Any homeopathic/natural things to do for ITP

My daughter Hannah was diagnosed with ITP February 2010 at the age of 4. My husband and I noticed excessive bruising and called the pediatrician. Her platelet count was 16K on diagnosis.That is when our journey began.We were referred to a hematologist. This was on a Wednesday. We were going to monitor her per the hematologist. On Thursday she fell and hit her head. Then on Friday she received the IVIG infusion and her platelet count came right up. She was monitored for several months and her platelets stayed strong. We thought it was over. In February 2011, one evening giving my children baths, I noticed bruising on Hannah. I immediately started crying and told my husband that I thought the ITP had come back. Besides this we had just moved to a new state the week before. We moved from Charlotte,NC to Lexington, SC.I had to find a pediatrician and then was referred to a hematologist. This time on diagnosis her count was 26K. Over the course of these last few months, I take Hannah every 2 weeks to get her platelets checked and they have continued to go down. Her last count was 14K. There was a week where they were 11K but have pretty much been about the same every 2 weeks. She will go again tomorrow. I am not very hopeful that they have gone up because she has lots of bruises over her body. This is so frustrating to our family. I would love to be able to do something to help her count go up. Besides medical treatment does anyone know anything I can do to help increase her platelets? It is very hard for a 5 year old to limit their activities. I don't want to turn her into a couch potato either. My other question is has anyone else had the experience where the ITP resolved and then came back? I was under the assumption with the acute case last year that once that resolved we were done. I can't really find many studies as to the recurrence of ITP. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

I have yet to find anything homeopathic or natural at home to do to help raise the counts w/o medical treatment (and even the medical treatment is temporary for my son).

My son has been DX'ed since 2006, and it comes back at least once a year, and takes a good 4 months for his counts to stabilize on their own.

Back in August his ITP returned, IVIG the first week of September (hospitalized at 4K, 2 rounds of IVIG, and then discharged 3 days later at 52K), by the following week his counts were at 27K; put on Predisone for 2 weeks...counts continued to drop. By October his count dropped to 13K...and then they rose the following week on their own, and two weeks before Christmas they were at 137K. We did weekly CBC's, which was a pain, and soooo emotionally draining.

Then end of March/early April of this year, he got a head cold, and started showing signs of his counts dropping once again. We are still dealing with his counts being low and here it is almost June.

We were diagnosed in Nov 2010. I recently (as in 1 day ago) started seeing a Homeopathic Doctor who is wonderful and very well known in our area. She started us on Sesame Seed Oil 3xs a day (this is used to produce red blood platelets). You can also buy Sesame Tahini at the store to put in with their food. It is also used to produce blood platelets. We are also taking Vitamin C Complex 3xs a day. Vitamin C Complex helps the cells heal in the body, as well as, helps with immunity. We are also on an organic, all natural, sugar free daily vitamin once a day. We are also taking Arnica tablets and Arnica Gel 4xs a day to help with the bruising. I got all of this at my local herb store for 58$. The lady said that there are alot of things to help, but lets start small and see if this works first then go from there. We are also about to start a gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free diet. Many people with autoimmune diseases end up having food allergies. The best way to describe it is~ if you put food into the body that the body is intolerant or allergic to the immune system goes into overload trying to get rid of it because the body does not recognize it. Well, ITP is caused from an overactive immune system killing the red blood platelets, so it may be as simple as changing food and chemicals around us to help our immune system to remain calm. My daughter is 4 yrs old and we are trying any and all routes! I am so desperate to help her! Our last counts were at 22K. I hope this helps you. You are in my prayers!

Hi,
Sorry the ITP is back. Once you have ITP, even it remits for a long period, you are at risk of it 'coming back', whether it has been termed chronic or acute. I hope that Hannah remits again.

