blood counts

[juanita]

Does anyone have any idea how long after chemo it is before your blood counts are completely back to normal? I finished chemo June '05. The lab marked my sodium, red blood count, hemoglobin, and hematocrit as being low. And even though it's in the acceptable range my white counts are still alot lower than prechemo. My onc doesn't seem too worried about it, but family doctor doesn't think that they should still be low. And is there any way other than the shots to help raise them?

[jhandley]

Try reishi mushroom extract three times a day. I took it through my chemo and I worked for me. Also contains 1,3 beta glucan which is synergistic with herceptin.

cheers
Jackie

[Barbara]

Juanita:

I finished chemo May 2004 and I am still anemic and my white count varies betwen 2.9 and 4.8. My white count before chemo was 7.5 and my hemoglobin was 13.4. I am still on Herceptin and it does cause anemia and nuetropenia in only 2-3 percent of patients. We can onlly speculate whether it is the initial chemo of A/C and Taxol or the Herceptin causing the low counts. When I finish Herceptin I guess that will sort out.

My oncologist is not worried about either value although he ordered an Aranesp injection for my anemia when it reached 10 and I refused it.

Barbara

[StephN]

can be built up with some simple dietary changes. If you do not eat much red meat, there are other foods such as lentils you can add that will get that red count back up.
ALso, supplements with iron will help.

The white count is different in that it does not seem to be as food related. Doing some weight-bearing exercise and generally working on your immune system should help. Being active again without overdoing to point of exhaustion was key for me.
BTW - my white count has never been as high as it was pre-cancer. It is not below normal, but it not quite as high. Everyone should have a blood panel from when they began treatment to look at as some kind of baseline.

[Kim in CA]

I have not been on any chemo since 2003, but I still struggle with my blood counts. I don't really know if it is the Herceptin or all of the chemo I have had over the years( high dose chemo with stem cell in 97, 8 months Taxotere in 2001, and Xeloda in 2003). I am always a little on the anemic side and my fingernails will not grow, and to add insult to injury, my eyelashes and eyebrows have never really grown back all the way. I am a redhead, so when I am not wearing makeup, I look pretty scary!!!! On top of that, I'm really getting wrinkly! But at least I'm still here and glad to have survived long enough to be getting WRINKLY! All kidding aside, I have actually adjusted to having the low blood counts and am perfectly able to carry on with my pre chemo activities. I stay very active and that helps, I'm sure.


Take care, Kim in CA