What is the side effect of hydroxyurea?

SIDE EFFECTS: Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, mouth sores, diarrhea, or constipation may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, tell your doctor or pharmacist promptly. Many people using this medication have serious side effects. Is hydroxyurea a chemotherapy?
Hydroxyurea (hydroxycarbamate, Hydrea) is a chemo drug that has helped some patients with CMML live longer. This drug comes as a capsule that’s taken by mouth daily. It can bring the numbers of white blood cells and monocytes down to normal. It may also help shrink an enlarged spleen.

What is the action of hydroxyurea?

Mechanism of Action Hydroxyurea is a potent RR inhibitor that reduces intracellular deoxynucleotide triphosphate pools and acts as an S-phase-specific agent with inhibition of DNA synthesis and eventual cellular cytotoxicity. How long can you be on hydroxyurea?
But, you should try the hydroxyurea for at least six months before stopping It.

Is hydroxyurea taken for life?

Hydroxyurea oral capsule is used for long-term treatment. It comes with risks if you don’t take it as prescribed. If you stop taking the drug suddenly or don’t take it at all: Your cancer cells may divide more rapidly or your sickle cells may change back to their sickle shape. Will I lose my hair on hydroxyurea?

Hair loss is rare with hydroxyurea. If you lose hair, it will grow back once you stop treatment with hydroxyurea.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

Can you live a normal life with ET?

Patients with ET have an excellent chance of living a normal life span if they are properly monitored and treated as necessary. A small number of patients may develop acute leukemia or a bone marrow disorder called myelofibrosis.

Does hydroxyurea weaken your immune system?

Hydroxyurea can weaken your immune system. Call your doctor at once if you have a fever, chills, body aches, extreme tiredness, shortness of breath, bruising, or unusual bleeding.

Can JAK2 mutation be cured?

JAK2 inhibitors and other drugs currently used to treat myelofibrosis and other myeloproliferative neoplasms do not cure the disease. Chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplantation is the only treatment with the potential to cure myelofibrosis.

Is hydrea used to treat high platelets?

Your doctor may suggest one of the following prescription drugs, perhaps along with low-dose aspirin, to reduce your platelet count: Hydroxyurea (Droxia, Hydrea.) This drug is the most common prescription used for essential thrombocythemia.

Does hydroxyurea affect your teeth?

Is hydroxyurea a blood thinner?

Hydroxyurea can temporarily lower the number of white blood cells in your blood which increases the chance of getting an infection. It can also lower the number of platelets, which are necessary for proper blood clotting.

What are the benefits of hydroxyurea?

Hydroxyurea makes your red blood cells bigger. It helps them stay rounder and more flexible — and makes them less likely to turn into a sickle shape. The medicine does this by increasing a special kind of hemoglobin called hemoglobin F. Hemoglobin F is also called fetal hemoglobin because newborn babies have it.

Can hydroxyurea cause liver damage?

(75 year old woman with polycythemia vera developed high fevers within 3 weeks of starting hydroxyurea, which resolved rapidly upon stopping and recurred within 12 hours of restarting; no mention of serum enzyme elevations).

What are the long term effects of taking hydroxyurea?

Long-term treatment with hydroxyurea is associated with painful skin ulcers, aphthous ulcers, non-ulcerative toxicity with erythema, and skin infiltration. [17] Rarely, long-term therapy with hydroxyurea is associated with gangrene of the toes and digits.

Does hydroxyurea increase life expectancy?

CONCLUSION: the survival curve is greater among the users of hydroxyurea. The results indicate the importance of the nurse incorporating therapeutic advances of hydroxyurea in her care actions.

Does hydroxyurea cause neuropathy?

Hydroxyurea-induced erythromelalgia is a very rare event. Hydroxycarbamide has been reported to cause peripheral neuropathy when it is combined with didanoside and stavudine (as in human immunodeficiency virus). The effect is dose-dependent. Such combined medication was never given to the patient.

Is hydroxyurea a safe drug?

Hydroxyurea may increase the risk that you will develop other cancers, including skin cancer. Plan to avoid unnecessary or prolonged exposure to sunlight and to wear protective clothing, sunglasses, and sunscreen. Talk with your doctor about the risks of taking hydroxyurea.

Does hydroxyurea increase blood pressure?

No therapies reverse the disease process in the lung arteries, however there are three approved drugs that can temporarily dilate the vessels and improve symptoms. … Hydroxyurea in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Condition or disease	Intervention/treatment	Phase
Pulmonary Hypertension	Drug: Hydroxyurea	Early Phase 1

Is chlorambucil a chemotherapy?

Drug Type: Chlorambucil is an anti-cancer (antineoplastic or cytotoxic) chemotherapy drug. This medication is classified as an alkylating agent. (For more detail, see How this drug works section below).

Does hydroxyurea make you gain weight?

At 18 months, the hydroxyurea-treated subjects exhibited an average weight gain of 3.16 kg. The mean weight gain in the placebo-treated subjects was 1.82 kg. Body composition analysis showed that the additional weight in both groups involved both lean and fat body mass components.

Can hydroxyurea cause pancreatitis?

Few side effects have been reported with hydroxyurea used in conjunction with didanosine. 1 Pancreatitis is a dose dependent adverse event of didanosine, occurring in 0.7-5.5% of patients receiving doses between 200 mg and 750 mg per day, almost always within the first nine months.

What should I eat if my platelets are high?

Foods to eat to increase platelet count include: folate-rich foods. foods rich in vitamins B-12, C, D, and K. iron-rich foods. … Folate-rich foods

• dark, leafy green vegetables, such as spinach and Brussels sprouts.
• beef liver.
• black-eyed peas.
• fortified breakfast cereals and dairy alternatives.
• rice.
• yeast.

Is thrombocythemia a form of leukemia?

Essential thrombocythemia patients develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML) at a rate of 1-4% during a median follow-up of 7-10 years. The risk increases with advanced age, anemia, platelet count ≥ 1000 × 10(9)/l, the presence of ≥ 2 somatic mutations and after the first decade of diagnosis.

Can high platelets cause tiredness?

Essential thrombocythemia (throm-boe-sie-THEE-me-uh) is an uncommon disorder in which your body produces too many platelets. Platelets are the part of your blood that sticks together to form clots. This condition may cause you to feel fatigued and lightheaded and to experience headaches and vision changes.

Why do you have to wear gloves with hydroxyurea?

Pharmacy personnel should always wear impervious gloves when handling bottles of Hydrea (hydroxyurea) to minimize skin exposure to the antineoplastic agent, according to its manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb.