HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Blood transfusion

Support Forums
>
Prostate Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 5/23/2013 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
My red and white blood counts are below the normal range and I have extreme fatigue both due to my RT and HT treatments.

Has anybody had a transfusion for fatigue and did it work?

Dave

Posted 5/24/2013 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
Keith Richards swears by them...
Posted 5/24/2013 4:30 AM (GMT 0)
Keith Richards swears by them...

i'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor fairwind!  as a recovering addict I am mad at keith Richards; he has defied death by narcotics for years and a few years ago fell out of a tree and that didn't do the trick either :-) .

"It's not the first brush with death I've had. I guess what I learned is, don't sit in trees anymore."   

-- Keith Richards 

ed

 

Posted 5/24/2013 4:32 AM (GMT 0)
Dave -- I feel you man.  the fatigue kicked my butt for months but I never got a transfusion.

ed

Posted 5/24/2013 4:35 AM (GMT 0)
Dave,

I have been fighting severe Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for years as the results of multiple radiation events, but was never suggested by any doctor to do transfusions. Not sure I would be okay with doing that for myself.

david
Posted 5/24/2013 11:30 AM (GMT 0)
Dave, both my red and white blood counts have been below normal since SRT. My PCP thinks this may be my new normal. She is not recommending blood transfusion at this time. My B-12 was also very low but responded well to supplements. My energy levels seem normal, especially since my B-12 has been back up. It might be worth checking into.

Carlos
Posted 5/24/2013 12:00 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Carlos,

I just started the B-12 last week. Hope it works!

Dave

Posted 5/24/2013 2:28 PM (GMT 0)
Yes my husband has had transfusions. 2 out of three were great results. He gets them when hemoglobin goes @ 8. Some people don't get them until 6 or 7. He hadn't had a need until on Xtandi, but actually is more due to the extensive bone involvement. Who knows what comes first. Almost needed one way back when on first set of Taxotere treatments.
Posted 5/24/2013 2:38 PM (GMT 0)
Passages,

Thanks, good to know, but I am going to try B-12 first.

Carlos,

Are you taking oral B-12 and if so how many mcg's per day.

Thanks to you both,

Dave

Posted 5/24/2013 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
I also in past struggled seriously with chronic fatigue - transfusions would not be for something like that. I had regular B12 shots, and still get them periodically. I also got a Gammaglobulin shot - that really helped with the immune system. The government nneded all of the supply for the military.

Good luck at finding answers.
Posted 5/24/2013 6:58 PM (GMT 0)

Dave, I started out with 500mcg of sublingual cyanocobalamin B-12.  My B-12 level continued to drop.  My PCP recommended I change to 5000mcg.  I also changed to the methylcobalamin type as I had read that it might be more absorbable.  I bought the Jarrow brand online.  My B-12 jumped to the upper detection limit so she dropped my dose to 3 times a week.

I also saw a paper by Dr. Sartor that suggested some PCa variants had B vitamin receptors and high doses of B vitamins, primarily Folates might contribute to tumor growth.  Another paper (2004) suggested that B-12 was the culprit.  Both papers agreed that treating anemia and low levels of B-12 with supplements was important in spite of  the possible cancer connection.  Here is a link to one paper: http://psa-rising.com/eatingwell/vb12_folate04.html.  I could not find Dr. Sartor's article. 

Carlos

Post Edited (Carlos) : 5/24/2013 3:00:15 PM (GMT-6)

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply