Granocyte ™

Granocyte is used to stimulate the growth of white blood cells after you have received your chemotherapy, or if you are getting stem cell transplantation.

It is injected under the skin, usually around the abdomen area. Simply pinch some skin, and insert it at an angle. Your doctor or nurses will make sure that you are trained in this procedure. If you cannot bear to inject yourself, a district nurse or outpatient visit can be arranged for this purpose Injections are easy, and I give them to my self.

You have to get your mind around giving yourself injections, but the way I did it, was to think about the total movement required. ie: it’s not inches. If you touch the needle to your skin, you only have to press gently and it’s in. Honestly, you won’t feel pain, I wouldn’t even describe it as uncomfortable.

The top picture on the right shows the Granocyte kit. It comes with water solution in a pre-filled syringe to activate it, a large needle to inject the water into and draw out from the Granocyte powder in the bottle, and the small needle which you use to inject it into yourself.

After you use it, you put the used needle in the sharps box as shown on the right

The bottom picture shows all the needles that I used during my treatment.

Like almost all drugs, growth factors may cause side effects. These depend on which growth factor you have, and may vary from one person to another.

Some people have bone pain: usually a dull ache or discomfort in the bones of the back, pelvis, arms or legs. This is usually mild and goes away when the growth factor injections stop.

Your skin may become red and itchy around the place where the injection is given. This will disappear once the course of injections is over.

GMCSF may cause fever, chills and fluid retention. Fluid retention may lead to swelling of the ankles or breathlessness.

Tell your doctor or nurse if you have any side effects. Your doctor may prescribe painkillers such as paracetamol to help

Click on the link below to visit the manufacturers website

http://www.chugai.co.uk/pdfs/PIL_Granocyte.pdf

Back to the homepage or Hit your ← return key to go back to the page you came from.

Click here to e-mail me