Platelets and pineapple

[deshdeepak]

Dear friends

my mother, 80, has been diagnosed MDS in feb06. she is on transfusions.

her platelets are around 45ooo and i am greatly concerned.

can you tell me how effective is pineapple for platelets? Please give me your feedback about its use and results.
also, at what platelet count it has to be started and how and how much of the fruit is to be taken daily.

Has Aloe vera some role in the platelet production? is it being advised and used in US these days?

and uregent response is requested.

deshdeepak

[Terri]

Fresh Pineapple seems to help, Bob has increased his intake to about a Pineapple a day and his counts are going up slowly now about 78. You can either eat the fresh pineapple or juice it. a lot of folks here have seen results.

[Jimbob]

I still have low platelets even though it has been over 25 months since SCT. When the count starts underr 100 I get a fresh pineapple or two, which I eat in chunks, and chew down a few spoonfuls of black sesame seeds. I know it made big improvements when I was getting CBC done every week way back when.
Jim

[Neil]

Pineapple/sesame seeds did not have any impact on my platelets. They are still in the 10,000 range and dipped to 8000 5/18. BUT no symptoms of low platelets. Would give them a try and see if there is any response
As a rule docs get concerned when plts dip below 50,000, very concerned at 20,000 and may want to transfuse at 10,000.
Have been at the 10,000 range for about 5 years. Seems the key is symptoms. If there isn’t any bruising,bleeding or petechiae there might not be a reason to start TX.
It takes a bit of time and much experience on the docs part to handle such a situation. Lots of time, many CBCs and considerable emotion early on.
Sometimes various meds will have an effect on platelet production and clotting ability on some people. Go to:
http://www.itpeople.com/warning.htm
for the list.
Unfortunately there are no drugs at this time that will grow platelets. A couple are under testing/trial but no good info yet.
This can be a very sensitive situation if the marrow is having problems producing all 3 lines.
An experienced hematologist is really necessary!

[lucym]

Hi Neil,
Funny you posted today on this subject I was planning on sending you a post to ask you some questions. My Mom started Chemo about 19 days ago, her latest BMB showed 32% blasts. They have been tx her with plt daily. I think they are having trouble finding some for her because they have been getting them from various blood banks out of our County. After tx her for 24hours straight they got her up to 66 but today they were down to 21. Her HGB was also pretty low last week but they gave her quite alot of RB tx and she is back up to 14 and holding. Her WBC is still very low .3. I remember you saying something about if you get too many tx you will built up resistance to all? Is that right? Then what do they do? We have not done any tx from family because we are hoping to do a SCT later this summer if we can get the AML into remission and I imagine we will do those tx then. Any further information you can give on platelets would be appreciated. Also that website you sent did not link can you tell me who the site was and I will google? Thanks Lucy

[Neil]

Hi Lucy,
Try http://itpeople.com/warnings.htm
As a rule a patient can receive as many packed red cell TX as they need —as long as they use irradiated/filtered blood. If antibodies develop from the use of non I/F blood it will become difficult to locate compatible blood over time.
Eventually a patient will become refractory to platelets. Using irradiated/filtered platelets and single donor platelets ( at any given TX, not all from a single donor forever) may help lengthen the time they will remain effective.
The chemo is probably complicating matters and it is necessary to do all possible to replace the cells the chemo is killing. The docs are probably focusing on getting her blast count up and getting rid of the abnormal cells.
Would ask if the same rules for the family donation of platelets apply as they would with red cells. Might be possible the family could donate. In laws could certainly donate.
Platets are a different breed of cat. I have received plts from both RH positive and RH negative donors. There may be some other considerations that would permit the family to donate. Worth asking the question.

[hmblume]

re platelets and pineapple….I wish I knew.Some report great success, some no effect. I have come to believe that the pineapple or juice must be very fresh. Also, that the sesame seeds should be ground.
While I am trying pineapple, I have reservations that the pineapple raises the platelet count as counted, but may not delay the onset of AML or fundamentally increase one’s resistance to bleeding. Don’t know, just sceptical.

There is a Platelet Disorder Support Group (PDSO), with a web-site and reader’s forum. Most have ITP…low platelets…but also other symptoms suggesting to me some overlap with CMML.

Advertising in the PDSO journal was
GetWellNatural.com with an ITP kit, which is claimed to improve platelets as well as immune response over perhaps 3 months. PDSO does not endorse getwellnatural but their office reported a majority of favorable comment.

Any experience from the MDS folks??

[patti]

Lucy,

One thing you can do to help your mom’s potential bleeding issues is to get her taking 9mg of Vit. K twice a day. My MIL is down to 6000 platlets but hasn’t had any symptoms and the doctor believes it’s because of the vit. K. And mom’s doc doesn’t believe anything good about vitamins so for her to say that is huge. There isn’t anything your mom is taking (chemo or otherwise) that would preclude her from taking the vit. K. You will not be likely to find it OTC. Most stores only sell 100mcg and that isn’t enough. We get mom’s from life extension foundation (http://www.lef.org). We’ve found some life extension products (including vit. k) at Vitamin World. You can ask her docs but don’t be surprised if they laugh and tell you “no.” This is one case where I’m not shy about saying it’s not worth listening to the docs. My MIL doesn’t even have petichiae and before she started the vit. K she was covered. So maybe for the short term while she’s going through chemo and before her SCT (not during or after without docs approval) it would be worth getting her on vit. K.

