Effectiveness of Jakafi & It’s Side Effects, Dosage

While using jakafi or ruxolitinib, regular blood tests must be conducted to ensure that jakafi or ruxolitinib is working and helping your condition without causing any dangerous affects. These regular blood tests will help your physician to identify and determine the correct amount of dosage required for your condition. It is important to make sure your blood tests are conducted every 2-4 weeks while taking jakafi. Also do not miss any of your visits to the doctor.

Jakafi also known as ruxolitinib is used to effectively block few enzymes that are responsible in affecting blood cell production in the body.

Jakafi or ruxolitinib is effectively used to treat polycythemia vera or myelofibrosis that are otherwise known as bone marrow conditions that mainly affects the blood cell production in the body.

If you have any allergies using jakafi or ruxolitinib, you must not take it. It is same if you have any form of severe kidney problems. It is important to tell your doctor if you have any kidney disease, liver disease or are on dialysis or pregnant at the time of treatment.

While using jakafi or ruxolitinib you are not supposed to bread feed your child as it might harm the child.

Grapefruit and its juice interact with this medicine easily and therefore you must tell your doctor about the usage of grapefruit products that you need to take.

It is important to follow up all the instructions and guidelines mentioned in the package and label. Also, you must tell all your doctors about all the medical conditions, medicines you take and all other allergies you are experiencing in life.

It is important to tell your doctor if you have ever had tuberculosis, or anyone at your home has the medical condition or if you have gone to a place where this medical condition (tuberculosis) is common.

Tell your doctor if you have any of these following conditions, in order to make jakafi or ruxolitinib safe for you:

• Liver disease (mainly Hepatitis B)
• Any active infection
• Kidney disease (if you are on regular dialysis)
• Any form of skin cancer (now or earlier in life)
• If you have triglycerides also a form of fat in body
• High cholesterol.

There are high possibilities to have skin cancer in the body while taking jakafi or ruxolitinib. Therefore, ask your doctor about this and also find out the symptoms about this condition.

It is unknown for now if jakafi or ruxolitinib can be dangerous to unborn child. Therefore, tell your doctor if you are planning to be pregnant or pregnant at the time. It is unknown if this medicine passes through breast milk to the feeding baby. Therefore, do not breast feed your child when you are taking this medicine.

• Take jakafi or ruxolitinib twice a day orally 20 milligrams if platelets are greater than 200 x 10 *(9)/L
• Twice a day orally 15 milligrams if platelets are 100 to 200 x 10 (9)/L
• Twice a day orally 5 milligrams if platelets are 50 to lesser than 100 x 10 (9)/L

• Take jakafi or ruxolitinib twice a day orally 25 milligrams if starting platelets are greater than 200 x 10 (9)/L
• Twice a day orally 10 milligrams if starting platelets are 50 to less than 100 x 10 (9)/L
• Jakafi Therapy Duration. This therapy will last for 6 months mainly if there is no symptom improvement or spleen reduction.

Jakafi or ruxolitinib dosage might be changed from time to time to give best and safe results. In case the current dosage is not sufficient and the neutrophil counts are not average then dosages can be increased by 5 milligrams two times a day. The initial dosage should not be increased in the first 4 weeks of beginning the treatment and dosages should not be changed frequently and must have 2 weeks time in between them.

Jakafi or ruxolitinib is for high-risk or intermediate myelofibrosis that includes post-polycythemia vera myelofibrosis, primary myelofibrosis, and also post necessary thrombocythemia myelofibrosis.

If you have any allergic reactions or severe side effects to jakafi or ruxolitinib you must get immediate help. The most common allergic reactions are swelling of lips, throat, face, tongue, difficulty in breathing, hives.

If you have any serious side effects get immediate medical assistance. Few side effects of jakafi or ruxolitinib will be similar to myelofibrosis symptoms such as:

• Painful skin rash or blisters
• Burning or paining while urination
• Change in shape, size and colour of skin lesion or moles
• Weakness, vomiting, nausea
• Low white blood cell count – pain when swallowing, fever, fly and cold symptoms, swollen gums, trouble breathing, painful mouth sores, couth, skin sores
• Low platelets – red point or purple spots under skin, unusual bleeding (vagina, nose, rectum, mouth), easy bruising
• Anemia or Low red blood cells – short of breath, light headed feeling, trouble concentrating, rapid heart rate, pale skin.

Some of the other common side effects of jakafi or ruxolitinib are as follows:

• Dizziness
• Anemia
• Headache is a common side effect of jakafi or ruxolitinib
• Low platelets (easy bruising).