Low blood platelets and chemotherapy
Common Questions and Answers about Low blood platelets and chemotherapy
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I have the blood disease Myelodysplasia, which in my case manifests itself by lowering my platelets and white blood cells. I am reluctant to undergo chemotherapy. Can anyone suggest a natural therapy that could slow the progression of this disease?
had my thyroid removed - started thyroid meds - since last chemo for thymoma which started about 6 weeks after that, my red blood cells and platelets have not responded - have had several transfusions. the last time I had good red cell numbers were right after they took out my thyroid out and waited 5 weeks before iodine radiation. Has anyone heard of any reaction like this?
It is hard to take care of my children and work a full time job. I am always so drained and tired. I gained a lot of weight because I was on high doses of prednisone. Has anyone experienced anything like this and can give me a guess when this will taper off? I want to lose this extra weight but feel so drained after work.
He is having a hard time getting his platelet count back up. He said they want it over 50 and his is around 37, and they are giving him platelets daily. Are they just being slow to rebuild on their own, or could it be something more? He's very frustrated...and still stunned. How do you go for what you thought was a UTI and end up in a cancer institute? He was supposed to start a new round of chemo this week, but not sure if they will do it if his platelets aren't coming up.
I have cirrhosis and my platelets, red blood cells, and white blood cells are slightly low. My platelets run about 115, my white count runs between 3-4 and my red count bounes from low normal to just below normal. My hemoglobin is always normal. So, if you do not have cirrhosis it is usually something else causing the low counts. You haven't mentioned your exact counts. That might help. Also, what has your doctor said? This would have nothing to do with your genotype.
Platelets are produced in your bone marrow. A medical problem that involves your bone marrow, such as occurs with leukemia and some types of anemia, could lead to a reduction in the number of new platelets produced. Viral infections, including HIV infection, may suppress your bone marrow's ability to make platelets. Other cancers that affect bone marrow, chemotherapy drugs and heavy alcohol consumption also can impair platelet production.
we do not have a way to boost the platelets unlike blood transfusions and iron therapy for the red cells and neupogen or neulasta for white counts.
The only time we do platelet transfusions is if there is active bleeding in the setting of a low platelet count or the count is below 10 thousand and we worry about spontaneous bleeding.
Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy usually cause a transient decrease in blood cells counts (typically involving red and white blood cells, although platelets can also decrease). With chemotherapy, the greatest decrease in counts happen around 8-10 days after drug administration, and it takes two weeks or more for the blood counts to recover. Low red cell counts (anemia) can cause you to get tired more easily, and to have some difficulty falling asleep.
"what is reason for elevated MCV , drop RBC and WBC and platelets..
please kindly tell me.. "
You have been given some excellent information by the above posters. I will just add that the Interferon and Ribavirin cause the various changes you see in the blood test results. Literally everyone gets anemic (low RBC), and everyone sees a drop in white blood count and platelets. Your grandfather's platelets have dropped but they are still okay (not in any danger zone).
Grossly abnormal liver architecture eventually ensues that can lead to decreased blood flow to and through the liver. Decreased blood flow to the liver and blood back up in the portal vein and portal circulation leads to someof the serious complications of cirrhosis. Blood can back up in the spleen causing it to enlarge and sequester blood cells. Most often, the platelet count falls because of splenic sequestration.
At the hospital, we had discovered that his blood tests had come in already and the results were that his platelets were really low...27. We chose to have my dog stay over night at the hospital to be monitored. One day later, his platelets dropped even more...12 and his red blood cell count was lower than before. We have also been informed that they were giving him more meds. I am so concerned as we haven't gotten any answers yet. How soon til the meds start working?
If your blood was being checked a couple times per week (I am not suggesting this is necessary) as mine was for a few weeks, you would see the bounce in platelets. Within a couple of days of my peg shot, my platelets dropped to low 70's (I am stage 0, grade 1) and then by end of week they bounced back up to low 100's. I started at 223. So I wouldn't sweat the platelets at this point, depending on the day of blood draw they could vary widely.
I'm 36 weeks and 3 days and have really low platelets (64,000 ) this only happens when I get pregnant.
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