My first phlebotomy PV JAK2 +

[Mpncoda]

So Friday I was so scared of having the procedure and yet the staff were amazing and hardly felt any pain with it. I did however faint briefly so they stopped at 400ml instead of usual 500mil.

Does anyone know how long it takes to recover white blood cells after the phlebotomy? It’s the single one value that’s perfectly in range for me and lord knows we need to keep our immunity up during these times!

[hunter5582]

Glad to hear you got your first one out of the way. I never have any change in white blood cell levels due to phlebotomy. Platelets may go up a bit. It is the red blood cells that are decreased. Regular phlebotomy lowers your iron levels and thus decreases erythrocytosis.

There is an alternative under investigation where a hepcidin mimetic is used instead of phlebotomy. Achieves control of erythrocytosis while maintaining a higher iron level. Very promising research.

All the best to you.

[Mpncoda in reply to hunter5582]

Thanks so much for your input Hunter! Super scary since it was my first time yet they were so expert and kind I actually left feeling grateful ❤️

I will look up the alternative. I need 3 more phlebotomies in 2 week intervals due to HCT. Somehow it shot up from 50 to 58! Keeping the faith. Thanks

[hunter5582 in reply to Mpncoda]

The hepcidin mimetics are still in clinical trial, but I believe one has gone forward for FDA approval. Do give the Phlebotomy time. It takes more than one to do the job.

Here are a couple of articles of interest. There is lots more out there on these topics. The KISS version of iron metabolism and PV = our bodies do not metabolize iron normally - due to the JAK mutation our bodies tend to suck up all of the available iron and make red blood cells rather than storing it normally. (This is an over-simplification). We need to be iron deficient to control erythrocytosis. We can be significantly iron deficient without being anemic. They are not the same thing.

nature.com/articles/s41375-...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Hope that helps.