What are the side effects of taking a white blood cell injection?

The white blood cell injection we are talking about today is not a whitening injection, but refers to the mechanism of action of its scientific name, human recombinant granulocyte-stimulating factor. Simply put, when the white blood cell count is low, it stimulates the bone marrow to produce new white blood cells. This is mostly used for patients whose white blood cell count is low after chemotherapy. And this white blood cell-raising injection must be given at least 3 times in a row to achieve the ideal effect. Some patients are worried about whether such stimulation will cause new damage to the body. Let's learn about the side effects of the white blood cell-raising injection.

The most obvious side effects of white blood cell injections :

It can cause bone pain, which is due to the excessive acceleration of the production of white blood cells by hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow. Generally, the symptoms will be relieved after stopping the white blood cell-raising injection for a period of time.

The bone marrow suppression caused by chemotherapy is mainly manifested as a decrease in white blood cells, mainly a decrease in granulocytes. The sharp increase in white blood cells caused by the white blood cell-raising injection is only a phenomenon produced after the mobilization of the bone marrow. It will gradually return to normal after stopping the medication. Don't worry too much, it will not have much impact on your body. Just remember to monitor your blood count next time during the white blood cell injection. Generally, it is enough to increase the white blood cell count to over 10,000.

During cancer chemotherapy, chemotherapy drugs inhibit bone marrow hematopoiesis, leading to a decrease in white blood cells, sometimes even as low as 500 per microliter. This is called agranulocytosis. This period can lead to a serious decrease in the body's immunity, and may lead to secondary infections in the lungs, intestines, oral cavity, and perianal mucosa. This is the most common and most serious toxic side effect of chemotherapy.

In order to restore the hematopoietic function of the bone marrow as quickly as possible, bone marrow colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) is used clinically to stimulate rapid hematopoiesis in the bone marrow, among which injections to increase white blood cells are more commonly used.

Generally, around the tenth day of chemotherapy, bone marrow suppression is most severe, and then hematopoietic function begins to recover. There is no feeling when using the white blood cell-raising injection for the first time. Sometimes it can be injected subcutaneously once or twice, and 300 micrograms can be used each time. After several days of injections, the bone marrow hematopoiesis is accelerated. Due to the rapid growth of cells, the patient may feel obvious discomfort.

The main symptoms are swelling and pain in the entire spine, especially in the lumbar and sacral regions, sometimes throbbing pains. This feeling is very obvious and unbearable, as if there were awls drilling inside. Even straightening up your back is difficult. At this time, you can only lie still. If you try to sit up, you will scream in pain.

Commonly used drugs for increasing white blood cells in clinical practice include: vitamin B4, leucine, shark liver alcohol, coenzyme A, etc., which generally have no side effects. Patients can choose it at their discretion under the guidance of a doctor.