Platelets are low

bsrules
bsrules Member Posts: 296
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
Hello everyone this beautiful sunny day!! My husband is doing chemo and his White count was really bad so they finally gave him a shot to help that. Now his Platelets are taking a beating and he is on Coumindan for his blood clots. That doesn't sound good. The Doctor said to give it time for them to come back up but they have been skipping treatments which can't be good either. Does anyone know if there is anything they can give him for that or what do they do for that. Any info would help. Enjoy this beautiful day!!!!

Comments

  • cmcl
    cmcl Member Posts: 78
    #2
    It is a beautiful day! Finally!!!! Anyway..... my platelets use to drop all the time. Sometimes I would skip a week of treatment or just a few days. It all depended on how fast my body could build up more platelets. I was also told there is nothing to do about low platelets, just time. Be patient.
    Take care,
    Carolyn
  • KrisS
    KrisS Member Posts: 229
    #3
    cmcl said:

    It is a beautiful day! Finally!!!! Anyway..... my platelets use to drop all the time. Sometimes I would skip a week of treatment or just a few days. It all depended on how fast my body could build up more platelets. I was also told there is nothing to do about low platelets, just time. Be patient.
    Take care,
    Carolyn

    It is good to hear that it is a pretty day where you are too. I was watching it out of the window most of the day while getting chemo. Thank goodness for daylight savings time so that I could enjoy a bit of it.

    There is a drug, I believe the brand name is Neulastin, that can raise platelet counts. It has lots more side effects than Procrit, used to raise red blood counts, or Neupagin or Neulasta that work primarily for elevating white blood counts. Because of this it apparently is reserved for patients with very dangerously low platelet counts 10,000 or less. They can give platelet transfusions but there can be problems with those also. For that reason, they also are reserved for cases where platelet counts are very dangerously low. I was told that the danger of bleeding much more frequently than usual is at platelet counts of 20,000 or less. Normal platelet counts are I believe above 150,000. Mine are routinely 100,000 on chemotherapy. They have gotten down to 85,000. My oncologist says they take a bit longer to build back up than white blood counts.

    Take care,

    Kris
  • bsrules
    bsrules Member Posts: 296
    #4
    KrisS said:

    It is good to hear that it is a pretty day where you are too. I was watching it out of the window most of the day while getting chemo. Thank goodness for daylight savings time so that I could enjoy a bit of it.

    There is a drug, I believe the brand name is Neulastin, that can raise platelet counts. It has lots more side effects than Procrit, used to raise red blood counts, or Neupagin or Neulasta that work primarily for elevating white blood counts. Because of this it apparently is reserved for patients with very dangerously low platelet counts 10,000 or less. They can give platelet transfusions but there can be problems with those also. For that reason, they also are reserved for cases where platelet counts are very dangerously low. I was told that the danger of bleeding much more frequently than usual is at platelet counts of 20,000 or less. Normal platelet counts are I believe above 150,000. Mine are routinely 100,000 on chemotherapy. They have gotten down to 85,000. My oncologist says they take a bit longer to build back up than white blood counts.

    Take care,

    Kris

    Thank You for the information. When we go in on Wed. for chemo treatment I will discuss this with his doctor. I don't feel so lost now that I have your guys to ask my questions to. Again, Thank You!!

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