Thanks for your response. It is encouraging to know that others can relate to what we are going through. We were not informed last year that recurrence is common. We had blood work done today and the count came back at 19K. I am praying that the numbers will continue to go up. The hematologist we are going to said that they usually don't treat ITP with IVIG unless there is trauma or bleeding involved. I am a little concerned with Hannah starting school in the fall and having her numbers so low. What is your experience regarding this?

Hi,

The things that CGO0708 listed are actually naturopathic items and not homeopathic. If you look in the natural treatments section you will find a good amount of information regarding a number of people using h-pathy. We did so with our son and he is well and normal today. Including the healing of 40+ food allergies in addition to his ITP. You may have to do some searching for old posts but if you search for posts by April or myself you can gather a good amount of information on homeopathy. It does work, I highly recommend it, and it's very affordable compared to most treatments you'll be offered.


All the best,

patti

Hi,

You might enjoy reading through the Natural treatments section, of the Adults section of this forum. There are many discussions pertaining to homeopathic and naturopathic treatments (what CGO0708 describes is more accurately referring to naturopathic treatment, not homeopathic. They are actually quite different, and will have different results.)

You can read my daughter's ITP story, and how I was able to help her with a constitutional homeopathic remedy, to bring her platelets back to normal (They went from 11k to 411k in 4 days or less.) She has been in the high normal counts for almost 7 years, now. Not to mention that so many other aspects of her health and her behavior improved dramatically with the homeopathic remedy. I see that as one of the biggest differences and advantages, over the standard medical treatments, which with all of their side effects, often end up being worse than the disease. Simply suppressing the symptoms causes deeper and more serious disease--it does not act in the direction of cure. Homeopathy, administered properly, will always act to create a state of vibrant health , and bring balance back , The more and the longer that other medications are used to suppress, the more difficult it becomes for the body's immune system to find this delicate balance. Here is the link to her story, and there's also a lot of information about homeopathy in general that might be helpful for you:
discuss.pdsa.org/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23985

Best wishes,
April

My son was in 2nd-3rd grade when he was DX'ed with ITP. I informed the school nurse, and we made an emergency plan incase something happens at school. Each year I inform the teacher that he has, and keep her and the school nurse updated on his condition while his flare up is going on., so that they are aware.

Jordan starts middle school in the fall, and I have some anxiety of trying to keep 6 teachers and a school nurse informed rather than 1 teacher and 1 school nurse.

Hi,
We're in SC, too, but closer to the GA border, so we go to MCG in Augusta. I haven't found anything natural that raises the counts for my daughter, but she eventually remitted on her own, and I hope that happens for your child. We did find that Vitamin C helped with vessel integrity, decreasing bruising and nosebleeds. Pineapple fruit and juice helps the bruises fade faster. I also think a multi-vitamin and a little extra C every day doesn't hurt. (I think they should just stay generally as healthy as possible, to help withstand whatever comes.) Too much C can cause loose stools, so take it up gradually. My daughter is now 17, and she says she notices a decrease in nosebleed frequency when she eats spinach salad regularly. I assume that's the Vitamin K effect. Good luck. If you find something that helps, be sure to post it here.
Norma

We haven't found anything that raises Kayla's counts when low, but she has had a fairly uneventful year (since Aug. under 10k with one quick dip in Feb. to 12k which she rebounded all on her own up to 100k) And what we've been doing is getting rid of plastics/BPA (water bottles, canned food, plastic sandwich bags, plastic container like reusable ziploc containers) in the house trying to reduce any chemicals that could interfere with her body and get it confused, we have recently worked through most of our personal care products.
I had gone to a naturopath who ordered a urine tox screen on her and it came back that her phalate level was 410% critical (mind you this was a short time after she had an infusion so it could have been from the tubing too) But it gave me something to focus all my mommy energy on:-) The doctor said the softer the plastic the worse it is on leaking leaking into our food so we ingest it.
Not saying it's the have all end all but it seems to be helping Kayla stabalize a bit.
Good luck
and thinking lots of Platelets
Krissy