HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Can't do Gemzar...sigh...the only one that ever works

cheery · 04-30-2013, 08:29 PM

Hi Coolbreeze

Sorry to hear you're feeling terrible. I'm also on Gemzar now but with Herceptin and Tykerb for my liver met recurrence. I've been feeling more tired lately (yes, there are days too when I can hardly get out of bed).. but I'm not sure if that's due to the liver or low WBC. My WBC was hovering around 1 but my onco has been kind enough to continue to give me chemo.

So.. what did I do to raise my WBC? My TCM doc is pretty good, his years of experience in TCM is longer than I have lived in this world, lol! I've since told him that I desperately need my WBC to be up and he's thus far been able to keep it up at around 2. I'm pretty thankful for that. I do make sure I have lean beef several times a week too, for the iron and protein.

I've had neupogen shots and it's pretty effective for me too. But the pain I get from neupogen is harrowing to say the least, I do not wish to have go through such unnecessary pain at this stage of my life.

My TCM doc tells me honestly that TCM can only help alleviate the side effects of chemo and enhance the effect of chemo. TCM will not be able to cure me. I do think it's helped me in the last 5 years with all these non-stop treatments.

For WBC, there's research that wheatgrass and Turkeytail mushrooms can help raise the WBC. Personally, I didn't find wheatgrass nor Turkeytail mushroom effective for me.

ETA - you've not mentioned liver enzyme levels. I've had liver injury before (liver enzymes shot through the roof) and it made me very tired too. I took liver essentiale then. Milk thistle and beetroot are supposed to help the liver detox. I do have milk thistle in a daily nail supplement and try to get fresh beetroot but I can't say if they're effective.

Hope this helps and that you'll feel better soon.

04-30-2013, 08:29 PM	#4
cheery Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Posts: 44	Re: Can't do Gemzar...sigh...the only one that ever works Hi Coolbreeze Sorry to hear you're feeling terrible. I'm also on Gemzar now but with Herceptin and Tykerb for my liver met recurrence. I've been feeling more tired lately (yes, there are days too when I can hardly get out of bed).. but I'm not sure if that's due to the liver or low WBC. My WBC was hovering around 1 but my onco has been kind enough to continue to give me chemo. So.. what did I do to raise my WBC? My TCM doc is pretty good, his years of experience in TCM is longer than I have lived in this world, lol! I've since told him that I desperately need my WBC to be up and he's thus far been able to keep it up at around 2. I'm pretty thankful for that. I do make sure I have lean beef several times a week too, for the iron and protein. I've had neupogen shots and it's pretty effective for me too. But the pain I get from neupogen is harrowing to say the least, I do not wish to have go through such unnecessary pain at this stage of my life. My TCM doc tells me honestly that TCM can only help alleviate the side effects of chemo and enhance the effect of chemo. TCM will not be able to cure me. I do think it's helped me in the last 5 years with all these non-stop treatments. For WBC, there's research that wheatgrass and Turkeytail mushrooms can help raise the WBC. Personally, I didn't find wheatgrass nor Turkeytail mushroom effective for me. ETA - you've not mentioned liver enzyme levels. I've had liver injury before (liver enzymes shot through the roof) and it made me very tired too. I took liver essentiale then. Milk thistle and beetroot are supposed to help the liver detox. I do have milk thistle in a daily nail supplement and try to get fresh beetroot but I can't say if they're effective. Hope this helps and that you'll feel better soon.