WBC on the rise despite Hydroxea

[JoAnn Nordstrom]

My husband’s WBC count continues to rise despite taking 500 mg of Hydroxea every other day. His WBC went from 55,000 to 69,000 in 2 1/2 weeks even after being on Hydroxea for 3 weeks. The Hydroxea has brought his platelet levels, which were once high, within in the normal range. So it is working on that but not his WBC count. His oncologist just bumped him up to taking the Hydroxea every day, just yesterday, with the possibility of bumping the dosage. Has anybody experienced this same thing? There is talk that if the numbers keep going up, infusions will need to be considered. Those of you who have experienced infusion, what medication was used and what were the results? He is 68 years old and has multiple health issues including diabetes and high blood pressure to name just a couple.

[Shari Dalal]

While I can’t answer your question, I had one regarding your husband’s side effects on the hydoxea. My father (80 years old) just started on the medicine yesterday to bring down his white blood count, which at the last reading on Friday was 129,000. What side effects has your husband experienced while using this drug? We just had my Dad seek a second opinion as the first doctor didn’t have any suggestions for a treatment except for weekly blood transfusions. We saw his white blood count rise about 20,000 per week so we are hoping for some sort of improvement. He does have kidney issues so the drs do have to take that into consideration when suggesting treatment. Any insight you can give would be greatly appreciated!

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