Nplate: how long before you saw results??

Good morning,

My husband has had two weeks worth of Nplate at the minimum dosage. There has been no improvement so last week the doc gave him his third shot at a slightly higher dosage. Judging from his symptoms this morning - we are thinking his count has dropped below 5k again this week.

How long before you starting seeing results with Nplate? How high of a dosage did you have to go?

We've already gone through failed prednisone and failed rituxin treatments so we're wondering how long we should try to be optimistic before we give up on this.

Also...if Nplate failed, did Promacta work for anyone? I know they are similar so I'm wondering if one could work if the other did not.


Thanks!

Erin

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Oops.. I didn't see this thread and replied in the other one.. this is what I said..

I got up to the 5th dose level before getting stable although my count did go up and down as I was getting there. Others I see at the hospital, one got up to the 9th dose level and the other the 8th level. The idea is not to give up until you've got to the 10th level. Some don't give it long enough which is a shame as it is said to work for something like 88% of people.

The 'rules' for Nplate are at www.nplate.com/ hit the link at the top for the Prescribing Information & Medication Guide. Lots of info there.

Hi, Erin.

It took 3 months for Nplate to work for me, and has been working great for 2 and a half years now.

After all other known treatments eventually failed, and with a platelet count of zero, I started on Nplate in December of 2008.

After 2 weeks on Nplate, I started getting the most severe bleeding and bruising symptoms I had ever gotten in my 30 year history of ITP.

Then suddenly after 3 months, my count rocketed to 900,000 ! Since then, with dosage adjustments, I have been at +/- 100,000 and completely symptom free. Sorry, I don't remember the dosages I was on, but there is a protocol.

So, it can take a while for Nplate to work - don't give up yet! And good luck to your husband.

Thanks to both of you for your responses. It is great to hear that there is still a chance at this working. I think we are both feeling so defeated after 3 weeks of no improvement (on yet another drug) and we weren't sure exactly what to expect with this. Like I said, he's only had one increase in his dosage from the minimum and that was just last week so I will continue to be patient and keep my fingers crossed!

Thanks again!!

You'll probably find the same with Promacta, I did. Started at 50mg/day and count only rose from 4k to 14k after two weeks. Bumped up to maximum of 75mg/day, count rose to 32k after a month. A year and a half later, 50mg/day Promacta keeps me between 40k and 50k.

Everyone is different, but sometimes this stuff needs awhile to start working.

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I started N-plate about 9 months ago. I had received prednisone, and then rituxan. Both of those started to work, and then my counts began to get worse from both of those treatments. I then started N-plate. After one week my counts increased slightly. I then went on double dose (every week And then my counts began to go up. Eventually my counts were in the 120's.

Hi, I have been on NPlate for 8 months, when started on it it took a month to start working, instead of every week now I go ever two weeks and holding pretty good. Dose was 250mg they reduced it to 150mg.