Best wishes,

patti

[patti]

HM,

I just checked out the getwellnatural site and what they are recommending for platelets. I looked up all of the herbs in both the blood formula and restore immune formula (they recommend both for the blood) and with the exception of just a couple of the herbs that I couldn’t find in my books they seem legit. The ones I couldn’t find may be chinese type herbs and I don’t have any of those in my books. Most of the herbs are for total body immune system building with just a few actually for blood. I have some pretty extensive herb books (we’re talking about 1000 pages split between 3 books) and the two most important herbs those books say for getting platelets to increase are triphala and ginseng (tienchi type). I use triphala for my colon but in my book it says,

“very high source of vit. C, increases red blood cell count, increases and protects platelets, blood normalizer, stregthens heart, regulates blood sugar, promotes hair growth and helps in weight loss programs.”

So, apparently triphala is a multi-use type herb.

Back to getwellnatural, at least on the surface their products look fine as far as what herbs they’re using, but keep in mind, they’re expecting someone to use both the immune builder and blood builder to increase platelets. Also, the two herbs my books say are best for platelets, neither of those are in the getwell formulas. So, I guess like everything else, you can try it and see. I don’t see any adverse warnings on any of the herbs they’re using specifically. Or, you can buy yourself a $4 bottle of triphala and see what happens. It’s cheaper.

Also, I’m not sure where your platelets are at but if they’re below 20,000 you should consider using the Vit. K that I wrote to Lucy about. So far, that’s been mom’s best bet. Hoping the Chinese Medicine kicks in soon for the ol’ platelets but until then mom will be taking the Vit. K.

Be well,

patti

p.s. she’s still doing the pineapple and sesame seeds but we are really not convinced they are helping her anymore. They did in the beginning though.

[deshdeepak]

friends

i am grateful for the replies and these are really going to help. Here the health facilities are not as these are at your country. Still, We can benefit from what we read here.

can you tell me what should be the optimum level of hb to be maintained by prbc transfusions? is there any standard? also when and how much erythropoitin should be started? is there any adverse effect of erythropoitin? can it be stpped later?

many questions but i am sure you understand.

thank you again

deshdeepak

[deshdeepak]

Dear Patti,

triphala is an ayurvdic medicine (indian system) and consists of 3 fruits (3: tri, fruits: phala)

it is prepared here and the best quality costs not more than Rs 100 for 1/2 kg. (2$ for half kg)
i can help you to get it if you want.

please let me know if any dose is mentioned?

thank you

deshdeepak

Quote:

Originally posted by patti:
HM,

I just checked out the getwellnatural site and what they are recommending for platelets. I looked up all of the herbs in both the blood formula and restore immune formula (they recommend both for the blood) and with the exception of just a couple of the herbs that I couldn’t find in my books they seem legit. The ones I couldn’t find may be chinese type herbs and I don’t have any of those in my books. Most of the herbs are for total body immune system building with just a few actually for blood. I have some pretty extensive herb books (we’re talking about 1000 pages split between 3 books) and the two most important herbs those books say for getting platelets to increase are triphala and ginseng (tienchi type). I use triphala for my colon but in my book it says,

“very high source of vit. C, increases red blood cell count, increases and protects platelets, blood normalizer, stregthens heart, regulates blood sugar, promotes hair growth and helps in weight loss programs.”

So, apparently triphala is a multi-use type herb.

Back to getwellnatural, at least on the surface their products look fine as far as what herbs they’re using, but keep in mind, they’re expecting someone to use both the immune builder and blood builder to increase platelets. Also, the two herbs my books say are best for platelets, neither of those are in the getwell formulas. So, I guess like everything else, you can try it and see. I don’t see any adverse warnings on any of the herbs they’re using specifically. Or, you can buy yourself a $4 bottle of triphala and see what happens. It’s cheaper.

Also, I’m not sure where your platelets are at but if they’re below 20,000 you should consider using the Vit. K that I wrote to Lucy about. So far, that’s been mom’s best bet. Hoping the Chinese Medicine kicks in soon for the ol’ platelets but until then mom will be taking the Vit. K.

Be well,

patti

p.s. she’s still doing the pineapple and sesame seeds but we are really not convinced they are helping her anymore. They did in the beginning though.

[shila]

Dear DeshDeepak,

My father who is 65 has MDS, his platelettes are at 10000 and we are going twice a week for platelette transfusion. We are awaiting this new drug dacogen for his treatment, however I am very interested in triphala, how can we buy this. I do not think we can find it here in the US. Look forward to your response.

Shila Patel

[patti]

Shila and deshdeepak,

I get my triphala from http://www.swansons.com. Very inexpensive and works very well for me personally but I don’t have MDS. I use it for other reasons. I just thought it was interesting that it says it will increase platelets. I take two capsules a day but maybe for your platelets you’d want to take 2 caps 3x’s a day. However, for bleeding issues I still recommend vit. K to prevent them. You could use the triphala in addition to try and see if it will increase your platelets.

Patti

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