low white blood cells due to chemo

[kati907]

My daughter has breast cancer and the chemo has knocked her while blood cell count down to a dangerous level.  .7   can you tell me what foods and natural products can help boost her while blood cell count before she gets an infection...thanks Caroline at ***@****

[Nytshadow]

My wife has breast cancer and is currently undergoing the TAC (Taxotere, Adriamycin, Cytoxan) treatment once every 3 weeks for 6 cycles.  She just had her 2nd treatment last Friday.  The day after the chemo treatment (monday) she receives a shot of Nuelasta that works to boost the white blood cell count during the next 7-10 days of chemo when chemo patients are at their lowest white blood cell count.  The major side effect of Nuelasta thus far has been soreness in the bones.  Additionally, I would see if your daughter can receive a referral to speak with a cancer nutritionist.  Good nutrition and supplements can help to lessen some of the side effects caused by chemo.  The most difficult side effect thus far has been dealing with dehydration due to nausea and vomiting as well as fatigue.  Be sure to have your daughter drink plenty of fluids.  The oncologist has suggested a gallon (1 gallon = four 32 ounce bottles) of fluids each day during the entire treatment period and alternating between water and gatorade during the 2-3 days after treatment (1 gatorade bottle = 32 ounces).  I cannot stress enough about staying hydrated the 2-3 days after treatment as both treatments my wife has become moderately to severely dehydrated and has had to have IV's to regain fluids.

For fatigue, she is currently taking 1000mg per day of American Ginseng . She takes this during the second and third weeks.  She is also taking 60mg of Coenzyme Q10 during the second and third weeks to build the hearts defenses against the toxicity caused by Adriamycin (See second paragraph under the Warnings secton - .  The other supplement I would look into would be Fishoil (2000mg to 3000mg per day) as this can also promote a healthy heart and may additionally (haven't found proof) help prevent chemo induced cognitive dysfunction (http://www.cancersymptoms.org/cognitivedysfunction/index.shtml).

One last thing, we were told by the cancer nutritionist and the oncologist to stop any vitamins/supplements at least 1-2 days prior to the following treatment and 1-2 days after the treatment.  The primary reason given was so that there wasn't the concern that any of the vitamins/supplements were contributing to nausea/vomiting.

I know this is a ton of information and I sincerely wish your daughter and you the best of luck.

[Kamal S Saini, MD, MRCP (UK), DM]

Hi,
You are describing an unfortunate side effect of chemotherapy. Doctors call it "chemotherapy induced neutropenia".
There are no proven dietary interventions that can increase these white blood cells. Time and supportive care will take care of that. In any case, chemotherapy reduces a persons appetite, and even normal food may not seem palatable.
If she develops infection (febrile neutrpenia), then the doctors amy plan to give injections with G-CSF after her next cycle of chemotherapy. G-CSF is known to shorten the duration of neutropenia.