[Ruth Cuadra]

Hi, Melissa.

Welcome to Marrowforums. You'll find a lot of knowledgeable and compassionate people here, so please feel free to ask questions or just vent. It's hard to keep all of this to yourself. Often, with aplastic anemia and other bone marrow diseases, you may look just fine to others even if you feel poorly so you might feel pressured to be more active and upbeat than you can.

Since it's been a year since your ATG treatment and you still have low counts, the doctor is probably thinking that if you scale back your cyclosporine your bone marrow activity might pick up a little to raise your counts. As you will read in this forum, the patients who taper off cyclosporine VERY slowly do best. Often doctors will plan a taper to be finished in 3 months or so, but a year-long taper might be more beneficial. Another option might be a second round of ATG. Has your doctor mentioned this possibility?

Are you working? Can you exercise at all? Anything you can do to maintain a "normal" life and stay connected to the world, should help diminish feelings of depression. But it is also ok to talk to your doctor about getting help with excessively sad or pessimistic feelings.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ruth Cuadra