Generic Name: pegfilgrastim
Brand Name: Neulasta subcutaneous
Drug Reviews Drug and Medication User Reviews
The bone pain so severe. I get the single injection on 5th day after chemo. I was told I would probably have bone pain. I never expected the type of pain and. I have an extremely high pain tolerance. 4 days after 1st injection the pressure in my spine caused contractions and spasms, my whole body was distorting from it. I can only compared to labor pains in spine that It came in waves. I had to call the emergency after hours number crying. They called in oxycodone and muscle relaxers to get next morning. Luckily I had Percocet from hemorrhoid surgery 6 months earlier that I never opened the bottle for. That 1st injection pain lasted about 15 hours. I then started Claritin everyday. I was told what I experienced is not the norm . Second injection my back felt like a cobra squeezing it, which was also painful and again came in waves. That lasted 4-5 hours. I don’t know if the pressure triggered something in my lower back. But a few days after. My lower back out of blue excruciating pain with any movement, I couldn’t walk, sit or move in anyway. It felt like knives going through me. I was basically bed ridden. Then suddenly it just stopped in third day. 3rd injection the pressure /pain which again came in waves was from base of head to lower back and arms. Lasted about 5 hours. Today which is after injection 4. Pain started in legs and continued there and arms most of the day lasted about 6 hours. During these waves I am literally grunting out verbally as if I’m giving birth. There Nothing with back thank goodness but just a throbbing at base of head which is lasting into the night. I did start taking tramadol at first sign of the pain coming on. I’ve had no issues chemotherapy and am going to ask doctor if this injection really has to be given. I have never experienced anything like this pain wise my whole life. Even when pain stops I am physically exhausted from the ordeal.
It's like a really messed up jack-in-the-box--it beeps, then you feel like you were beat by a baseball bat the next day. I didn't die, so it's a win in my book.
Some pain n my back
No one told me about side effects from this injection.Doctor said it would help,but didn't say anything about the pain I would have. It's been 3 weeks since I had the shot and every part of my body aches. Legs hurt too much to walk. Chest and back pains are over the top. Can't sleep lying down. Hard to catch my breath. I fell like someone is punching me up and down my spinal column. One little cough brings tears to my eyes. I don't know how much more I can take this.
My 71 year old self employed Pest Control Owner took the on body injector 7/1/20 and 7/16/20. Left shoulder pain with NO relief. NO Dr has helped. This has disabled him as he can not use left arm from the pain. This drug is a killer. DO NOT TAKE
First I don't know why I received Neulasta with WBC at 11.2 and first treatment. I asked the nurse why with my wbc being high. She just said Dr. Ordered it. Didn't call him to see. This is a drug from Hell. It needs to be taken off the market. Why make someone go through severe pain ? I hurt from my neck down to toe bones and everywhere else. Nothing helped. Claritin a joke. Called the Dr. and left message about pain. I wished I was dead. Is this what bone cancer fells like? Lasted for days. Then wheezing. Could hear me all over the house. I have pulmonary fibrosis already and this is a side effect of Neulasta. So why did I get it? Told Dr. no meds that would cause my heart valves or lungs to be affected. Went to Er WBC count 19000. Was 26000 when I left hospital. No fever or chills. Dr. Believes overstimulation of wbcs caused it. U did have bladder infection. First they thought I had sepsis. I think Neulasta needs to have a survey for each person who received it. Is there anyone that has received Neulasta with a high WBC count? This med is serious. It needs to be reported to someone who can test it more thoroughly. It's something wrong with it. I told them I would nxever take it again and don't ask.
64 y.o. male with idiopathic neutropenia. I've only had one injection (I've been taking Neupogen up until now) - but this drug has worked well for me so far.
Wear gloves for removing dispensed version. My story is meant to warn others about touching the automated dispenser version which is taped to the arm. I helped someone remove their "dispenser" treatment (not the typical shot). I only recall touching the edges of the unit. Within an hour I had some tingling around my temples, where I also had touched my head afterwards, while watching tv. Drank coffee to cure which didn't help, fell asleep. Woke up 2 hrs later sweating, with a migraine. Next morning my hips-to-toes ached, but I was ok after a few hours. Cancer friend also had the headache and aches but much worse, lasting 24/7 because Neulasta was her treatment. Scored low as I had to rate something.
this drug caused me excruciating bone pain. Instead I used collagen which brought my white cell counts up wonderfully and with no side effects.
Can't rate effective as no blood test yet. I am hopeful it will be successful. I am a senior, I have given birth without pain meds, nothing in my entire life has been more painful than this. Flu like symptoms started day after injection, uncomfortable, but manageable. injection on Thursday, but by Monday early evening I could barely walk. INTENSE and excruciating pain in lower back. NOT muscle, bone pain. Could not sit, laying down was worse, walking almost impossible. I have some pretty heavy duty meds for pain which I do not like taking but will if this continues. It is discouraging and disheartening that a med intended to help is so awful. And future effects? Who knows. I hope this helps someone be prepared for the possibility of this pain. Ask lots of questions, and good luck.
