Feeling desperate as platelets won’t rise

[Bluetilly]

please please has anyone experienced this: on Niraparib my platelet count dropped and I had a transfusion in hospital. That was last Monday and i have had another transfusion since then . After the transfusions the count goes up well, then falls again and my count just won’t go up on its own but keeps going down. They need to see it rise before I can go home. I am so so depressed and upset and I can’t see the count ever going up again. Please has this happened to anyone else? And how long could it take?

[Lovedogs41]

Hi

I used papaya leaf extract 1000mg 3 times a day and ate pomegranate seeds everyday to bring up my platelets.The doctor was naturally v surprised how well it worked for me! Worth a try if the infusions aren’t doing it maybe

[Bluetilly in reply to Lovedogs41]

Thank you for that recommendation Lovedogs41, it’s definitely worth a try. I shall have to get my daughter to buy it as hospital shop certainly doesn’t stock it.

[Lovedogs41 in reply to Bluetilly]

Yes you will need a good health food shop try the pomegranate seeds aswell each day x

[Mysticmeg123 in reply to Lovedogs41]

Hi Lovedogs41 - I was told to so the same and ordered papaya leaf extract and like you, ate pomegranate seeds like twice a day. And, it brought my platelets up.

[Lovedogs41 in reply to Mysticmeg123]

that’s great I’m so glad it worked for you too!

I always think it’s good when a natural product works instead of taking a drug with likely side effects.

[N-A-58]

are you having a blood transfusion or a platelet transfusion?

[Bluetilly in reply to N-A-58]

a platelet transfusion. I thimk the red celld are ok

[N-A-58 in reply to Bluetilly]

my mums onc said platelet transfusions only last 24 hours. A blood transfusion is not as instant but it last 3 months and helps with platelets. My mums dropped to 5 at one point.

[win_56]

Please don't panic. The same happened to me. My platelets crashed on gemzar and went down to 6. I had an emergency platelets transfusion. Platelets would rise to about 34 then drop again, then rise again then drop again. This went on for about 8 days. My oncologist said this can happen and sometimes the body takes time to get bloods/platelets back to normal. It's back in normal range now but it did take a while.

[Rosado22]

I ordered Papaya chunks from Holland and Barrett and my hubby brought them into hospital when my platelets crashed. My blood platelets reading was taken twice that day and there was quite an increase. He also brought dark chocolate. I nibble pumpkin seeds daily and the papaya chunks. Eventually found the papaya leaf tea on Amazon but wasn’t sure re taking that. Hubby also brought in a carton of pomegranate juice and beet juice which I drink daily. I had blood test the other week and didn’t bruise so I’m guessing I’m okay.

[Rosado22]

Waitrose sell fresh pomegranate seeds - not cheap, Tesco sells the juices in cartons.

[Mtngirl9]

I had this issue while on a trial. I had to finally get on prednisone for a couple of months. I suspect they need to find the reason you can’t build up your platelets. I was ultimately removed from the trial.

[Bluetilly in reply to Mtngirl9]

Thank you all so much for your hints and for sh

[Bluetilly in reply to Bluetilly]

thank you so much, dear friends, for your hints and for sharing your experiences with me. It really is a great help xx

[Summergold2]

I do beet juice 4 oz in morning and night and 2 oz of wheat grass (tastes terrible) but went from 81 to 121 in a week don’t know if it’s because of the beet at wheat but beforehand I was always fighting to try to do anything to get platelets up as chemo would tank them

[Bluetilly]

That’s an interesting idea, thank you. Other people have also mentioned beet juice. So there really do seem to be things we can take thst help platelets

[Rosado22]

I ordered the wheat grass from John Lewis, surprisingly. I only took it for about four days as wasn’t that sure about taking it. My platelets had gone up. Went to chemo and they seemed surprised. I kept schtum and decided to just do my dark chocolate, pomegranate and beet regime for the rest of chemo. It wasn’t so onerous on chemo as I only really went for it when the blood test was coming up. I feel the need to keep the papaya chunks regime going daily, with the seeds - chia and pumpkin - bit of a chore!