Low platelets before chemo

[Jen43]

Has anyone done FOLFOX with platelets already low mine are 80-100

[Green Tea]

Has anyone done FOLFOX with platelets already low mine are 80-100

Low platelet count
https://www.chemotherapy.com/side_effects/thrombocytopenia/

[debsta]

I've been concerned about my husband's platelet count which gets lower every visit, is it currently at 128 which is out of the normal range.

His team has explained that they aren't concerned until it hits 90, at which point they will give him an IV transfusion prior to his chemo session.

[lovelife789]

Hi Debsta,

I have done FolFox before and before one cycle (can't remember it was #5/6), my platelets suddenly dropped to 55... I was almost immediately hospitalized.

Anyway, I was allowed to go home at last. I was then drinking a tea made out of peanut skin and red dates (you can buy both from Amazon), day and night for 3 days. I went back for another blood test 3 days later, it was back to 117. Doubled it in 3 days was a record.

From that point onwards, I would start drinking it 5 days prior to my blood work, and it never fell below 110 until I finished cycle 13.

May not be a popular solution in other countries. But I have done it myself and it works. It doesn't directly help WBC though... Which is a problem I'm having now....

[boxhill]

My platelets were barely scraping the low end of the normal range when I started Folfox, maybe around 140, and went steadily down from there. I had to postpone chemo a week for the count to come back up a few times. My count was below 80 many times, and no one ever mentioned getting a transfusion. Is there some other condition that complicates matters? Similarly, I can't imagine being hospitalized at a count of 50 unless a bleeding problem had actually developed or there was some other issue/condition that made the situation unusually dangerous.

A platelet count of 128 is very safe, according to my understanding, anyway. I finished chemo around Nov 9, 2018, and my platelets didn't hit the "normal" range until last month.

My WBC count also dipped way down and caused a delay, but that they were able to fix by giving me neulasta.

[lovelife789]

My platelets were barely scraping the low end of the normal range when I started Folfox, maybe around 140, and went steadily down from there. I had to postpone chemo a week for the count to come back up a few times. My count was below 80 many times, and no one ever mentioned getting a transfusion. Is there some other condition that complicates matters? Similarly, I can't imagine being hospitalized at a count of 50 unless a bleeding problem had actually developed or there was some other issue/condition that made the situation unusually dangerous.

A platelet count of 128 is very safe, according to my understanding, anyway. I finished chemo around Nov 9, 2018, and my platelets didn't hit the "normal" range until last month.

My WBC count also dipped way down and caused a delay, but that they were able to fix by giving me neulasta.

Oh what my doctor said back then about my platelets at 50 was that internal bleeding can happen anytime at anything below 50. They needed to monitor my situation (so there goes hospitalization because there isn't a lot of day clinics where I live).

Was Neulasta shot tough? I really don't want muscle pain and joint pain as FolFiri gave me intense nausea beyond medication control, if I add joint pain and muscle pain, I would be pretty paralyzed...

[debsta]

@boxhill - No, no other conditions which might make a platelet count of 128 or 90 risky. Thankfully all we are dealing with is his rectal cancer, no other complications. He is in a clinical trial though, and it might very well be the trial has guidelines for platelet count. I know we have to keep his potassium and magnesium above specific levels and his weight within 5% of his starting weight, etc.

@lovelife - My husband also had a low neutrophil count and so now gets a shot of Neulasta at disconnect. He has not experienced any adverse side effects from this shot but does take a 24-hour Claritin D non-drowsy tablet for five days (starting on disconnect day) to help offset any bone pain he might develop.

[Jack&KatiesMommy]

My platelets haven't been above 90 for 4 years. I have done Irinotecan and Xeloda with platelet counts in the 80's. Liver treatment and damage can cause an enlarged spleen and chronic low platelet counts I have been told. no one seems to worry about mine.
Cynthia

[fumaros]

I second what lovelifr789 said, it can sometimes be dietary related. I usually have decent platelet counts and they dipped almost to dangerous lows when i began eating Tahini butter. I stopped and not two weeks later, they have climbed back to normal.

[boxhill]

I found Neulasta to be effective and no problem as long as I took my daily Claritin. (They told me to just take the regular kind, not decongestant, FWIW.)

My last scan showed that me spleen was back to normal, after having been enlarged--I'm told an oxaliplatin thing, like so much else--which I'm sure has helped bring my platelets up.