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Posted 12/29/2008 5:47 AM (GMT 0)
My husband has advanced prostate cancer and has been running a slightly low white count and red count. He's been on Lupron and Casodex for 6 months. Is this common for the white blood count and red count to be slightly lower than normal?
Posted 12/29/2008 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
Welcome to the Site and Sorry you have to be here.... I just wanted to chime in and ask if your doctor is keeing a close eye on the blood cell counts. You want to avoid it getting to low so that huddy doesn't have to get a transfussion.
Posted 12/29/2008 7:24 PM (GMT 0)
What is doc saying on this? Do you have an oncologist-doc?  An oncologist especially versed in PCa would be able to answer such about his patient (given history and monitoring). Hate to say, you need to know what is going on soon, could be other issues outside of this medical problem, not that I know. But lots of possibilities for such and it needs answers.

Posted 12/29/2008 7:55 PM (GMT 0)
it is possible that the meds he is taking are the cause, but it is clear that you need to doctors to explain this better. Simple questions are:

What does this do when we have these low counts?
Is this caused by these neds?
What is the best way to address this?
Should we be seeing another doctor to address this?
Are there things we can be doing at home that can help bring the counts to normal levels (Diet, Exercize, etc.)
If it worsens, what would we do next?

Obviously if the doctor took the time to tell you about these low counts, he should also be telling you why it is a concern and what is the best way to address it if necessary.

Mine (RBC) was down slightly on one test, but normal on others. No action was taken.

Tony
Posted 12/30/2008 2:01 AM (GMT 0)
I had a low white cell count at time of surgery and again now three months after radiation.  My urlogist has suggested I see a hemotologist and my appointment is on Wednesday the 31st.  I will let you know what he says.  Bob
Posted 12/30/2008 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome Palyn thanks for posting. I am sure you will get answers to all your questions and concerns here. If you don't mind please include a little more information about your husbands cancer such as.

Age

last few psa readings

where is it metastasized

how long has he been on this course of treatment

what hospital treats him

what other course of treatments is he on or has been on

thank you and I look forward to hearing from you

peace and love

dale

Posted 12/30/2008 6:04 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you everyone for your input.
My husband is 61 years old, was diagnosed as having prostate cancer this year PSA 33, Gleason 5+4, PSA doubling every 2 mos. A prostectomy was planned in 8/08 but during the surgery, the surgeon found out the lymph nodes (20 positive out of 22 on one side) were cancerous, he didn't continue the surgery as he said it would not change the course of the disease. My husband is on Lupron and Casodex and a host of other supplements. His doctor said the Lupron will often give you a low white count but I haven't seen anyone else mention that they had a low white count. His white count has been just under the norm. As you can see, this is a very aggressive cancer. He has been to the Burzynski Clinic recently and is being treated by them also. This is very scary.
Posted 12/30/2008 7:05 AM (GMT 0)

I have some good reading for you:

"Beating Prostate Cancer:Hormonal Therapy and Diet" by Charles "Snuffy" Myers.  In it he describes several cases like your husbands.  He goes into case studies about how to acheive a remission when the cards are stacked against you.  Myers himself is a survivor of stage IV disease with a Gleason 9.

Tony

Posted 12/30/2008 1:32 PM (GMT 0)
Palyn please email me if you don't mind. We have many similarities.

peace to you
Dale
Posted 12/31/2008 6:03 PM (GMT 0)
Drugs that might help with red and wbc counts, check with doc of course.

neupogen, leukine, aranesp, procrit (some other PCa patients have apparently taken these for such issues)
Don't know if this is helpful in your situation.
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