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Re: Self-injecting Velcade - my experience
I weigh 160 lbs [73 kg].
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coop223 - Name: derek cooper
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Me
- When were you/they diagnosed?: November 2011
- Age at diagnosis: 57
Re: Self-injecting Velcade - my experience
Hi Derek.
Although you were asked about your weight, Velcade dose is calculated by body surface area, which is usually estimated by a formula involving both weight and height. The standard dose is 1.3 mg/m^2, and reduced doses of 1.0 mg/m^2 and 0.7 mg/m^2 are recommended in case of adverse effects. Some protocols use 1.5 mg/m^2.
For example, my wife is 1.499 m high and weighs 52.6 kg (yes, she's small) and her clinic calculates a body surface area of 1.48 m^2. Therefore her standard dose is 1.924 mg.
The full, FDA-approved prescribing and administering guidelines for Velcade are available here:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2014/021602s040lbl.pdf .
You were also asked about how you prepare the injection, and I'm interested in that too. Tj13 correctly points out that it comes in 3.5 mg vials. It's a powder that needs to be mixed with pure saline solution (0.9% NaCl) for injection.
For subcutaneous injection, the instructions say to add 1.4 ml saline, and then to draw out the amount needed for the individual dose. How much is that in your case?
I presume you must then discard the remainder of the vial, because "Reconstituted Velcade should be administered within 8 hours of preparation." It keeps much longer in the powder form.
If your injections are every 2 weeks, then in 90 days you will use 6 doses, so I guess they send you 6 vials at a time. Is that right?
(At my wife's clinic, they have many Velcade patients, but they give Velcade only on Tuesdays and Fridays. My guess is that on each of those days they mix up enough for everybody, enabling them to use all of most vials – and fewer vials than patients if there are many patients – saving money. This is not possible at home when you are the only patient.)
So far in this thread, you are the only person who has reported being allowed to do self-injections of Velcade. Is there anybody else out there doing this? I will start another thread with just this question.
Best wishes,
Larry
Although you were asked about your weight, Velcade dose is calculated by body surface area, which is usually estimated by a formula involving both weight and height. The standard dose is 1.3 mg/m^2, and reduced doses of 1.0 mg/m^2 and 0.7 mg/m^2 are recommended in case of adverse effects. Some protocols use 1.5 mg/m^2.
For example, my wife is 1.499 m high and weighs 52.6 kg (yes, she's small) and her clinic calculates a body surface area of 1.48 m^2. Therefore her standard dose is 1.924 mg.
The full, FDA-approved prescribing and administering guidelines for Velcade are available here:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2014/021602s040lbl.pdf .
You were also asked about how you prepare the injection, and I'm interested in that too. Tj13 correctly points out that it comes in 3.5 mg vials. It's a powder that needs to be mixed with pure saline solution (0.9% NaCl) for injection.
For subcutaneous injection, the instructions say to add 1.4 ml saline, and then to draw out the amount needed for the individual dose. How much is that in your case?
I presume you must then discard the remainder of the vial, because "Reconstituted Velcade should be administered within 8 hours of preparation." It keeps much longer in the powder form.
If your injections are every 2 weeks, then in 90 days you will use 6 doses, so I guess they send you 6 vials at a time. Is that right?
(At my wife's clinic, they have many Velcade patients, but they give Velcade only on Tuesdays and Fridays. My guess is that on each of those days they mix up enough for everybody, enabling them to use all of most vials – and fewer vials than patients if there are many patients – saving money. This is not possible at home when you are the only patient.)
So far in this thread, you are the only person who has reported being allowed to do self-injections of Velcade. Is there anybody else out there doing this? I will start another thread with just this question.
Best wishes,
Larry
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LarryD - Name: Larry D'Addario
- Who do you know with myeloma?: wife
- When were you/they diagnosed?: September 2012
- Age at diagnosis: 65
Re: Self-injecting Velcade - my experience
Thank you so much for this information.
My husband has been on Revlimid for 2 years and his numbers have been going up the past couple of months.
His doctor is talking about going back on Velcade injections (his first line of treatment almost 3 years ago) since it worked so well before his SCT. But my husband is an over the road trucker and cannot be at the hospital twice a week, so we are looking for alternative solutions to discuss with the doctor. We see him tomorrow and will ask him about it. I have heard some insurance companies won't pay for it if it is not given at the hospital.
Thank you again. Hope you are doing well.
My husband has been on Revlimid for 2 years and his numbers have been going up the past couple of months.
His doctor is talking about going back on Velcade injections (his first line of treatment almost 3 years ago) since it worked so well before his SCT. But my husband is an over the road trucker and cannot be at the hospital twice a week, so we are looking for alternative solutions to discuss with the doctor. We see him tomorrow and will ask him about it. I have heard some insurance companies won't pay for it if it is not given at the hospital.
Thank you again. Hope you are doing well.
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gwtwclh57
Re: Self-injecting Velcade - my experience
Here are a couple of other discussions in the Beacon's forum that people reading this thread may find interesting:
"New study about self-administering Velcade at home" (started Jan 9, 2016)
"Self-injecting Velcade - how common is it?" (started Oct 25, 2014)
"New study about self-administering Velcade at home" (started Jan 9, 2016)
"Self-injecting Velcade - how common is it?" (started Oct 25, 2014)
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