[michelle_lapuz]

Hi there:

My name is Michelle, I'm a 34-year old female and a mother to an 8-month old and a 3-year old and was diagnosed with AA in late September of this year. I've been through ATG (rabbit lymphocyte) with subsequent serum sickness (due to a premature Prednisone taper)...it really sucked. Right now, I'm on Tacrolimus which is similar to Cyclosporin and on a ton of prophylaxis medications. Right now my biggest concern is the Valtrex (to suppress viral infections) - my husband read somewhere that in a small number of cases it was found to be the cause of aplastic anemia (1-2%) and in a study of transplant patients it caused neutropenia (10%) and in HIV+ patients it caused an even higher rate of neutropenia. My other big concern is the Dapsone that causes hemolysis (used as a prophylactic against PCP). I read in another thread that inhaled Pentamidine is a way around this but heard the taste is horrible, is this true? Anyway, if anyone has just decided to go off Tacrolimus or Cyclosporin and ditch all these prophylactics I would like to hear your outcome....the transfusions are a pain in the butt while waiting for a response but better than all those medications!!

Thanks,

Michelle