feeling faint?

[cwar]

Hi there,
My husband is on his third needle this week and this week he feels extremely faint at times.  He almost passed out today at work and he is really worried, as am I.  Does anyone know what causes this?  Is it something other than the needle or the ribavarin?  Something he can avoid or do?  

He is also having a very hard time sleeping at night thus he is extremely fatigued while at work and sick to his stomach. He notices that he seems to feel sick usually after he eats his lunch.

He takes nadalol, once a day 7 ribavarin pills and possibly eltrombopag.

His first shot was great-no side effects and the second and third shots are o.k however the fatigue and stomach sickness come about day 2-3-4-5......????  Can anyone shed some light on this for me please?  

Thank you,
Cwar                                                                                                                                                                                                                

[eureka254]

Hope your husband can feel better soon... could definitely be signs of anemia, so definitely follow up with his docs/nurses about his blood results.  My husband's has been pretty anemic during treatment, but it is treatable if detected.

Btw, TSH is a thyroid test -- there is a routine panel drawn at regular intervals for those on treatment that screens for possible common side effects -- low red blood cells (anemia), low white blood cells (neutropenia), low platelets (thrombocytopenia), and hypo/hyperthyroidism.  

Best of luck to both of you, and I hope they resolve his faintness soon. ~eureka

[cwar]

Ah you are so sweet~  I will make sure he doesn't reduce dosage.  

Thanks for the support!

[nygirl7]

You need to get them to fax you the results today if possible. When I was treating still I always called the next day and had them fax over a hard copy to me so I could see what was going on.  Sometimes doctors don't get to them right away because of their patient load - and days can matter big time.

Hemolytic anemia is something many on treatment have to deal with. At about week 2/3 my hemo tanked from 15+ to 9.  That was WAY too much for my body to deal with and I kept fainting....I went to the doctor and begged for Procrit.  It is a miracle working drug but it has a big job to do to get your red blood cells back up and can take from 2 - 6 weeks to work. That's why you want to watch the hemoglobin number so closely (HGB) to see what is going on.   Every minute counts it can be horrible to have a severe case of the anemia. They usually do not give you the meds until the number gets to under 10 though as it's very very expensive medicine.

The CBC is the regular blood test that he gets. IF / when a doctor does a thyroid panel the number that they mostly look at is called the TSH.  It lets you know if you are going hyper or hypo thyroid.  I doubt that is your husbands problem it's very early in treatment for that. Mine did go wonkie but it was later on, I think they start testing around week 24 for that because it's the first time I remember them noticing mine went nuts (I could be wrong and just be remembering it that way though).

Get the blood test results.  Type them in here and people will show you which to look at and what they mean. They aren't all really important to us as long as they say they are in normal values.

Tell hubby to hang in there.  Treatment isn't easy but there are medications that can help with the sides.  Does he have Ambien to help him sleep?  It was the ONLY way I could get a few hours.

You do not want him to reduce dosage on any of his medications to deal with the problems that can lower his chances of success. So let us know what the info says and we will all help to see if we can't help you resolve his big problems.  Treatment isn't ever fun but mostly it's manageable once you have the right information to do so.

Good luck.

[cwar]

Thanks...I believe hubby did go for bloodwork after work today and they should have the results tomorrow.  I will be speaking with the nurse tomorrow and I will let her know also...What does CBC stand for?  Some kind of ? Blood Count?  And what is a TSH please?  

[lalapple]

Get a blood draw for CBC right away.  Faint was the first thing i felt when my hemoglobin started to drop, this can be fixed with rescue drugs.  RIbavirin is often responsible for hemolytic anemia.  Also, get thyroid hormone TSH checked.