promacta- its workin!

I started Promacta Feb 12 2011 at 25mg, along with 7.5mg prednisone that I had been on for 6mos. Plates were at 18K then dropped to 8K. I posted asking if anyone had success with that lower dosage. Thanks for the replies. I wasn't having any response with 25mg after 3 weeks so upped the dosage to 50mg. That did the trick!

Platelets went up to 21K after 2 days, then
next week- 59K
next week- 37K
next week- 40K
last week- 78K

I am still on 7.5mg of prednisone but will be tapering off of that soon- yah! Doc and I agreed to get the numbers up and everything very stabilized with the Promacta, then taper slowly.

Side effects have been very mild. First days of taking it I felt slightly off, loss of appetite, dry mouth. But that went away. I can tell my body is getting used to it. Slight dry mouth now. I've gotten 3 migraine headaches in 3 months. But that is not unusual for me. They seem a bit worse than what I've had in the past, but go away with Tylenol and rest. I get a CBC blood test every week, liver panel and metabolic panel once a month.

Overall I feel good on Promacta, best thing I've tried yet. Thanks Weirdjack- your posts encouraged me to give it a try.

best wishes to all~ posey

WooHoo Posey! :woohoo: I'm glad to hear that! The Promacta is working for me as well. My count today was 308! I've been on it for a little over a month now. Really, I think it may be a combo of my last Rituxan and the Promacta. I dunno. I'm just glad you're doing so well.

Well good for both of ya!

That's great! Glad to hear the side effects are minimal for you also.

My daughter is now 20 and started with ITp 6/2008. After WinRHO twice horrible side effects, IvIG with worse side effects, after a heavy long-time bout with prednisone, she was normal for 14 months. Then 8/2010 it started again. Tried the prednisone again starting 9/2010, but are not getting good results with low doses and not willing to go with the high doses again, we are considering Promacta. He latest count was 19,000 and she has been dropping. It is just tough getting into this all again. She is a sophomore in college, working, running and trying to maintain a somewhat normal life. I really feel for her.

Glad to hear that Promacta is working for others too!

to Gayk4- Its stressful like you said. My son just started college and honestly I would be more worried if it were him than myself.

I also refused to increase my dosage of prednisone once I tapered down to below 10mg. Doctor kept wanting me to go back up to 20mg to keep my counts over 30K. He was just looking at the numbers, and I observing my body, and felt fine with counts in the 20Ks and teens. I wasn't having much bruising, but did stay off the freeways and played it safe at those lower numbers.

I also found the longer I was on prednisone the worse the side effects were no matter what the dosage. So 10mg now gives me reflux, hair loss, where a year ago 40mg was fine.

Everyone has to find their own way with ITP. Good luck if you go the Promacta route!