Anyone did Cyclophosphamide/cytoxan?

I was given a choice between Chemo drug cytoxan and Spleenectomy. and i chose to take the chemo drug. so far I have seen a significant decrease in white blood cells (33k to 12 K) but still no platelet response last count on 12/03/10 is 3. Does anyone know how long this drug takes to work? or had any treatment experience with it?

Hi Lorie.
Let me preface my response by saying we all respond differently to treatments.
I have tried a course of cytonan which did nothing for my platlets nor did I have any nasty side effects. This was approximately five years ago.

I had a spleenectomy approximately 25 years ago.

Hope this helps.
Best regards
Fay

I had cytoxan for chemotherapy. It didnt make any real changes in my platelet count either up or down. I was on it for 6 months 4 weeks on 2 weeks off. It really only caused an allergic reaction for me something that dosent happen normally to people.
I lost little hair... most of my reactions where caused by the steriods.

Lorie:

What else have you tried? Maybe there are more than those two choices. I've rarely seen Cytoxin work for anyone.

I was given a choice between Chemo drug cytoxan and Spleenectomy. and i chose to take the chemo drug.

You might want to choose "C" - Get another Hematologist's opinion.
There are a lot more ways to treat ITP than one drug or yank the spleen.
Be insistent! It's your life and health.
After 7 years of treatment and living with an average count of 35k, having an organ removed is still going to be my absolute last resort. I'm glad my Hematologist agrees!

Well the next step for me is Azathioprine,but apparently it's a slow working drug so i'll have to wait a bit and see if i get a good response out of it, and by good i'm grateful for a count over 20 as i've been living the last two weeks at 2 and 3 respectively. I could get another dex pulse but I have a moon face already (lol) and the coming down off of it is a pain and it only lasts like a week in the safe levels.
So far I've gotten Solumedrol Pulse and 80mg prednisone, within 2 week down to 0. Then I got another solumedrol pulse and 80mg prednisone this time plateletts 2 weeks after were 17. Got dex pulse that lasted one week. Doctors told me I seem to be steroid resistant. Then I started Cytoxan 1 gram per week for 4 weeks which i finished last week Friday.
I really dont want any more chemo drugs, because of their adverse effects on fertility and i dont have any children yet. I have a CBC tommorow, I hope my counts look better at least over 10. Wish me Luck!