About ITP

Managing the Effects

If you are tired, depressed, and have muscle aches accompanying your ITP, you are not alone.
Some of our readers have reported that taking antidepressants, changing their diet, and eliminating allergic foods, among other things, have helped improve their lives. Note that some antidepressants can reduce your platelet count.  Check with your doctor and pharmacist.

Visit the Platelet Store to find books that help to cope with the effects of Prednisone or the depression and fatigue often associated with ITP and other helpful products.

View our list of twenty easy and inexpensive suggestions for improving your health.

Medic Alert

It is wise to wear or carry some identification of your low platelet situation.
http://www.medicalert.com or call 1-800-432-5378

Caregiver Support

The National Family Caregivers Association can help.

Sugar, Depression, and Energy

Is there a connection between the food we eat and how we feel? Some of us, in order to raise our platelets and general health, have decided to eliminate at least white sugar from our diets. Why did we do this and what can make the withdrawal easier? Read on.

According to Annemarie Colbin in the book Food and Healing white sugar is acid forming (not good for becoming and staying well). Since it is a refined substance it draws its missing nutrients from other sources. This can be other food at our meal or from our body. It can leach B vitamins, calcium, phosphorous, iron, etc. from our teeth, bones, and tissues. If our bones are already more brittle from the prednisone and our iron stores and energy are depleted. This is important.

There is a balance between meat consumption and sugar. If you eat meat, you need sugar, and visa versa. Serious trouble can happen if the balance is off which is easy since sugar is addictive, like a drug. If you are a vegetarian and eat mostly carbohydrates, the effect of extra sugar is heightened.
Excessive sugar consumption is believed to be involved in a host of common problems like diabetes, heart disease, myopia, hyperactivity, lack of concentration, depression, and anxiety. One of the major drawbacks is that sugar raises the insulin level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. Not something you want to happen if you don’t have a spleen.
According to Kathleen DesMaisons in her book Potatoes Not Prozac sugar sensitive people,  those who have a more volatile reaction to the substance, usually have low levels of serotonin and low levels of beta endorphins. For ITP folks who already have suspiciously low levels of serotonin, sugar compounds the problem. Drugs like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft turn off the mechanism that soaks up serotonin so that it stays in the blood longer. These drugs do not effect the level of beta endorphins.

The level of beta endorphins have a direct impact on a person’s self esteem, tolerance for pain, sense of connectiveness and to the ability to take personal responsibility for action. It follows that with higher levels of beta endorphins the disease management process would be easier.

When blood sugar spikes it signals the adrenal glands to release more adrenaline. This leads to adrenal fatigue and in turn makes blood sugar ups and downs ever more pronounced. Note this, for many of us have adrenals already fatigued from prednisone.

According to William Duffy in "Sugar Blues" the difference between sugar addition and narcotic addiction is largely one of degree.

Here are some suggestions to make the withdrawal easier:

• As you are reducing the amount of sugar also reduce the amount of meat you are eating
• Eat a bit of ginger before meals
• Don’t eat anything sweet for breakfast
• Make treats like cookies sweetened with rice syrup (a honey like sweetener made from cultured rice) or barley malt
• Get to know some new foods that have a subtle sweet taste from natural sugars. Try mana bread (tastes like a muffin but is made only from sprouted grains) or oatmilk.
• Take vitamin C. ( It helps your adrenals recover from adrenal fatigue and supports the conversion of tryptophan in protein to serotonin)
• Take B vitamins (critical to the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin)
• Take a small amount of zinc to balance insulin levels.
• Get to know more about the sugar/depression/energy connection. Read Food and Healing, Sugar Blues, or Potatoes Not Prozac

 

Coping with Prednisone

The side effects of prednisone can be very problematic.  There are things you can do to lesson the problems of weight gain, muscle loss, bone loss, etc.  Coping with Prednisone is a book that can guide you to a healthier life while taking this drug.  It is available in The Platelet Store.

• Water retention - Many of the pharmaceutical diuretics can cause lower platelet counts. They also rob the body of needed nutrients. Daikon radish, asparagus, shiso leaves, and shiitake mushrooms are natural diuretics according to Michio Kushi in his Marcobiotic Home Remedies book.
• Weight loss -  TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly), a non-profit organization has some programs that might work for you.  See www.tops.org

 

Joint Pains

Potatoes, eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers (except for black and white pepper), and tobacco are members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Nightshades are high in alkaloids, chemical substances that have a strong physiological effect. While the mature fruit contain only faint traces, storage may increase the alkaloid solanine, especially in potatoes, to toxic levels.

Nightshade foods may remove calcium from the bones and deposit it in joints, kidneys, arteries and other areas where it does not belong. Excess vitamin D may intensify this process. A dairy free diet that includes nightshades could lead to a calcium loss. If you are going to eliminate diary or nightshades, it is best to eliminate them both. Eliminating nightshades from the diet has helped many who suffer from joint pains, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, tennis elbow, lower-back pain, etc.

From "Food and Healing" by Annemarie Colbin

According to Dr. DesMaisons, "Sugars are known to significantly affect immune function. I have found that a number of my clients who have problems with Arthritis get much better when they get the sugars and white things out of their diets."

Nose Bleeds

Try pork fat! One of our readers reports..."YES!!! Pork Fat does work. You can buy it at your local supermarket. It is also called "Salt Pork" or "Fat Back". My daughter had a nose bleed for 5 days straight! Her doctor recommended the Pork fat, of course at first we like "yeah right" but were also feeling a little desperate, (I hadn't seen my daughter's face without tissue stuck up her nose for 5 days) And well, to our amazement, it worked. Her doctor explained that the salt pork contains special enzymes aside from the salt that help cauterize the broken capillaries, the fat adds for easy 'removal'. "

Mucosal Bleeding

Some doctors recommend Amicar (aminocaprioc acid) to help slow down mucosal (mucus membrane) bleeding.

Blood on Clothes

Just douse the spots with hydrogen peroxide. It makes the blood disappear and doesn't seem to harm the fabric.

Adrenal Support

"This past year I have been taking a product called Plus to support my adrenal glands along with some other dietary supplements. I am feeling the best I have felt in years.
You can get info about these products on my web page or I would be more than glad to send you info. My site is: www.mannapages.com/health4U_ME2 " Margaret