Jay sent me a question that I think some other people might have. So we are going to do a comparative analysis on the two medications
My doctor recently put me on Hydroxyurea. I was hesitant taking it because of the long term side effect of leukemia, but in the end I took it. I’ve been on it since May, and since May I still was getting sick and in the hospital. Then my doctor increased my dosage. My boss is from Nigeria and told me about Nicosan, Ive never heard of it before, so I started to read about it and that’s how I found you. What do you think about Nicosan and Hydroxyurea?
First of all Jay, let me correct your misconception. Hydroxyurea (or Hydrea) was used primarily for the treatment of myeloproliferative (cellular abnormality) diseases like leukemia. The problem is that this treatment might trigger another rapid cell growth (which is a cancer pre-cursor).
Personally I would never take Hydroxyurea, although several people have told me that it works for them. Nicosan is my drug of choice and it’s been treating me very, very well. I’m going to break the pros and cons of both of them down just so you get a better picture.
- Adjunct chemotherapy drug (don’t know about you, but I’m anti-cancer anything!)
- Method of action: increases production of fetal hemoglobin cells by increasing nitric oxide levels (so pretty much, you can just take a soluble form of nitric oxide and cut out the hydrea altogether. Look up L-Arginine)
- Very toxic to the liver and kidneys. Causes bone marrow suppression
- Needs regular blood monitoring to check your platelet, BUN, liver enzymes and CBC levels
- Long term use hasn’t been fully studied..who knows what will happen for those that have been on it for 10 years?
- It is shown to reduce your rate of crises by 30% after you’ve been on it for 6-12 months.
- Causes fertility problems in men and crosses the placental barrier in women, so you MUST not get pregnant or nurse while on it or you will have a jacked up baby
- The side effects are atrocious and range from hair loss, loss of appetite, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, stomatitis, mucositis, anorexia….the list is practically endless. I’ve never talked to anyone that hasn’t exhibited at least one side effect.
- Has FDA approval although the pharmaceutical company keeps announcing that “the benefits outweigh the risks“. (*rolleyes*)
- #9 means that your insurance will pay for it and all you have is the $5-20 copay. If you don’t have insurance, it ranges from $80-$200 depending on your dosage.
- Natural and herbal. A combination of 3 herbs: Piper guineenses seeds, Pterocapus osum stem, Eugenia caryophyllum fruit and Sorghum bicolor leaves.
- Method of action: initiates an anti-sickling effect. The cells you do have won’t assume their sickle shape. This means no crises—yay!
- Naturally processed through the body. Doesn’t damage your organs in any way.
- No extra blood monitoring needed besides your usual H&H levels
- Long term use hasn’t been studied—but all these herbs have been used in African countries for thousands of years.
- Reduces the rate of crises by 80% after you’ve been on it for 30-90 days.
- Only side effect is flushing (blushing) due to increased blood circulation. Most people (like me) don’t even exhibit this.
- Has orphan drug status in the US although it’s fully approved in Nigeria. The only thing holding up FDA approval is the big pharmaceutical companies that want a cut of the pie. Since they don’t own the patent, they can’t charge you outrageously for it. The company that makes Hydroxyurea would loss their advantage in the field. They would rather us all suffer while they block the drug from being approved and keep lining their pockets.
- #6 means you will have to buy it out of pocket and order it from Nigeria until the FDA lets it be sold in the US under the phytochemical name of Hemoxin.
- If you are paying out of pocket and shipping from abroad, it’s pricier than Hydrea but this stuff actually works! 1 bottle of 30 pills costs around $60.00 and this includes shipping.
So….which do you think I picked? I’m on Nicosan, and it works for me.
For more information, read the tabs of the two drugs in the sidebar under File Cabinet. Good luck with your decision. Stay strong, stay positive and stay blessed!
Hi, where do i get Nicosan from?
OMGoodness! I dont even know what to say!
Well first off I want to thank you for writing on this topic. And I am so glad that I discovered this site today!
I am so shocked and I have been blinded for years about the effects of Hydroxyurea. I am a 23 year old student and I have been on Hydroxyurea since the 7th grade! When I first went on it, it worked well for me but now it has not been keeping me from the frequent hospital visits that I had experienced as a child. And Ive also been experiencing some of these side effects such as chronic nausea (which I have been trying to fix with tons of ginger tea) and diarrhea. I just didnt know where it was coming from at the time. This just disappoints me because I have trying to better my health through natural methods…and had no idea that their is a natural alternative to treatimg SCD.
And now its scarce. Is their anythimg that we can do about this?
hello tosin. i want to know more about nicosan. i am currently on hydrea and not really experiencing serious symptoms or side effects. but it seems you claim nicosan is better mainly cos it reduces crises by 80% (hydrea does this by just 30%) and other reasons. is this scientific/medical? is this from blood work or just hearsay?
if nicosan is proven to be so much better then i want to try it. i want to know when production resumes and how to help to resume production if i can! i want to know how to get it and also want to know if hematologists are monitoring patients on this drug? does your hematologist monitor/supervise your taking this drug?
thanks
d
i trust you will inform me and everyone else what Cellod-S is all about and where and how to get it. i assume it is so good and thats why many are raving about it.
thanks
CELLOID-S IS GOOD. WE WANT MORE RESEARCH ON IT
Is there anyway that we can take the children dose and double up on it? how much those a children bottle cost? I’ve been in and out the hospital every two weeks in crises and right now i give anything just like everyone else, to be pain free.
kindly my nephew is a sickler how do i get the drug i stay in Uganda
Wow, this was very helpful! I didn’t know about the severity of the side effects. I have a family member who will not allow their kid to hydroxyurea and didn’t know why. They mentioned side effects but I assumed that they were the normal uncomfortable side effects. Does anyone know where we can get the children’s dose?
My son is 3yrs old. How can I get nicosan for children?
I have been on hydroxyurea for about 3 years now in lagos Nigeria. Its been a good drug for me. What I do is just use one tablet twice a week, every other day, or when i am stressed. The trick is reduce the dosage.
Where can we get nicosan in Nigeria now?
Hi Zainab? I understand how you feel. Please don’t be depressed about the choice you made to terminate. I was in that same situation too but God saw me through. A consultant in Lagos forced me to begin hydroxyurea in 2009 December and it worked wonders for me. I still had crisis but significantly reduced. I did jobs I couldn’t imagine for 5 years. Then I got married and took in immediately while my spouse and I were still considering subtle ways to ease off the drug. I stopped it suddenly and decided to keep the pregnancy. I had severe crises and blood transfusions, eventually losing the baby at 8 months plus, a stillborn. I suffered severe depression too. A year later, we decided to start trying again but found out I was pregnant whilst on hydroxyurea AGAIN! My doctors were livid at my carelessness. I was advised to abort since I was on both hydroxyurea and sodium valproate. Or to keep monitoring until it’s safe to keep. I chose to keep. It was a scary 9 months. Today, I have a healthy beautiful one year old daughter who is intelligent and even surpassed her milestones. I won’t advise you to risk knowingly conceiving with hydroxyurea but if it should happen again, trust God.
Thank you very much for this great information.
Please any word for Nicosan producers or any available source of it please do inform us.