Hello Nikki,
I was diagnosed about 3 years ago; I am now 39. For the first year I was not treated. When my Platlets hit 2.3 million I was started on Hydrea. I took hydrea for one year 1500 mgs q day with some success. I was able to keep my count between 600,000 and 750,000. As I increased the dose to drop the counts lower my WBC and RBC would drop too much. About 15 months ago I started once a week interferon injections as part of a clinical trial out of MD Anderson Hospital (Houston). My platlets are normal and my bone marrow shows signs of normalizing. I have had to stop periodically due to low WBC, & RBC. It is not without side effects but it does hold some promise of normalizing my bone marrow and possible total remission.
As for the Hydrea. I wouldn't hesitate to start. For me the side effects were minimal (some fatigue) but no hair loss or mouth sores. At the doses it is used for ET it is rare to have severe side effects. I would start something with counts of 1.3 million, the danger is probably minimal but the consequences of something are too significant to ignore.
Hope this helps. If you want more information about the clinical trial I am on you can contact me at :
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