Since 2008, I have known I have had ITP or chronic low blood platelets. My midwife caught it at the time and sent me to an oncologist to get further testing done. After taking 17 viles of blood and doing all kinds of tests, the doctor determined I had a mild case of ITP or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura. This is an auto-immune disorder where my own body is attacking it's own platelets. My spleen cannot make them fast enough to make up for the ones that were destroyed and therefore my platelets are always on the low side. This just means it takes my body a little bit longer for my blood to clot. If I ever have surgery or have a baby (like when I had Christian), I need to get them checked and make sure they are where they should be otherwise I could bleed too much and might need a blood transfusion. At the time, my oncologist said there was "nothing you could do" about it and sent me on my merry way.
So every year at my yearly exam with my midwife, I get them checked. Last September, I had them checked and they were at 102,000. They are supposed to be 150,000-400,000, so they were still low, but right around where they usually are for me. My midwife called when she got the results and told me to get them tested again in 3-4 months, just to keep an eye on them since they were so low.
Well, 3-4 months turned into almost 10! Yikes! I had been talking about getting them checked with my chiropractor that does all my other testing and we just got around to testing them this last week. My results: 101,000. They are even lower than before!
But after looking at all my blood results, she said we can actually do something about it!!! WHAT??? (Really, why am I shocked?)
As she was looking at the rest of my blood work, she noticed that my vitamin C, B, and iron were all low. She said, "No wonder you have low blood platelets, you lack vitamin C, B, and iron and you need all of those to build your platelets. This is such an easy fix, why didn't any medical doctors see this before??" (as she shakes her head in frustration!)
She said vitamin B and C are made in your stomach and with all my digestive issues, it didn't surprise her that my numbers were low.
She told me to eat foods with vitamin C, B, and meat high in iron, exercise, drink more water, and also to take a vitamin B complex supplement that she had. (It's funny because she wrote this on a prescription pad like you would get from a medical doctor. :) She said within a month or two, my platelets should be up to normal range!! She gave me a list of foods that contained vitamin C and B (mostly green and red fruits and veggies) and I eat most of them already. We eat most of the meat that she had on her list too. This included fish and flax seed. We have started grilling tilapia and I use flax seed in place of eggs in a lot of recipes. She also had tuna on the list. Courtney was allergic to tuna, so we just haven't had that in about a year, but I could start eating that again. (I just need something to do with it besides tuna salad- I can't have eggs yet, so no mayo.)
I agree with my doctor, easy fix! I am anxious to see what my platelets will be in a few months.
On another note, it was nice to see that my body was lacking vitamin B. She gave me some adrenal boosters awhile ago and they are filled with vitamin b. When I go off these, I have no energy at all and could sleep the day away. I am glad to know that I really am lacking vitamin B! I have always been low on iron, so that didn't surprise me any, but vitamin C, I eat a ton of fruit, so I'm not sure how that got to be so low besides to blame it on my stomach and bad digestion. :)
Anyway, just another piece of the puzzle to eventually help my body to heal!!
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