Several months after Cancer treatment had Chemo, Radiation and Neulasta for Breast Cancer treatment. My bones in my legs and hands hurt like arteritis every day and are weak now. I did not have this before treatment. Trying to understand long term side effects now.
I am wondering is there any studies out there that discuss long term effects of Nuelasta? I received Nuelasta in 2012-2013, and still experience bone pain. Not to the degree I did when I was getting the shots, but still have it. It is almost like an arthritis pain.
I had a horrible experience with this drug. I got excruciating hip pain and the worst headache I've ever had in my life, and it lasted almost a week. Neupogen was a much better drug for me. I kind of think maybe this drug is best for a really heavyset man, but I think the one dose is just too much on my body. I would never take it again
I just received my 5th neulasta shot after R EPOCH chemotherapy. Every time I get this shot the pain seems to increase. This time I even tried taking Claritin the day before and the day after. Well my pain is excruciating. My lower back and middle back and the ribs on one side of my back are VERY painful. I have been crying everyday and even oxycodone doesn't completely take it away. This is the 5th day since the shot and the pain is not easing up. I have been in bed for days and completely uncomfortable sitting, standing, walking (any position). Make sure you have adequate pain meds at home to cope with the effects of this drug. Especially as you get further out in treatment.
I had two injections, first brought only severe flu like pain, second gave me intense bone pain in my (legs now diminished somewhat after 6 months) severe lung pain shortness of breath continues after 6 months I am unable to walk more than 25 ft. without rest. After lung surgery I could walk and mow my lawn without problem the Dr. refuses to admit this horrible drug caused my condition. I may not live as the condition continues to progress.
after taking neulasta I now have to use oxygen. I would like to know how long I will have to be on oxygen.
Terrible hives after shot. I have been experiencing hip & leg pain ever since and wonder if its a long term side effect. Anyone else experience this?
My husband has CLL and a wonderful oncologist. I appreciate the doc even more after reading these reviews. It prompted me to add our experience. Tony had a WBC of 80k and a spleen the size of a football at the start of chemo. He was put on an aggressive plan of fludarabine and rituximab. The first treatment he did NOT get the Neulasta. I assume there was a risk of spleen rupture. The next month he had his weeklong treatment and the doc told him to start taking Claritin on Thursday to prepare for the Neulasta shot on Monday (Chemo was Monday-Friday). He went back to the doc to get the shot Monday and prepared for the worst. He did get achy, but it really never progressed beyond a pain level 2-3. Like a flu, he said. The next round we repeated the same process with the Claritin, a 3 day break from all treatment, then the shot. This time it was a bit more troublesome, maybe a 4-5 on the pain scale. No pain meds were ever prescribed and my husband never felt he needed them, really. 4th round of chemo, we told the doc that the pain was significantly more the 2nd time and he cut the dosage of Neulasta to half, still took the Claritin for the 3 days leading up to the shot and for a week afterwards. No problems with that round at all. It really helped his WBC recover after therapy and since he works at a school, we were thankful that there was some reduction in his chance of getting sick. He did not get sick during the entire 5 months of chemo that occurred Jan-May 2015. Not even a cold! We will always be worried when he gets Neulasta as we believe it could 'turn on' him at any time. I am so sorry for all of you that have had terrible experiences. It seems that some of you should change oncologists. Ours was very deliberate in the way he approached these medications. Tony got full exams and a thorough 'how are you feeling' discussion before it was administered. We are on Tricare, which covered the cost of the drug, too.
After the Neulsta shot, all OK for about 2 days, then intense bone pain all over. Called Doctor on a Friday evening and he said it was likely caused by the Neulasta shot. Since I had some Norco-5 left over from gall bladder surgery just 2 weeks before I started Chemo, he said I could take some of those. It barely took me from a 10 to maybe an 8 on the pain scale. After two days hovering in intense pain, my husband read on line that some folks were taking Claritin for the side effects. He gave me a Claritin 12 and within a half hour the pain subsided almost entirely. What puzzles me is that the doctors don't seem to know much about this, but the nurses do. When I went in for my blood work between chemo treatments, I mentioned it to the nurse, she said of course, either Claritin or Zyrtec would work for some folks. Four days of intense pain could have been avoided if the Doctor had a clue. I think Neulasta should be advising that if their is intense bone pain, patients should already be equipped to deal with it. I had to do my own research, there's nothing in the literature from Neulasta that I could find that offered this suggestion.