1 week ZANU done!

[Nana1961]

Hey!

Just completed my first week of ZANU. Doing well. Some side effects but very manageable.

Nauseous, diarrhea, dizziness, tingling lips. Zofran is helps with nausea a lot!

WBC up to 229k

Hemoglobin down 10.2

Platelets 178

Kidney function good.

Praying that things keep going well!

[Richard_TX]

So good to hear. It's been working great for me for the past year.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Side effects other than the risk of developing high blood pressure decrease over time with BTKi drugs, so you appear to be off to a good start, provided you keep on top of the nausea by taking the Zofran before you expect to experience any nausea.

Keep in mind that your WBC is the total of all your different white blood cell types. healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo... It's wise to track changes in your ALC - absolute lymphocyte count (what's happening to your blood CLL tumour burden) and your ANC - absolute neutrophil count (your primary protection against infection). Ignore percentages in your blood test reports unless you need them to calculate your absolute counts (ANC = WBC x percentage of neutrophils, etc.).

About 2 in 3 starting on BTKi drugs see their ALC initially climb, as the CLL is driven out of the nodes, spleen and bone marrow into their blood, where the CLL cells eventually die. See attached results for a few patients on acalabrutinib (Calquence), a very similar BTKi to zanubrutinib (Brukinsa).

Neil

An ALC (and hence WBC) spike is common for a few weeks after starting on a BTKi

[Nana1961 in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks for the info!

[Katie-LMHC-Artist]

Good to hear. I am on week 3 of Zanibrutinib. I have only had a little dizziness after taking my morning dose and it goes away quickly. I was on Acalabrutinib for 18 months and had a headache for 18 months! 😩That is why I switched. It feels great not to have a daily headache!!! Good luck with things!👩‍🦳

[Nana1961 in reply to Katie-LMHC-Artist]

You too!!! The anti viral makes me feel worse than the ZANU!!

[skipro]

I wish you all the best on your treatment.

I have been told by experts that when One takes a BTKi, the lymphocyte counts will go up first before coming down.

My doc told me that it was like a sinking ship all of the rats come out of everywhere. Similarly all of the CLL cell rats come out of the spleen and lymph nodes as they're being killed and thus the numbers go up before they come down

Regardless with this treatment

May God bless you on your journey

Ski pro

[Nana1961 in reply to skipro]

He’s correct! Lymphocytes have doubled.

Thanks for sharing.