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Promacta or Nplate - Not sure...

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15 years 2 weeks ago #8394 by Ishani
Promacta or Nplate - Not sure... was created by Ishani
Hello,

I am taking promacta for 5 weeks now and it had absolutly no effect on my platelet counts. On the contrary, my counts have fallen from 5000 to 1000 within the last 5 weeks... So my hematologist and I decided that there is no chance that promacta will work and we will start Nplate on Thursday.

But now some people told me, that 5 weeks are not enough to determine whether promacta will work for me or not. So I wanted to ask you what do you think? Should I keep trying promacta? Or is it better to try Nplate? Any experiences?
Look forward,
and the shadows
will fall behind you!
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15 years 2 weeks ago #8397 by donswife48
Replied by donswife48 on topic Re:Promacta or Nplate - Not sure...
Hi, my husband is in the reverse order of you. He's presently on Nplate and has now dropped to 3. We're not sure, but it appears Nplate isn't working and we wonder if Promacta might. My question to our doctor will be "both increase platelet production, why would one work if the other didn't"? I wish you luck on finding the answers. Please keep posting on your progress.
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15 years 2 weeks ago #8399 by lili
Replied by lili on topic Re:Promacta or Nplate - Not sure...
Well, they're very different drugs, although they both affect the bind to the receptor that stimulates platelet production. One is a small molecule, while the other is a short protein, which is why it can't be taken in pill form and has to be injected. It's possible that one person could get rid of one drug quicker than the other and that could explain the differences, even though they both have the same effect in the body.

Lily
15 years 1 week ago #8429 by
Replied by on topic Re:Promacta or Nplate - Not sure...
Just curious about what dosage of Promacta you are/were on?
The stuff did little for me on 50mgs/day dosage. After a few weeks of only getting to 14k (which was still better than the 4k I was at since immune-suppressants quit working for me), the doc upped the dosage to 75mgs/day. It took another month to get to 32k. Now, after 8 months, I'm finally the highest I've been in many years; 77k last check. After years of 15k-30k being 'about as good as it gets with treatment'...77k is a dream come true.
But, as we all know, everyone is different and YMMV.
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15 years 1 week ago #8436 by hairball01
Replied by hairball01 on topic Re: Promacta or Nplate - Not sure...
Wow........ It is hard to believe that we all react so differently to similar drugs. After 14 weeks of N-Plate I did not like the wide count swings that seemed to occur weekly. Although I did see an initial increase in the count after the 1st week. The overall results were unpredictable and unreliable.

But after 2 weeks on Promacta (50mg) my count almost hit 600k on the 3rd week. At that time per the regimen protocol, I discontinued the Promacta. I've never restarted the Promacta waiting for the count to drift below 50k. After about 4 months the count has drifted down to 428k. My Hemo Doc and I have no idea what's happening but our initial objective of exceeding 50k has been accomplished so we're both happy....for the time being.
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15 years 1 week ago #8443 by Ishani
Replied by Ishani on topic Re:Promacta or Nplate - Not sure...
weirdjack wrote:

Just curious about what dosage of Promacta you are/were on?


I was on 50 mg for 2 weeks. My platelets went down from 5 to 4k during that time. Than I took 75 mg (for 3 weeks) and my platelets kept falling to 1000 (today).

Today I had my first shot of Nplate...
Look forward,
and the shadows
will fall behind you!
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