White Cell Count Reducing

[Britcom]

Hi. I was diagnosed Dec 15 and over the first 9 months my count reached over 50. In April last year I decided to adopt a plant based diet for health reasons. Since then my quarterly consultations have seen a steady reduction in my count and yesterday it was down to 26, which is where it was when first diagnosed. My consultant doesn’t really understand why it’s coming down and my only life change is diet. I’m still not doing much exercise and I’m a regular drinker (real ale). Is anyone else experiencing a fall in count and has anyone had positive results following dietary changes? I’m still suffering from the cold/flu bug that I picked up at Christmas and was honestly expecting an increase in count as a result of fighting infection. I’d be really interested if any fellow CLL sufferers have had a similar experience. Looking forward to spring!!!!!!

[Cammie]

Healthy living including diet and exercise obviously helps with overall fitness and well being.

Yes counts do vary up and down as the cll cells are clever little blighters!

Blood counts,although being the mainstay of checking for progression, can vary over time as the marrow works hard to produce all our blood cells. Also cll cells hide in lymph nodes, spleen and other organs before rushing out for a party in our blood stream.

Whilst your heamotologist might not know why your count is dropping without further tests such as a bmb etc they should not be surprised as experience will tell them this is a regular occurrence.

Whilst you are fortunate enough to be in this position enjoy!

Wishing you many years in Watch and wait.

Geoff

[LoganS]

I started a plant based diet in May 2016. My WBC stays 13-18. I feel so much better. I try to stay with organic wines, beer, alchohol. In moderation.

[Hidden]

I’ve been plant based to two years with no decrease. Could it god be a decrease in stress?

[Mandy56]

I kept my wbc on a very slow increase for 8 years and a reduction last year from 35 to 25. Unfortunately, due to massive stress at work and home for a year, my spleen is huge, so my consultant wants to start treatment, even though WBC still stable. I firmly believe a plant based diet is so good for us. If you haven’t yet read The China Study or Your Life in you Hands, di so. Very though provoking.

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

While rare, some patients do experience spontaneous remissions. And following a healthy lifestyle and eating healthy can improve our ability to deal with all the secondary impacts of having a compromised immune systems, there is little to no scientific evidence of a cause and effect benefit in reducing Lymph counts.

See: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/193...

and the British equivalent:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

Len

[Carrot_Top]

I too have experienced a decrease in my WBC. The first year after my dx after going plant-based and more recently after cutting back on wine. The dirty dozen (produce most high in pesticides) shows that grapes are one of them, thus wine also. My Oncologist said he normally sees it stay steady, at best, but not that it goes down. I plan to keep adopting healthy lifestyle choices to avoid treatment!

[Kagama]

I was diagnosed 5 months ago and decided to go vegan shortly after that, in the hopes of helping and maybe making a difference. I am eating very good whole foods, no sugar, all healthy. I also started drinking Essiac tea and moringa tea and taking supplements. My most recent blood work showed several positive changes. My WBC dropped from 13.5 to 10.2, MCH from 27.2 to 28, Lymphocytes from 9.3 to 7.1. As this is all new to me, I don't know how significant or not this is, however I feel good knowing that I am doing what I can to feed my body in a healthy manner. It keeps me hopeful. As an added benefit, my family who are also adopting the same vegan style, are keeping themselves healthier too!

[Big_Dee in reply to Kagama]

I think that is great! I was diagnosed in Aug 2017 at 15 WBC and am at 32.5 WBC now and it keeps climbing. I have flu now otherwise feel fine. I started some time back with no sugar, no starches, veggies and fruits. I do 3-6 miles a day walking and treadmill. Whereas my WBC is not going down, I feel changes in diet will help me to withstand chemo later down the road. May all of you be blessed on your journeys.

[nelletap]

I was diagnosed 2010; my figures have risen slowly but steadily but over the last 2 years there seems to be a pattern that it reduces in Spring and increases in Autumn. (My surgery is doing 6 monthly blood tests April and October). In fact, my recent blood test October 2018 is lower than October two years ago. It makes me think there must be a way to work out what might cause a reduction and improve it further. I have improved my diet - less processed food but I wouldn't say it was a dramatic change. I do manage to sleep better. For the 7/8 weeks before my most recent test, (where there was an increase) I spent the first 4 weeks in the US so time zone was 6 hours behind UK and this was followed by 2 weeks in the Baltics where I was 1 to 2 hours ahead of UK time and then a week after I returned we changed the clocks. These factors do of course interfere with sleep. I don't get a huge amount of exercise but do take part in Tai Chi regularly but not in those 7/8 weeks away from home and reduced for the summer school holiday prior to that.