How long does it take blood counts to return to normal after chemo?

• By momanderson920
• Reply 523467
• August 31, 2009 at 2:31 pm
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My wbcs would recover in about a week. That is not the norm. If you are having problems, have they considered Neulasta or Neupogen for your wbc counts? I took the shots the whole time and mine never dipped very low. I did get some infections in spite of that however. But the counts were always not too low and recovered.

• By MinnieM
• Reply 523501
• August 31, 2009 at 2:53 pm
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They gave me Neulasta while I was undergoing chemo, but no shot after the last one. I knew it would probably take me awhile to recover, but I didn't think it would take this long. My wbc has always run a bit low -- even before I had chemo, but this is much lower than my normal.

• By FavoriteAunt (Inactive)
• Reply 524792
• September 1, 2009 at 11:43 am
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It takes several weeks after treatment for the blood counts to recover. Since I always had problems with low wbc, I always got a Neulasta shot after each Taxol/carbo treatment, including the final one, and it worked fine. Never had a problem with red cells while on that.

I've had borderline counts with my current chemo (alternating with red, white and platelets), but they seem to get back up to the border again prior to the next treatment.

Be sure your doctor follows up so can get those counts back to normal.

• By quacker
• Reply 525702
• September 1, 2009 at 10:43 pm
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My white count bounced back to normal in a few days with Neulasta; the platelets in two weeks with red root tonic, but the hemoglobin took 4 months to get up to 11. I've been borderline anemic all my life and probably didn't have much in the way of red blood cell reserves.