Hi Terry @terese7 Essential Thrombocythemia is a blood condition where your bone marrow is producing too many platelets. This can lead to a number of potential health issues with the greatest risk being blood clotting such as DVTs, pulmonary embolisms or stroke. So your doctor is suggesting you try hydroxyurea to lower the level of platelets by controlling the over production.

There are some foods which can naturally lower platelet counts, however, if your ET is caused by a mutation in your gene that control the production of certain blood cells, such as the involvement of the JAK2 gene, no food or diet will reverse the condition. We’d all love to avoid using medications if we can do the same job by natural means but often this isn’t the case. So fortunately we have drugs on the market that we can take to keep us living full and productive lives in spite of our disease.
Here are a couple of informational articles for you that explain ET and why it’s important to treat the condition.
https://www.healthline.com/health/primary-thrombocythemia
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https://www.verywellhealth.com/essential-thrombocythemia-2860907#:~:text=Essential%20thrombocythemia%20is%20a%20rare%20blood%20cancer%20that,potentially%20life-threatening%20complications%20like%20heart%20attack%20or%20stroke.
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https://www.verywellhealth.com/jak2-mutation-5217909#:~:text=Essential%20Thrombocythemia%20%28ET%29%20While%20the%20exact%20cause%20of,Like%20PV%2C%20ET%20is%20also%20a%20myeloproliferative%20neoplasm.
There’s also a current discussion in the forum discussion foods, diet and nutrition for people with ET.

Essential Thrombocythemia (ET): foods, diet, nutrition? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/essential-thrombocythemia-et-foods-diet-nutrition/

Do you know if you have any acquired gene mutations that have caused you to have essential thrombocythemia?