Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the blood count. I'm on week 49 of 72. The neupogen is only once or twice a week and is giving in my arm like an injection. I haven't heard of iv neupogen use for hep c. Keep us posted. Hang in there:)

Yes it is like berribee said. Neupogen is given in the arm, not vein, just like any other shot. Neulasta is an alternate med for Neupogen, however Neulasta is given daily where as Neupogen is usually weekly or bi weekly. Won't lie to you, my daughter dreaded the Neulasta & Neupogen shots, they burn like hell. But on the bright side it won't be as bad as you thought being they won't be searching for a vein! Hang tough, you can do it!

My WBC dropped from 5.5 to 2.8 in week 3. I am currently in week 5 and they started me on 150 neupogen twice a week. I have done it twice now in the belly just like the other shot. No problems at all and I don't feel any different from it. Some doctors let the count get really low which I would think 1.0 is but I'm no doc. What week are you in?

neupogen is NOT put into a vein ! it goes in fat just like the interferon. all you need is a teeny, tiny needle to put it just barely under the skin.

i had to do neupogen for almost the whole year. did it in my stomach.

it won't burn if you put ice on the spot on your stomach for a couple of minutes and then do it REALLY slow. real slow.

char, i'm the biggest baby when it comes to needles. i had to go to the doctors office for two months so they could give me the shots.

the only way i could do the interferon shots was to put ice on the spot for a couple minutes and then do it but i never got used to it. every shot was a huge ordeal !

for awhile i was doing 3 shots a week: intergeron, neupogen and then procrit to boost up the rbc's.

you can do this! it's just for this year and then it's over! just keep going. one day at a time.

and yes, you're going to have to start going to the lab once a week. i didn't know that our arms could take having blood drawn that much! but every week she used the same arm.

so hang in there! we're all with ya..

So glad that Quasar posted on this topic. She was a little ways ahead of my daughter when doing tx & was a wealth of info & support. I know that she really had a rough time on tx, so if she tells you that you can do it, you can!
And yes, you may start judging the the good days from the bad by how many times you got stuck by a needle that day. But like Quasar said, it's only for a year, you can do it! And just think how awsome it would be to kick the dragons ass, you would have a whole new life in front of you!

Thank you all so much for your kind words and info.

I had been reading online about Neupogen being given daily in a vein. Obviously the info I read was out-of-date. Duh, I know better than to trust what I read online, but when it's at several different fairly reliable sites you figure it's probably the way it is.

I went in today. More blood drawn. After last weeks Procrit shot (my 4th) and two units of blood this past Monday, my Hemoglobin is now at 11.4. My WBC is now at 1.8.

My doc has a lot of patience with me and my questions, but it's frustrating when they tell you one number over the phone and it turns out when you go in that the nurse was reading from the Neutrophils result, not the WBC. I didn't realize there was a difference, but I sure have learned they aren't exactly the same thing.

I not only was not given a Neupogen shot, they even skipped my Procrit shot this week. And the infusion nurse confirmed what everyone here said; that if I did get Neupogen it would be once a week in my tummy just like all the others.

I never thought that pad of tummy I have would be such a great place to get shots. Another positive in an otherwise negative situation.

Re what week I'm in: I started my Interferon/Ribaviron treatment on Feb 23. So, if you assume the first week ended on March 2nd, then it looks like I completed week 7 this past Wednesday April 13. Is that how everyone counts it?

Thanks again all,

Char

Looks like you just took your 8th shot on Wed. I did my 5th on the 13th too. We are both Wed shooters. Is your red blood count down? Is that what the procit is for?

I started Neupogen the second week of tx and even took it a week after tx ended. I did mine in my upper thigh. At first my whites were so low I took every day for a week. Then as they very slightly increased I went to every other day for 6 months.

I am down to .8 right now and my doc is waiting to see what happens the next blood draw cause she doesnt want me to have to be on it. But on week 14 with a lot more to go I am thinking it wont be an option. Hope you get everything figured out and i also know they look at the combo of numbers and all that, and whatever the other name is I dont know but above the .8 was a 1.5. so maybe thats why I can wait. now I am rambling and lost where I was going woo hoo brain fog sorry all!!!!!

MissKaren, that's funny, Wednesday shooters. My doctor picked the day.

Yupp. took my 8th Interferon on the 13th. Obviously I know that one for sure as I finished my 2nd 4 pack of pre-filled shots.

When we first retired we swore we wouldn't spend several days a week at the doctors like my in-laws did.

Boy were we wrong. We live in a semi-rural area. There is a tiny medical group and one of the PAs there tested me for Hep-C when no other doctor has ever done so. It would be nice if I could use the local group for most of my care, but not only do they not have the specialists, but it also turned out they weren't PPOs for our plan, so we had to pay at 50% plus co-pay plus deductable.
That can add up to big bucks over time.

Fortunately there is a large medical community of PPOs and a hospital in the nearest big town. It's 30 miles away, but where I live 30 miles only means about 40 minutes driving. Still, it can be so tiring going two or three times a week. We had been trying so hard to limit the use of our car to cut back on our gasoline costs.

She started me on the Procrit when my hemoglobin level dropped dramatically. Even on the Procrit it got down to 7.7. From what I have learned the Procrit doesn't immediately boost the levels. I was surprised today that she didn't have me get another, but I guess it wasn't necessary since it was up to 11.6 on Wednesday and only dropped to 11.4 today.

I can keep this up for another 41 weeks, but for those who are scheduled for 72 weeks, that really overwhelms me. I'm already very slowly loosing weight. Only about 1 lb a week, but where would that put me after 72 weeks?

I was going to call it the year when I slept, since that's what I mostly do.

Char