I have learned not to get concerned with low counts either with my blood tests in this treatment.  Not to say that you shouldn't be concerned....each patient is different and comes with a complete set of their own medical history, age, psychological and stress factors so one person may be able to tolerate a low hemoglobin at 5.3 where another person needs to be transfuesd at 8.  

You might want to get them more often too.  When I was anemic earlier I was getting them every week to moniter that closely while taking procrit. (When I say them i mean the blood tests)

We are all different on here and can offer support and encouragement but you should always check with your doctor.  If they are out of town the office should still be open and hopefully you can talk with a nurse or they should have a doctor on call you should speak with.

thanks guys. ive calmed down a bit now i realize this is par for the damn treatment, i had some friends worried bout me too, so im glad you guys have let me know... ive said i just have to handle it...

man ay, the stuff we have to put up with. no wonder they say treatment is tough, and boy now i know it is...

peace out people, its nearly 4am sunday morning and ima goin back to sleep.

nitey nite and yeh, THANKS

wbc 1.8 and normal is  meant to be 4=7

neutrophils .8 meant to be 1.9 at least

heamoglobin 112 meant to be at least 115=155

lymphocytes .7 meant to be at least 1

yeh i dunno what i should do. just doin buggar all and handling it. got ZERO energy, and i dont really care.

this shyte is scary ay.? if the disease dont get me the damn treatment might. well i hope not, but ya gotta wonder, and like i said, no wonder people give up. my stupid addict brain is even goin, ah well they say svr is due to 80% compliance, does that mean if ive given hundred percent for now, does that mean i can finish early.??

i know thats bs, but my brain is doin all sorts of stuff to get round this situation, well least iknow i aint lazy, and its not in my head, im genuinely weak and fatigued and not that shyt hot.

anyone can help me...? what do i do. bin feelin like crap all week, and i finally get a copy of my results, neutropenia +++, low haemoglobin and i dont think anyone is even lookin at the results... its up to me.

do i go down to the er and say, help what can i do.

or do i just have to handle this...?

soooooo frustrated, do i have to keel over before they help or is this all part of the treatment deal... this kiwi is over it bleh...

EDIT:  ok. now I see your numbers... so looks like you are still in the acceptable range, yes very low but you're still doing ok. so that is good news.  Hang in there! The drugs are working.

Hi Kiwi. How low are your counts? You absolutely can go to the emergency room to get help if you feel that poorly.
My nurse told me that if my Hgb got to 8 I would need a transfusion (it never went below 9.3) and that the Neutrophils could not get below .5 ( it dropped to .4 last week and they postponed my interferon for a few days and reduced the dose). If your numbers are above these then you are still ok.

That being said, there were days when I felt like going to the emergency room, feeling so weak and pale and short of breath... a couple of days I thought I would quit tx... but I just waited to talk to the nurse and got some feedback and more tests. And I have had those days when I started making arrangements for what I wanted at my funeral. I really felt that I might close my eyes and not wake up.

For sure, when the blood numbers started to drop, the dr started lowering my dose of Riba and Interferon. What are your doses now?

I hope you start feeling better soon. These drugs are dangerous and if you feel at all compromised please go to the emergency room.

Hi Kiwi,

My Hb is 9.1 and Neutrophils 1.5 . WCC is 3.0. Very hard to struggle thru with those numbers. What are yours? I'm at week 9 after just 5 weeks of Victrelis. Undet at week 8 which makes it a bit easier. The hepatologists seem to have their own opinion of what levels are too low. I'm pretty sure if I was in the US I'd be on reduced Riba or Procrit. My guy said we'll see what you're like at a Hb of mid 8's!! I get the bloods repeated in 4 days, so we'll see how low I can go. If you went to ER in NZ, I'm pretty sure it would be the same as here in Aust. You would need a Hb of below 9 before a transfusion would be considered, and ER docs don't like messing with drug dosages from Specialists. Just go to bed and wait- remember why we're putting ourselves through this.

Malcolm