My platelets are in the normal range after stopping HU. Most likely coincidence but I’ll take it.

Take the medication with food. Survey your diet. Be prepared to eat more anti-inflammatory foods as well as liver friendly foods. You may find lists on the internet. Be prepared to drink lots of water and get an appropriate amount of sleep.

Watch your skin and moisturize. Your skin may become sensitive, so use good unscented skin products such as those like Aveeno; and get derm checked regularly.

Be fully aware of side effects but don’t obsess; tune into your body and what it tells you without imagining.

Any difficulties should be communicated to your physician. Some keep health journals particularly if their disease symptom burden is exceptionally troublesome.

Good luck and let us know how it goes

I have been on hydrea for almost 4 yrs (1000mg/day) and have not had any side effects thus far. I also take my tablets before going to bed to minimize sleepiness that some have complained about with hydrea.
Good luck to you - I also was worried about starting it so you are not alone!

Hi Laura,
I am newly diagnosed with PV this year. I just started on Hydroxyurea about three weeks ago, and I was really worried about taking a chemo drug. Surprisingly, I haven't noticed any side effects other than a bit of nausea if I don't take it with food or drink enough water. I take it at night before bed with some yogurt or cottage cheese to soothe my stomach. I also find that my skin is a bit dry, so I got a hypoallergenic skin lotion and use all unscented products. But then, I am very sensitive to stuff like that. We are lucky that there is a relatively cheap drug that works for us. However, I only take 500 mg daily and can't say what higher dosages would be like. Good luck with everything!🙂

I have been on hydroxyurea most of 23 years, and it has been very effective with no side effects at all until my dosage went to 2000 mgm/day when my ET transformed to PV last August.

Mouth sores that developed at that time disappeared when I began splitting my dosage between morning and night.

Some can’t tolerate hydrea, but many of us tolerate it very well, even at high doses.

Good luck.