Enlarged spleen

[sarah]

LuAnn, my husband had extreme episodes of itching, burning and shooting pains all over his body. Dr could never really determine what was causing it. He experienced this for almost 2 1/2 years.

[LuAnn]

Sarah, Thank you for sharing this. Was the dr. able to prescribe anything to ease the itch? My dad has been to numerous doctors and they are more concerned with the more serious side effects of MDS but this is really affecting his quality of life as I’m sure you are aware since you also experienced this.

[sarah]

The only thing Dr prescribed was neurotin for this. It took the edge off but never went away completely. Quality of life is most definitely affected. This disease is so very hard on everyone it touches.

[LuAnn]

Sarah, we wemt to a dermatologist and he prescribed a medication that is helping dad. I don’t know the name of it but it’s like an antihistamine. He also prescribed a topical anestetic which is also helping.

My dad was prescribed Lyrica which is like neurontin, by his neurologist for his neuropathy. It helps but hes taking so many pills it’s hard to get them all in.

We got some good news today, dad is getting Revlimid. It’s being expensed by a philanthropic association. I believe he will start on it next week. We’re hoping it’s what he needs. Take care…

[sarah]

LuAnn,
Hope it helps your dad.

[LuAnn]

Hello everyone,
Dad started the Revlimid on Monday and his itch is getting worse. It’s internal, no rashes. I’m at a loss what to do next. We went to a dermatologist on Monday and prescribed OTC med and cream which helps to take the edge off but not get rid of the itch. Anyone have any suggestions?

[patti]

LuAnn,

These might really be long shots but here goes.

For something natural he could try aloe vera internally. To do this you buy aloe vera that is formulated for internal use. Fred Meyers (Kroger) sells it in big gallon jugs in their nutrition center here. It says right on it “aloe vera for internal use.” Wouldn’t necessarily buy a big jug right away until you know if it works. It’s not that expensive. Aloe vera has tremendous anti-inflammatory/healing properties so it might do the trick. I would follow the directions on the bottle and use for a couple of days consistently to see if it starts working. If it starts to help it may take a week or more for long term relief to kick in fully.

My second thought is I wonder if Ultram (tramadol is the generic name) would work? It’s a narcotic but is not addictive in the sense you have to wean off of it. It generally works for about 12hr stretches and works well for pain caused by internal inflammation. You should be able to get it from his doc if his doc is compassionate enough to at least let you try it.

Itching is caused by inflammation. You said your dad’s spleen is enlarged. I’d say that’s pretty hefty inflammation then. Another really good anti-inflammatory is Norwegian Cod Liver Oil. If his platelets are okay then you could try the CLO. It can thin the blood so you’d want to make sure he’s not currently on any blood thinning meds, etc. 2 tbls a day to start for a few weeks and then 1 tbls a day after that. If you want to stick with natural it might take a combonation of both aloe vera and CLO to do the trick.

Also, have you asked his chinese doc to do any acupuncture for his spleen and add any herbs to his tea that would bring down the inflammation? If mom has something specific like that going on we always have her TCMD add herbs to her tea for it to try and help.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. If anything else pops into my head I’ll let you know.

patti

[LuAnn]

Thank you Patti, these are some great ideas. The aloe vera is an option and I will speak to his chinese doc about concentrating on his spleen and his oncologist about the Ultram. However his platelets are in the low end of the normal range so I’m not sure the cod liver oil is an option at this time. We’ll have to see how the Revlimid affects them. I was also told that prednisone might be a next step to incorporate into his med regimen which is quite extensive at this point. Thanks again and I’ll let you know what happens.

[Author]

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