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Old Sat Jan 1, 2011, 05:30 AM
Birgitta-A Birgitta-A is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 1,918
Exjade

Hi cheri,
You know Exjade can decrease the counts - I can't take more than 500 mg/day though I should take 1250 according to my weight because my WBCs decrease. This will hopefully not happen to you.

Ferritin level is increased through food - I stopped eating red meat at dx because it was obvious that I should soon have iron overload. Then I drink tea and milk that should decrease the iron intake. It is the transfusions that really increase the iron overload so most kinds of food except red meat are OK.

Except low WBCs I didn't feel any adverse effects when I took 1250 mg Exjade/day. Desferal makes the urine red but Exjade makes the stool yellow-brown.

I started Exjade very carefully with 250 mg/day the first week, 500 mg the next week and so on. Then my counts and creatinine were controlled every week. High creatinine is very common.

It is not possible to know how long time you will have to take Exjade. Do you get blood transfusions now? I think most people that start with Exjade takes the drug for months or years. I started with Exjade Sept 2009 but don't take full dose. Then I receive Desferal iv with transfusions too.

You know Exjade seems to reduce the oxidative stress in the bone marrow so after a while many patients gett better counts.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
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