How long til Aranesp works?

[junglegirlsue]

My Mom has MDS. They started her on Aranesp about 6 weeks ago. The first two week she went from 8.7 to 9.2. Then she droped to 8.1 and now is at 8.0 and holding. Does Aranesp ever get you back up to the 12 range? Will she ever get back up to the 12 range? Should they be doing more? She found out she had MDS in February. The Aranesp shots started in March. And now they want her to go two and three weeks between appointments even wit her number at 8. They are making her wait three because they have a conference or vacation and will be out of town. I think his back up dr should be seeing her that week. We like the back up doctor better anyway but they said you can't change dr's within one practice. Any thought?

[Marlene]

I agree, if she's at 8.0 then she needs to be checked again and not wait two or three weeks. Did she just get a shot and are they assuming it's going to increase her HGB, therefore there's no need to see her? A HGB of 8 is usually when most people get transfused. If she's feeling poorly...headache, fatigue, lead legs, increased heart rate, etc...then I would call the doc. It's important to maintain safe HGB levels even while on Arenesp.


As to switching doctors within a practice...I've never heard of such a thing. You are paying for a service and if her current doc is not working out, then you should expect them to honor you request to switch. I would push the issue with them.

[Birgitta-A]

Hi junglegirlsue,
When you start with Aranesp and similar drugs you have to know how high your own EPO-production is. If you have a serum-EPO higher than 500 you will probably not respond on Aranesp. Look at growth factors in this article:
http://www.nccn.org/professionals/me...al/1hem10.html
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
69 yo, dx MDS Interm-1 May 2006, serum-EPO more than 800, transfusion dependent, Desferal 4 days with transfusion, Neupogen 2 injections/week