During chemotherapy, your bone marrow may temporarily produce an inadequate amount of blood cells. When chemotherapy decreases the amount of white blood cells that help your immune system fight off disease, you become more vulnerable to infection and illness. In the worst cast scenario, this vulnerability can lead to a serious illness that causes death. Fortunately, you have the option of taking any one of three types of medication to prevent infection during chemotherapy.
Types
The three types of medication to prevent chemotherapy infections are filgrastim, pegfilgrastim and a protein called sargramostim.
Other Names
Filgrastim is the generic name for brand name drugs Neupogen, Nugraf and Religrast; it's also sometimes referred to as G-CSF (granulocyte-colony stimulating factor).
Neulasta is a brand name form of pegfilgrastim.
Sargramostim also goes by the term GM-CSF (granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor) and is found in the drug Leukine (see Resources).
Administration
You can inject filgrastim and sargramostim directly under the skin or right into the vein, whereas pegfilgrastim must be injected under the skin.
Common Side Effects
Filgrastim has no common side effects, but some of the lesser effects include injection site tenderness, bone pain and abnormalities in blood tests.
Serious side effects for pegfilgrastim include swelling in the extremities, abnormal breathing, mouth sores or white patches, and severe stomach pain that spreads to the shoulder.
For sargramostim, you need to watch out for fever, chest pain or discomfort, feet and leg swelling, dizziness/fainting or signs of an allergic reaction.
Warnings
Don't shake any of the medications in the needle or freeze them before administering them to yourself.
If you're allergic to yeast, don't use sargramostim without talking to your doctor first.
Don't use any of these medications if you're pregnant, taking other medication or are allergic to any medication without talking to your doctor first.
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