Hi all, my white blood cell count is low- it fluctuates from 4.4 down to a 2.6 randomly and it seems it gets lower with abx but hard to tell. Llmd reluctant to treat me with higher abx. Anyone have any suggestions to increase these? Has anyone had this issue? Do I need something alternative, or nutritional therapy? I am on tons of supplements to strengthen my immune system. I am really struggling with this as I have neuro symptoms. Many thanks. I have lyme, Bart, possibly babesia, ehrlichia
Posted by SouthPaw (Member # 35229) on :
I had low WBC when I tested positive. Been loaded up on abx for the good part of a year.Being treated for Lyme, Bart, Babs, getting a PICC line Friday, I think Rocephin.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
OHHHH....( hi Rbm! ) It's likely the ehrlichia causing it.
Have you been on doxy??
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
When my white blood cell count went low during treatment, my lyme doctor put me on Transfer Factor. (It was made from bovine--cow's--colostrum.)
That brought it right up to normal. We tested it in 2 weeks. It was like a miracle.
When it went down again, did the same thing. The third time it went low, doc said to just stay on the Transfer Factor til I completed treatment, which I did. It was a number of months total that I took it.
My doc said that your body senses the antibiotics and thinks it doesn't have to make as many white blood cells (which are the cells that fight infection). So, he said this is a normal thing to happen when treating lyme.
The brand was 4Life. This was about 8 years ago, so the products likely have changed.
Posted by Rumigirl (Member # 15091) on :
TF, this is great news!!! You did mention it recently when I was posting about it, and somehow I didn't register how effective it was for you and the rationale for why the WBC's went down.
TF, were you on the regular Transfer Factor or a specific one (they have one for Lyme, etc.)? Correction: I looked on their website. You were likely on what's now called the Classic Transfer Factor. It was another company that has the specific targeted ones. Also made from cow's colostrum.
I was pulled off ALL treatment cold-turkey 5 weeks ago and have suffered horribly, due to this (and my neutrophils were even much, much lower). But going off tx didn't help a whole lot with the neutrophils. Now I have to figure out where to go from here with my docs help, of course.
It was my neuro and most of all my hematologist who freaked out and pulled me off everything. I think it was a horrible mistake. It had taken me 5 long, hard months to ramp up on everything, and then I crashed completely off all tx. Argggh!
[I also have Anaplasma (Ehrlichia), so that is a factor, too).
Thank you so much for this info!!
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Look into AHCC to increase white blood cells.
AHCC is a nutritional food supplement developed using a patented process from the mycelia of several species of mushrooms including the shiitake mushroom. AHCC is different from other mushroom extracts because it is very rich in alphaglucans (rather than betaglucans) and has very low molecular weight, making it highly absorbable by the body.
Human clinical studies have shown that AHCC significantly improves immune response, increases and maintains normal NK cell activity, and enhances macrophage and T-Cell activity.
http://www.iherb.com/AHCC Plus more informative links here, and reviews of products.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I was PMing with Rbm last week. He/she said the low WBC occurred before the abx.