Dawn, you’re likely right.
I’d presume that Thalidomide works very much like its drug cousin, Revlimid, which tends to make you a little worse before it makes you better.
My experience with my dad on Rev. (and the experience of nearly everyone else on this therapy) is that it can send *all* blood cell lines lower, not just HG. It can take several weeks on the drug to see an improvement, if any. A lot depends on the individual. Until then, it can be a rollercoaster ride.
My dad did very well on Aranesp for nearly 4 years until it stopped working for him in February. For those 3 1/2 years he was TX free. He has never been on Exjade.
He has lots of antibodies in his blood so his TXs don’t hold well anyway. When he first started on Rev. all his counts went way down. The doc took him off for a week then restarted him on a lower dose which he has tolerated much better. Perhaps your dad will need his dosage adjusted as well.
Dad’s cell count dives could be rather dramatic and swift. Again, he started holding his TXs better after the dosage reduction and after he’d been on Rev. for a few weeks.
I’m not as familiar with Thalidomide’s profile because Dad’s doc now treats with Revlimid instead. But I’m sure there are other folks here with direct experience with it who will chime in.
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