Has anybody experienced a drop in platelets??

[redbank]

I have been experiencing a continuing drop in Platelets over the past few months. Wondering if anybody else has had experience with this.

[Magnus1964]

Some Pca drugs will deplete platelets.

[Hidden]

Cancer infiltration in the bone marrow can also cause this. How are your other blood counts doing?

[Tall_Allen]

Have you been diagnosed with bone marrow infiltration?

[redbank in reply to Tall_Allen]

No have not at this time. got my 3 month lupron today and we drew blood to see if the Lovenox and recent heart stenting that required a bag of Heprin so I might have answer to that soon. Secondly my blood sugar has been elevating to low 400's not sure now if the Lupron is pushing me to Diabetes & almost certain is has had the effect of weight gain I have never had an issue with any of this during my three year journey. I just don't want to start going down these roads. Diet is good never have been one to eat "junk" food getting exercise with cardiac rehab and general life.

[Cheerr]

You should ask your doctor to evaluate your entire blood tests. If there is a decline in RBC, WBC, Platelets etc together, then they may suggest you a bone marrow biopsy to identify any pca progression in marrow.

[tango65]

If your platelets are going down , and you have bone metastases you could discuss having an Axumin scan (if PSA 2 or higher) or try to get a PSMA PET/CT to determine if there is bone marrow infiltration which could explain the drop in the platelets.

There are clinical trials for PSMA PET/CTs:

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/resu...

clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/resu...

Best of luck on the journey!!

[redbank in reply to tango65]

no bone mets at this time just lung mets.

[tango65 in reply to redbank]

If you do not have bone metastases, bone marrow infiltration by the PC is very unlikely. You could consult with a hematologist, unless your MO is a hematologist. Many oncologists, are medical oncologists and also are board certified in hematology.

They have to do a work up to see why you have low platelets. Thrombocytopenia could have many causes. Some info from NIH:

nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics...

Best of luck!!

[LearnAll]

Most common cause of isolated low platelets are your medicines and supplements.side effect. e.g. losartan can cause low platelets, Nattokinase can cause low platelets... You need to review your meds and supplements to see if any one has thrombocytopenia as a side effects.

Bone marrow damage does not just cause low platelets...it causes all three cell lines..RBC, WBC and platelets go down simultaneously.

Check your MPV (mean platelet volume) if it is high..it means your bone marrow is producing platelets at a fast rate but your body is consuming platelets at a higher rate. That can happen if there is blood clotting happening somewhere.

Having low normal platelet count is usually a positive thing for people with PCa. If platelet count falls below 100,000 then only one should start being concerned, otherwise it is harmless.

At platelet count below 50,000 the risk of bleeding increases and only becomes life threatening when platelet count falls below 20,000.

[treedown]

Not sure this is relevant but my platelets were above normal at dx and have declined to mid-normal range since treatment. Not as low as what is good for PC unfortunately but I will mark it a win anyway.

[LearnAll]

To assess whether your Platelet count is good or not so good for PCa...you have to look at the ratio of platelets to lymphocytes (PLR) If it is below 100 ,its good. If it is 60 or 70, it is very good.

[sgrama in reply to LearnAll]

What if platelets are 29 and lymphocytes % are 25.8? How do you figure that out? His WBC is 4.7 and RBC are 3.05.

[LearnAll in reply to sgrama]

No. For PLR, you do not use % . PLR= Absolute platelets divided by Absolute lymphocytes .

The more important ratio is NLR which is Abs Neutrophils divided by abs Lymphocytes. It should be less than 3 . If it is between 1 and 2 ,that's very good.

[Hidden]

I can't find any evidence that SOC cancer treatment drugs cause thrombocytopenia with the exception of chemotherapy and Xofigo patients <10% (grade 3-4). From what I've read, he isn't doing either of those.

The most common symptoms of PCa bone marrow invasion are anemia and thrombocytopenia. I know someone who used to be on this forum with it and his WBCs were never effected.

[Newyork6264]

I had my platelets drop by 50% after radiation to a couple of bone Mets. They came back fairly quickly after it was over, and I was able to start chemo. Dropped to 60k after radiation, two weeks later recovered to over 100k

[abmicro]

Me too. Dropping. have not dropped low enough to kick me out of chemo. Hope they bounce back some after chemo, but it is a bad sign when they keep dropping. This November will mark my 18 th year as a prostate cancer warrior. Hope the battle is not ending soon. I will fight to the end.

[Doseydoe]

My WBC and RBC fell below the normal range while I was undergoing chemo.