Low platelets

And if I remember rightly, there wasn't much I could do to raise them. No foods or drinks. I just had to sit it out until they climbed back up into range. 

Still, I don't think it hurts to eat as healthy a diet as possible. I swear food, healthy, natural food, can go a long way toward helping many of our ailments. 

Good luck!

Sue - Trubrit

Try using organic papaya leaf extract (as directed on the bottle) and one tablespoon of organic, cold pressed sesame oil twice per day (once in the AM and once in the PM).  I used it to boost my platelets from the 80s back to normal.  I was on FOLFIRINOX at the time.  It took two weeks for the supplements to work, and I continued taking them until the end of my treatment with this particular chemotheray regime.  The leaf extract can be ordered on Amazon (I tried the liquid and the capsule forms and both worked well) and the oil can be found at Whole Foods or Sprouts (I used Napa Valley Naturals brand since it was the only one I could find). You can order it online too but it gets pricey because of the shipping weight and cost.  I hope this helps!  

jen2012 said:

Thanks all.  She just replied

Thanks all.  She just replied to my email that they want to do a bone marrow biopsy and also abdominal ultrasound to check for portal  hypertension.  Jeff you have that, don't you?  Is it a big deal?  

My husband had this done about 25 years ago. It was extremely painful, so be prepared. Of course, they may have improved the method in 20 years, and it may not be as painful now. I just wanted to give you a bit of a heads-up.

Sue - Trubrit

jen2012 said:

Thanks all.  She just replied

Thanks all.  She just replied to my email that they want to do a bone marrow biopsy and also abdominal ultrasound to check for portal  hypertension.  Jeff you have that, don't you?  Is it a big deal?  

Im sorry, I didn't see your question. They think I have portal vein hypertension because my spleen is enlarged. Does he have an enlarged spleen? It would show on the scans. If he does have an enlarged spleen I know a few people have had thier spleen removed. My interventional radiologist said he could embolize it instaed of surgery. It is a simple outpatient proceedure. He said not to worry about it unless my platets get down to 50, then he would embolize my spleen.

jen2012 said:

Yes it did show enlarged on

Yes it did show enlarged on last pet/ct. At that time she didn't seem concerned, felt that it was holding platelets so she wouldn't worry about his low numbers so much since she felt it would shoot more out if needed.  But she hasn't treated in 3 weeks.

The way I understand it from what I have read and what my doctors are telling me that the platelets can get backed up in the spleen. I would talk to her nicely about it again. What is his platelet count right now. Some of it is definately treatment related too. My platelets came up some when I stopped treatment for a while last year but then dropped again before I went back on treatment which coninsided with an interval increase on speen size on the scan I had at that time. Since then I went back on Xeloda and my platelets dropped a little during each treatment cycle a little but my most recent scan showed no increase in spleen size.