I am 78 years old and have MDS(5qdel) for 6 years. Previously was on Eprex injections for almost five years but gradually it stopped working for me. I have been on Revlimid for 11 months. Took a couple of months of stopping and starting to get the right dose for me. I Could only tolerate lowest dose of 5 mg every other day since Movember 2018. initially on 10 mg daily but had a very bad rash so dosage had to be lowered. It did an excellent job of raising my red cell count. I still had rash but very mild controlled by taking antihistamine Claritin every day.
Just had to stop it though because Platelets suddenly dropped significantly and still at 23. Because I am now off it my hemoglobin has dropped to 105. Watching it and Waiting for results of bone marrow biopsy and chromosome testing to see how to proceed. Currently all meds on hold. Revlimid, being a pill is easy to take and did wonders for my hemoglobin. Initially when starting it, all three counts dropped significantly but they did come back up and hemo Went from below 85 to 153 and it stsyed up there. No transfusions needed since August 20 almost a year ago. Before Revlimid I had been having transfusions about every five weeks.
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