PaPaya LEAF EXTRACT as a Treatment for ITP!

I started mine last night. I plan on taking 1 tsp in a tall glass of water 4x a day. If nothing else it will help with my fluid intake!
My platelets are great right now with IVIg for 4.5 hours every 3 weeks. Last platelet count was 117 (1-14-13) but who want to be on IV meds forever??. I get a blood draw every Monday so will hear hopefully today what this weeks counts are. Scheduled for IVIg on 01/28/2013 but they will hold if my numbers are good

Hi I am starting Papaya leaf extract as a treatment today. This week my platelet count is 66K. How soon can you expect to see good results with this? And how do you decide the dosage? I ordered a bottle from amazon.com and in the reviews everybody is taking different dosage. The bottle does not indicate any appropriate doses. Any advise would be very helpful. Thank-you.

My son had success with Papaya Leaf Extract. He takes 5 ml 3x per day. We saw a 20k jump within a week. He went for 40 to 141 in 15 months with no medical treatment. Don't know if it was the papaya but not willing to stop it. I have a girlfriend that is a homeopathic dr and she said it reduces inflammation in the immune system.

A few people have asked how much they should be taking. According to researchers at the University of Florida, papaya leaf water extract is non-toxic in pretty much any dose, so you don't have to worry whether you are taking too much. The only side effect my daughter has noticed is if she drinks huge amounts of very strong tea she gets an upset stomach and some diarrhea. So she cuts back and is fine. I read in a research article that the dried leaves are as effective as the fresh, so that is good news.
If the bottled extract is too expensive, you can make your own strong tea every day: bring water to a boil in a small stainless steel or pyrex pot. When it boils, take it off the heat and put in a tablespoon or more of papaya leaves, dried or otherwise, cover the pot and put it back on low heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so, then turn off the heat and let it steep till it cools. This doesn't taste really great, but you could drink it after each meal in divided doses for one day. That way you don't have to drink very much at one time, but it will still be strong, and a lot cheaper than buying the bottled extract.

Can you provide a citation to the University of Florida research?
Thanks, Erica

The only citation I found is here: news.ufl.edu/2010/03/09/papaya-2/
And this research was done on cell cultures, not people:
<<<Researchers exposed 10 different types of cancer cell cultures to four strengths of papaya leaf extract and measured the effect after 24 hours. Papaya slowed the growth of tumors in all the cultures.>>>

So I'm not sure if it is safe to conclude that there is no toxicity for humans, how does it affect the stomach, the brain, the liver, etc.? And only four strengths were tested.
Erica

Here is a quote from Nam Dang, the University of Florida researcher regarding toxicity:

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100309182449.htm

Nam Dang states that based on what he has seen in a CLINICAL setting, there appears to be no demonstrable toxicity. He says it seems like you could take it for a long time.

Here is the abstract of his paper: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19961915
The entire paper is on line, but I don't have time to find it right now.

Here is an abstract regarding papaya leaf's ability to raise platelets (in mice):

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23998013

Granted, this study was on mice--however, the reason the study was undertaken at all was because of the widespread folk use of papaya leaf to treat low platelets caused by dengue fever, as a cure for cancer, as well as for other things.

I have used papaya leaf powder and tea for about 4 years now, I am in excellent health, and feel no ill effects whatsoever.

I'm sure you could wait to use it until someone checks for the long term effects on the brain, liver (it is used for hepatic problems, by the way)etc.--if that ever happens. After all, why trust the fact that millions of people have used papaya leaf to cure disease for milennia? And the reason why research establishing the efficacy of plants to cure disease is not taken up more often by the drug companies is because it is difficult if not impossible to isolate a single component of a plant that is responsible for the plant's effects. Even if you can isolate an "active" principle, now what you have is a drug that probably has quite a bit of toxicity--because in plants there are many components, some of which act as buffers reducing the toxicity of a single compound that in large doses will probably have numerous toxic effects. It's the whole plant, together with all its thousands of chemicals, that produce the effect, and not just a single "active principle".

I can certainly understand the desire to be pretty sure a plant may work --and not kill you--before you try it, but consider the long term effects of prednisone and the effect on your body of spleen removal.

I agree with pretty much everything you just said. And thanks for the citations. I think the main thing with choosing to go with something that isn't thoroughly tested is to be fully and accurately informed with whatever data is available, and it does not seem accurate to say 'it is not toxic' from the results of this study, but to give exactly what the study found is totally fair, and beyond that we don't know.
Erica

My only problem with supplements like that is that you don't know what else is in it. There are no regulations for that sort of thing. I have ordered supplements too and have taken a chance on them, so I'm not above that myself. But truly, just because it says "natural" and lists ingredients, that doesn't make it so.

My hematologist advised me against taking the papaya leaf extract supplements. She says it is not studied how certain supplements interact. But, I have read about all these amazing success stories, I am inclined to give it a try. Sometimes doctors don't support natural treatments.

Did anyone else have a similar experience with their doctor?

Has anyone tried dry papaya leaf's in tea? I would think you would have to drink it a couples of times a day. Thinking of ordering a lb www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkherb/p.php

Yes, both I and my daughter having been using papaya leaf tea for quite a few years. The best way to make a therapeutic batch: Bring water to a boil in a pyrex or stainless steel pot. When it boils, take the pot off for long enough to throw in a fistful of papaya leaves (dried). Turn the heat down to simmer, or the lowest setting, cover the pot and replace on the burner, Let it simmer for 20 minutes or so (or even longer), then turn it off and let it cool on the burner. Strain it, and drink or cup at every meal. It doesn't taste real wonderful, but it works. You can add some peppermint leaves to the mix if you like to brighten the taste. Mountainrose has good papaya leaves. You can make papaya leaf tea as strong as you want. If you can't stand the taste, you can boil less water, and make a really strong brew, and then take maybe a couple of ounces after every meal.
If you choose to simply steep papaya leaves like regular tea, it tastes better, but the simmered brew is much more effective. Hope this helps.

I have been taking this for 6 weeks with no luck. I understand with these remedies this just might not fix my underlying problem. It would be useful to know how long you took the extract before seeing results.? Thank you.

How much have you been taking? If you have simply been using a teabag steeped like regular tea a couple times a day, you probably would not notice a difference. Have you tried the decoction method (simmered papaya leaves for 1/2 hour or so)that I described above? My daughter was using just 3 bags a day for quite a while with not much result, but when she started drinking the really strong brew, she did. From what I have seen, papaya extract works very quickly, if you drink strong enough tea you should see some results within a week or even a few days. I hope it works for you, but then nothing works for everybody. If you haven't used a strong brew you might try it though.