Is my white blood cell drop from 174,000 to 30,000 on Brukinsa too much?

That's a significant change in your numbers, and it's completely understandable to have concerns about how quickly things are shifting with your treatment. While dramatic drops in white blood cell counts can happen with CLL treatments, this is definitely something worth discussing with your medical team to make sure everything is progressing as expected. Have others in the community experienced similar changes with their treatments, and how did those conversations with their doctors go?

I relapsed and WBC was 330,000 I’m now at 7,000 with a change from Imbruvica to Calquence. The only issue I have at all is Calquence kills good red blood cells as well as the Bad White cells causing anemia. So I’m pretty cold all the time. I guess a small price to pay for a disease in remission

I was diagnosed with CLL in 2025 and was put on Burkinsa as well. My white Cell count went back to normal immediately after. That was fast. Not sure what the count was. But the side effects were pretty ugly and my doctor has taken me off the Burkinsa. I had my labs done on Friday and see my hematologist oncologist this next week to find out what those results are.

Pamela, do you mind telling me what your side effects were. I was diagnosed with CLL over six years ago, and only recently see signs of the disease advancing. Skin problems, night sweats. No treatment yet, but I want to be mentally prepared. Thanks.