White blood cells dropped!

[SabaAK]

Good morning ladies. So my mom got her blood work results and her WBC is 1.73 her red blood cells dropped and also platelets. What did you ladies do to increase white blood cells? Do you think Vitamin C shots or IV is ok?

Thank you

Saba

[love2golfwell]

When my counts dropped my nutritionist recommended eating more protein so that it was I have been doing. I make smoothies every morning and use a plant based protein powder and sometimes add chia seeds and peanut butter. She recommended that I get between 40 and 60 grams of protein each day, spread over all of my meals. She also recommended eating a 1/4 cup of nuts every day to get protein. The lowest my WBC has dropped is 2.4 and that was tested my third week of Ibrance, on one of the last days of the cycle of pills. Usually it is in the upper 2's or 3's. I feel like the protein helps. Best of luck.

[SabaAK in reply to love2golfwell]

Thank you ❤️

[blms in reply to love2golfwell]

Yes that is what my onco department said as well. Rebbel makes a.great dark chocolate organic veg protein drink with 17 mgs of protein per 16 oz bottle. They are pricey but I get them anyway as a lot of protein in 16 oz. and tastes great . But thanks for reminder and info on that helping counts. I was thinking more because of eating syndrome than blood counts

[SabaAK in reply to blms]

Thank you ❤️

[blms in reply to SabaAK]

Grams not mg!

[Nocillo in reply to blms]

What is eating syndrome?

[Nocillo in reply to love2golfwell]

I asked what I could do to increase my whites and she said there’s nothing I can do. I take Ibrance, so maybe it’s going to lower them no matter what?

[SabaAK in reply to Nocillo]

Mom’s doctor decreased her ibrance too 100 mg from the next cycle.

[love2golfwell in reply to Nocillo]

The Ibrance definitely lowers the white blood cell counts and that is one of the main side effects of this medication as well as the other CDK4/6 inhibitors like Verzenio and Kisqali. I'm not sure why this happens. I wish they could come up with a medication or treatment that helps fight MBC but does not put us at further risk for other infections due to low WBC. Boosting our immune systems is so important but I don't think traditional oncologists offer alternative ways to do this. I have read about IV Vitamin C helping, but we have to find a way to get our doctors to agree to this, and that seems hard to do. If you could talk to a nutritionist maybe that would help. My cancer center in Florida provides access to nutritionists and therapists, so mine works with the oncologists. Best of luck.

[Beryl71]

Mine was .9WBC last check and neither doctor or oncologist could recommend anything. Just a healthy diet to boost immune system against infection. I couldn't find anything online either. I'm never told what all the other details are. I might ask in future. Good luck to your mum. X

[SabaAK in reply to Beryl71]

Thank you :). I’ve heard that vitamin C shots or IV helps a lot. Actually my friend’s daughter in low has had colon cancer and she had chemo for 6 months. For all this period of time she was having Vitamin C shots once a week and her blood counts became normal. And also I contacted alternative medicine centre and I’m told that they give their cancer patients high dose vitamin C IV to boost their immune system and it keeps white blood cells in normal range.

[Beryl71 in reply to SabaAK]

That's goods to know, thank you. X

[Verbena1]

Hi, I’ve also just been told I had low WBC. Mine went down to .7 and then the following week, to just below that. I had just started 125 mg of Ibrance 4 weeks ago, and was due to go back on them two days ago. My doc told me to stop taking them for now, and they’ll try to get me on 100mg. Also to wash my hands a lot and stay away from raw foods or leftovers. Outside of that, I wasn’t told to do anything to boost it, but I don’t feel sick at all, maybe just tired but that’s likely from the other meds! Hope all goes well~

[Beryl71 in reply to Verbena1]

Yes, the hygiene and and raw foods is because of the risk of infection I understand. I got a vaginal infection which took a while to get sorted and I had an open wound at one point which wouldn't heal. It was very painful but I had lots of other symptoms of neutropenia and felt very low and lacking in energy. I saw to be careful of yoghurt, but on the other hand it's good as a probiotic. So lots of complications.

[Verbena1 in reply to Beryl71]

You know, it’s funny. A large percentage of my diet is raw foods, especially raw dairy, green vegetable juice, etc. I know I should be cautious and they say don’t consume those things, but I feel just fine and eat/drink a lot of them. I suppose better to be on the safe side but for now I’ll keep eating living foods alongside the others.

[Beryl71 in reply to Verbena1]

I think it's meat and dairy produce more than veg. And I imagine only if your WBC is low. I'm with you on the diet. X

[SeattleMom]

Hello, Saba,

I was being treated with Ibrance when I was first diagnosed with MBC; and both my white cells and red cells dropped. I started adding Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid to my diet daily; and this helped quite a bit. God bless you and your mom!

Linda

[SabaAK in reply to SeattleMom]

Thank you❤️