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Severe Nuetropenia (very low white count)-- Can Lyme cause it?

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Posted 10/14/2011 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
My husband has Lyme and is now on IV Rocephin (7 days so far)-- he has a lot of nuero symptoms and is a mess-- thus the decision to go IV becuse it breaks the brain barrier best.

For the past 20+ years he's had a low white bood cell count, but not so low that it has ever been a problem or caused him to be become ill in any way. His white blood cell count was checked this week and it was dangerously low (2 total with nuetralfils at 500)-- we rushed to a Hemotologist who said that it couldn't be the Rocephin causing the drop because it would take longer than 7 days to cause such a drop. He thinks my husband has Nuetropenia (its what Jim Henson [Muppet guy] died of) and that my husband could die if his nuetrafils were at such a low level and he got an infection and didn't immediately go to a hospital for treatment. He scared the crap out of us today.

My question is-----couldn't Lyme be the culprit in lowering an already low white count to such a level? Has anyone had Lyme lower their white count and if so, how much did it lower it?-- Any suggestions? We are seeing the Hemotologist on Monday to have his WBC checked again, and if the nuetralfils haven't gone up to  near or above 1000 I think he may want to give him a treatment to boost his WBC and/or put him in the hospital. He said that a nuetrafil count below a 1000 for a week or more will result in death. Seriously.

I am trying not to be completely freaked out and am hoping that the Rocephin is madly killing f - - - - - - g spirochete and that his WBC count will be up on Monday.

 

Posted 10/14/2011 4:45 AM (GMT 0)
Erlichiosis a co infection of lyme can be a cause of low white blood cell
Posted 10/14/2011 12:37 PM (GMT 0)
Not sure about the white blood count but I don't doubt for a minute that lyme can cause anything. It affects the entire body, especially the immune system. Thinking of you and hoping your husband is better soon.
Posted 10/14/2011 4:11 PM (GMT 0)
HI Otter7!
A situation like the one you and your hubby are in would scare the bejeebers out of me! smhair

I did a search on Rocephin and on Drugs.com (www.drugs.com/sfx/ceftriaxone-side-effects.html) I found this:

"Ceftriaxone Side Effects - for the Professional"
"Hematologic—eosinophilia (6%), thrombocytosis (5.1%) and leukopenia (2.1%). Less frequently reported (<1%) were anemia, hemolytic anemia, neutropenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia and prolongation of the prothrombin time."

It looks like your hubby may be one of the "lucky" few that react in a bad way to Rochephin. After spending as much time as I have with Lyme and finding a treatment that is right for me, I sure don't appreciate docs telling me "that can't happen" when I'm living proof that it not only can, but does happen in many instances. Tick-borne infections seem to create a lot of situations within the body that "shouldn't happen that way".

You didn't mention if your hubby is seeing a LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) or not. If not, please get him to one, we can help you find a LLMD if you would like our help. If he is seeing a LLMD, I would check with your pharmacist on how long it would take for a person who is using IV Rocephin to develop Neutropenia, and/or get a second opinion.

I do hope that you can get a definite answer as to what is causing this soon! Please do let us know what you & Hubby decide and how things turn out!!
Posted 10/15/2011 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you all for your responses. One of you asked if my husband is seeing an LLMD -- he is, in fact a very good one. I will contnue to research Rocephin IV further --- but there doesn't seem to be much on the internet specific to nuetrapenia. And thank you for the site that mentions the 1% nuetrapenia. The hemotologist however really felt that 7 days on Rocephin was just not long enough to have this happen--- but he could be wrong!

Monday seems like a year away right now. Ill report back on the nuetrafil count Monday afternoon!

Thank you all again for your concern.

Posted 11/1/2011 4:01 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I wanted to complete my post on this topic and tell the outcome of our dalliance with IV Rocephin. So after 3 weeks and 4 days of IV Rocephin and my husband's white count remaining between 2 and 1.7 with his ANC (absolute nuetrafil count ) between 433 and 800 which is so low you're not, according to the hemotologist we saw, be able to live for more than 2 weeks-- we decided to come off the Rocephin because the hemotologist said he either wanted to do a bone marrow test or a 5 day steriod challenge to see if my husband had the very bad nuetropenia desease (like dead Jim Henson) or not. I was convinced it was the Rocephin --- and gues what? after one day, ONE DAY off the Rocephin, my husband's white count went to 2.4 and his ANC went to 2200! So the moral of the story is that if you are on Rocephin for even a week, it has the potential of putting your white count at disasterous levels-- particularly if you normally have a low white count to begin with.

The good news out of all of this was that my husband got nearly 4 weeks of the Rocephin killing spirochetes-- but was it worth doing with being told you might die if you caught a cold and didn't get to a hospital fast enough? Probably not.

Our LLMD as of this afternoon has now prescribed Ceftin-- but I just looked it up and it can cause nuetropenia as well-- being in the same family of drugs as Rocephin. So that will be the first phone call I make tomorrow.

One final note--my husband ANC (absolute nuetrafil count ) was for the past few years, normally between 1000 and 1300. So the fact that it was 2200 today, may mean that Lyme was responsible for keeping it so low for who knows how many years-- and the Rocephin has worked in lowering the bacterial load which allowed the nuetrafil count to go up.

Posted 11/1/2011 12:22 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the update, otter!
Posted 11/1/2011 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
That's great news Otter!!! Congrats to both you and your hubby!
I hope that you both continue to see progress with his continued treatment! Please be sure to update us on his progress from time to time!
Posted 11/1/2011 3:42 PM (GMT 0)
I am glad you posted an update and glad he is doing better!  That had to be scary not knowing what was causing the low count.

Your post has helped me now because I was on Malarone which was harming my liver.  And I was also on Ceftin which apparently was contributing to my low white count.  But I also have erlichiosis so maybe it is a combination.

But reading your posts now assures me that I do not want to attempt the iv rocephin which I know is in the back of the drs mind.  I'm sure it works but I probably wouldnt want the risk involved.

I am currently taking alternatives and honestly so far so good so maybe I will hold off going back on abx.

Well again, thanks for pposting and hope he continues to improve!

Posted 11/1/2011 9:54 PM (GMT 0)
Hi again,

Thank you all for your well wishes. As of today our hemotologist wants my husband to not take Ceftin or any other antibiotic and to have his white blood count tested again in 2 days to see if it is stable or goes up further. I am of two minds whether it is a good idea to be off antibiotics for a total of 5 days-- which is what it will be 2 days from now-- as I don't want to risk the gains from the IV Rocephin being depleted. Anyone have a view on this? I know some LLMD like to pulse antibiotics but I don't think my husband was on them long enough for

We're looking into herbal/holoistic treatment in the meantime-- may do it simultaneously with new antibiotic. Will post again after the 2 days to let you know what was decided as the next course of action.
Posted 11/1/2011 10:12 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Otter!
So glad that you are wiling to look into other options while hubby needs to be off of abx. There are several good natural type of treatments that are popular and have pretty good reviews. Here is a link to take you to that info -
www.lymediseaseresource.com/Protocols.html

Plus here's a link to one that has been pretty popular here with some of our members- hansacenter.com/

Not all are created equal and each has it's benefits from what I understand. Be sure to check into them carefully to find the one that is right for your hubby and his situation.

Hope this helps! smilewinkgrin
Trav
Posted 11/2/2011 3:17 PM (GMT 0)
Whew!!!! Glad your husband is getting better! Sounds very scary.
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