Essential Thrombocytosis: Do platelets ever decrease without meds?

@sanlee7 HU did not bring down my platelets I took it for 3 years platelets kept going up. Changed doctors was taken off HU 2 months ago and put on Anagrelide, platelets are now 920. I see Dr on Oct 27th said I will probably have to take Besremi shots to get platelets down.

Hi @nohrt4me ,
Somehow, I did not read your message about that when you posted it a few months ago. It was very interesting what you shared about your dad’s experience.
On my bone marrow biopsy day on immediate stat blood work after it in 2/2025, I know my platelets did drop 400 on their own with me taking nothing and doing nothing differently. That is when that oncologist/hematologist thought I was transitioning to overt myelofibrosis. I doubted that as I felt just fine and the same way I always feel to this day and just did another lab a few months later which showed my high platelets again. My red cells, hemoglobin, are normal and white cells fluctuate but always slightly higher than normal. I still have high platelets and other values consistent on all my subsequent labs and that is just fine with me as I do not care to ever have overt myelofibrosis! Because all the current approved meds available lower all blood cells, I choose not to take any of them. That is just my opinion. The only risk factor I have for a blood clot is my age of 67 which in my opinion should not be an immediate reason to put a patient on a medication. I will take low dose aspirin. That is just my opinion.

Hi @mea73 Being hospitalize for bilateral pulmonary embolisms had to be quite a frightening experience for you! I’m so glad to see this had a happy outcome and that HU is working well to bring your platelet level down to a more normal level.
How long have you been taking the hydroxyurea?

I believe platelets can drop without medication. However, that requires an almost psychic awareness of what works and what is counterproductive. I saw an alternative provider who gave me a very strict protocol similar to the Gerson therapy. I stayed on it for one year. My platelets normalized and were in the 300’s. But I stopped doing the diet partially, so now I’m approaching 600. I can’t afford that Lady anymore so I will need to do it myself. She recommended things like “eat buckwheat.” Apparently the Rutin in buckwheat can help lower platelets. Most of my diet was lots of vegetables, zero sugar (but stevia and monk fruit powder were okay). Yes. I did the juicing and one coffee enema per day during that year. It was basically a cancer diet (Gerson type) but modified for my system. I am going to try getting Besremi because in some cases it has been shown to reduce the JAK2 mutation (which I have) to the point doctors cannot detect it. I am also returning to the diet but without the juicing and enemas.