Healthquest

Just before Thanksgiving, almost exactly a year ago, my complete confidence in life, and my health began to crumble. I had never been really ill. I had breezed through thirty-two years of my life never dreaming that I would one day have an idiopathic disease!

My story began with two consecutive months of unusually heavy bleeding. I knew something was wrong, and immediately called my Ob/Gyn. He dismissed it as a miscarriage, (you would think I would have known). Because he was the Dr. and knew everything, I went along with it. When this continued into the third month, I began to listen to a strong inner voice that said to get my blood tested. I was also bruising at the slightest touch. Finally, my Ob/Gyn did the blood test, right before his scheduled D and C!

He continued with the D and C before he looked at the blood work. So, the day after Thanksgiving, I was referred immediately to a hematologist with a platelet count of 16,000. 85 mg of Prednisone, daily for a week, and several sleepless nights spent

cleaning the house, shaving the dog, baking unlimited muffins, found my platelets rising steadily to over 250,000. I was well, again. It was really nothing, after all! Six weeks of being weaned off the Prednisone, my platelets dove. Not an unusual occurrence, I was told! I began to do all the research that time would allow. Not finding enough information fast enough, I had to get back on the Prednisone for another four weeks. My counts rose again, but this time, I knew that even though my platelet count rose, I was not feeling as well, and my cuts and bruises were not healing quickly at all. I began to learn of the double effects of Prednisone. In suppressing my immune system function it was helping my platelets to rise…but it was not curing me.

During this second course of Prednisone I learned so much about relieving the body of all stress. I learned to eat only whole foods, and to eliminate red meats, pork, dairy, and sugars, all of which require more effort to digest. I also had an ELISA blood test and found that I was intolerant to fifteen foods, which I immediately eliminated from my diet. I also suspected a Candida (yeast overgrowth) problem and also eliminated anything made with yeast. In my quest for healthy living, and because of my limited diet, I naturally began to learn of supplementation. I began to take minerals, and then learned about OPC’s, (Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins which is another way of saying what Europeans have been saying for years…"Pycnogenols"). Everything I read about this product, addressed what I had learned, and I thought I needed.

Of course my Dr. had no interest in what I was doing , thought that I was "nuts" and was sure my platelet count would fall again. ("Thanks for the curse!" I said and then laughed, determined to prove him wrong.) I read Andrew Weil’s book " Spontaneous Healing", and was determined to "train" my platelets and my IgG antibodies to behave. I spoke to my spleen and told it to "cool it"! My husband told me that he would be there for me when I went over the deep end. He was joking, but I knew I would try anything within reason. I prayed, not for healing, funnily enough, but for God to direct me to the cause, and then to the answer, so that I could help others who had similar idiopathic diseases. Amazingly, I had great peace with myself. I never felt this would get out of control, and I would never let the fear rule me…harder to do before every blood test!

While I constantly honed my spiritual and emotional side, I also took just about everything that seemed to make sense to me. I took the OPC’s - a double dose, at first. I took 2,000 mg of Vitamin C, and B5 and B Complex, all because I read in several places that they helped stimulate the adrenal glands, hopefully to produce enough natural cortisol which would eliminate the need to take Prednisone. I took an adrenal compound, ("I’m taking brains, liver and heart" I would tell my boys, as they gagged at the dinner table), and also Astragalus and L-Tyrosine, also to help stimulate the adrenal glands.

After three weeks on these supplements, and off the Prednisone, my counts fell to 130,000, my Dr. recommended a splenectomy. I balked, knowing that would NOT address the cause. Then slowly my platelets began to rise, enough to give me a lot of hope. Every time I had my blood tested, I amazed my hematologist, and his nurses said that I was the only person they knew who could will her platelets up!

It has been six months, since I have been off the Prednisone. My platelets have held steadily at 150,000 to 160,000. I have stopped some of my supplements, (the adrenal compound, the Astragalus), and have religiously continued the OPC’s and the Vitamin C. and the B vitamins. I continue to drink endless pure water and try to stay away from sugars in any form.

I thank God for having lived through this illness. I consider it a gift. I have learned about the human body’s amazing ability to heal. It has completely changed my outlook and the direction for my life. I have a dream that I never had before, and would never have had if I had not been sick.

Recently, I was diagnosed with a Mycoplasma bacteria, by my new Dr. Whether or not this triggered my ITP, is an interesting question, one which I hope I have an answer to, soon. In the meantime, my platelets hold at an acceptable level, fear does not rule me and I do not feel quite so fragile…in short, I have been given back my life. Now I know what to do with it!

Julie

You can send a message to Julie at jk-healthquest@msn.com