi-monthly blood tests, but my Tx Doctors' clinic is only open two days a week, due to funding cuts. So I think that's why she doesn't order the labs more than the protocol which has been: week 2, week 4 (I went und) week 8 (I went anemic) week 12 (same HGB: 9.3) and next tuesday, they will do a 18 week. If I was having more problems, I could order the labs, thru my P.A., I'm pretty sure?
But like someone suggested, I go by how breathless I feel, going up stairs. I was breathless today, so I happily took the shot, as it hasbeen working for the past 9 weeks. I do have enough energy to walk my dog, do the laundry, shop, cook...but anything extracurricular ends up over-tiring me, which makes me a cranky-pot.
I just took my pulse, and it was still low, likeit always is, at 68 beats per minute. That is a little higher than normal, I'm usually about 60, when not on Tx, but I'll take that. Also my blood pressure is higher also, I notice. Usually it would be 110 over 80, but now it's like 130 over 80...still not too bad though.
I keep trying to exercise a bit, on the Procrit, to circulate my blood, to avoid getting out of shape and mgetting something like a blood clot...yikes

Gotahorse has a point, hydration is very inportant. Spacing out the doses could certainly make a difference. For me, the addition of weekly massage made a huge difference. I often had the therapist only work on my legs and feet. This was covered by my insurance. Usually you have to go to a massage therapist that works in a chiropractor's office. The increased circulation due to massage therapy really helped.

Water water water.....
Procrit is not a firm set in stone drug. You do have a window. Depending on my schedule and how I feel ( I drive 70 miles r/t) to get my weekly labs and shot at hospital.... I go on diff days and have skipped a week occassion. I have been on procrit since wk 3, now at wk 34.
I too experience joint pain. As SD50 stated, interferon is known to cause joint pain.......
Take the procrit....... It does work for most.
Hugs.....

My Dr told me the procrit works in the bone marrow to produce more red blood cells, that's why it can cause bone pain. I got some pain, but not too bad. The procrit didn't seem to work for me. Cutting the riba & finishing the incivek brought my hgb - then there was the topping it off with the bag o' blood.

Yes, yes...I have heard a bag of blood does wonders V^^V
I will be interstedin what my 18 week labs tell me, about wether the Procrit is working, but I think it is.
Before the Procrit, I couldn't get a deep, satisfying deep breath, but now I feel fine, at least, today.