Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura:

All truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed,
Second it is violently opposed,
Third it is accepted as self evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

I am writing this article out of my sincerest hope that I can help anyone suffering from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenia Purpura (ITP), those treating these patients, and those supporting them. Through information, simplified explanations, my personal experiences and insights, my goal is to maximize healing and minimize procedures and suffering by making you a partner to the healing process.

Having had two major bouts with ITP (the first experience, my platelet counts were unreadable, and my second experience, they were 5000) and having put it to rest twice through two different methods, leaves me in a unique position to inform and hopefully open some minds to an alternative perspective on the process and a healing path forward.

Because of my life and work experience, my nature is to reverse engineer problems to create solutions. In this article I will intersperse my last ITP experience with my theory on what was happening, my plan of action to prove it out and my current practice to maintain resolution. During my research, I have encountered too many reports written on the National Institute of Health website from around the world concerning ITP and the diagnostics, theory and practice of treatment, as well as the outcomes of those paths of treatment. What concerned me was in too many cases, after patients had undergone all recommended treatments including steroids, platelets, Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVig), chemotherapy and splenectomy, they still had dangerously low platelet count with no resolution in sight. It is from this position that I resolved to find a solution, as I had no intention of going down the path of those reports.

Theories and Explanation

In my experience, the ITP model in western medicine is driven by platelet count. If you have low to no platelets then they have been destroyed. They then pursue a plan of action based on a platelet destruction scenario currently ongoing. I’m going to agree that this is a possible scenario but this negates the possibility that the problem is a production issue instead.

In my case it appears that the problem was platelet production not platelet destruction. The normal blood filtering process will continue but there seems to be a mechanism in place that kicks in so that when platelets drop, somehow they are managed in the system by what I’m suggesting is the spleen. The spleen continues to do its job removing marked or dead platelets on their normal lifecycle time line so the system doesn’t become poisoned. But if there is a production problem and the levels start dropping the spleen will hold the platelets in reserve and mete them out in an effort to maintain a stasis or a slight out of stasis in the system until platelets can become available. It appears the spleen sends a message out to all the other organs and tissues in the blood and platelet production department: “We have a serious problem going on here, can everybody check your system function files and figure out what’s going on?”

I believe (this is a second theory) that when that message is sent out that it also notifies all organs in the body of the deficit and it may not only be the spleen that holds back on the platelets. There may be some mechanism within all organs to maintain their own level of platelets until the emergency has passed, such as when the body stores fat in times of famine, slows metabolism and eats fat instead of muscle.

So the spleen is the primary storage vessel of platelets in an emergency and medicine recognizes this pattern of the spleen holding platelets but I think they are looking at it from the wrong perspective, and this has skewed treatment plans as a result. As an example, the first time I had ITP, the protocol was steroids, platelets and IVig (IVig was experimental then) to shut down the immune system, then use the IVig to reset it with the thought that the immune system is overacting (an autoimmune dysfunction of the spleen) and attacking platelets.

I don’t feel that’s accurate, I feel the process that is initiated is a system wide modulation and hoarding of platelets until the emergency can pass. Ultimately, if the emergency doesn’t pass then things become extremely life threatening. Although medicine still doesn’t know what shuts production down, (and this is another aspect of my theory), from my experience I will tell you it was not physical. It manifested physically but the trigger was not physical.

Now, if we have a system gone into emergency mode, hoarding platelets, and we start administering steroids, platelets and IVig, trying to shut down what we perceive as a platelet destruction problem, I feel we further exacerbate the problem. How is that? Because platelets, red blood cells and most white blood cells are manufactured in the bone marrow, that makes bone marrow a major part of immune system function. So if we are doing this to shut down a perceived immune function problem and we administer products to shut down the immune system, and the immune system is already being shut down by something else, we’re expecting one result and we get another.

Let’s look at this. First of all, the medical therapy model for ITP requires steroids to shut down immune function to mediate inflammation and reduce hypersplenia or overactive spleen; a believed autoimmune dysfunction of the spleen. Now, when this occurs we are making the reticuloendothelial system less viable, by taking away one leg of its function; filtration of the blood. Also keep in mind that cytokines are a key trigger and therefore critically important in platelet production in the bone marrow. Steroids will reduce cytokine production. Secondly, the medical protocol introduce IV platelets systemically because the count is so low. This is done to avoid internal bleeding particularly in the brain. The model introduces platelets into a system that has a serious deficit.

When, for what ever reason the platelets are low, I believe the internal wisdom of the hemopoietic system sends out signals to the entire body to hoard platelets, hoard them into organs, for vital life functions through this intuitively present mechanism. I don’t know the mechanism that I’ve been describing in any great detail but I intuitively believe that intravenous steroids caused my bone marrow to further reduce its capability to produce platelets in an inherent system of protection that is already hoarding my own platelets, compounding the problem.

Now, if you give an ITP patient bag after bag after bag of platelets and the hemopoietic/reticuloendothelial system has been further shutdown reducing immune system function through the intravenous steroids, and now administer IVig to reset the immune system function and in the process of doing all this, there is a production problem, then what has been created is a virtual zero function in platelet production within the body.

When we introduce platelets into this deficit, the system now sees supplies (platelets) and stores them. Why? Because it has determined that the level of Thrombopoietin (TPO) is too low to mature the megakaryocytes to the point of platelet birth. So the medical model administers mature platelets, which short circuits the normal protocol, but there is no TPO activation to feed megakaryocytes for platelet production so the body naturally stores the IV administered platelets.

As TPO naturally becomes available it is redirected to existing bone marrow megakaryocytes for proper platelet production. This provides the spleen with the go ahead signal and the spleen sends further signals to the rest of the body to mete out the platelets that have been stored within itself and other organ systems.

Because the system is still in emergency mode and it just received a big resupply, so it stores them it doesn’t burn them off. It stores them everywhere because it’s perceiving a deficit. Just like when the body stores fat and conserves calories when it perceives a famine, there’s a serious platelet deficit going on and the body is hoarding them, because it’s monitoring production and something is limiting what it can produce. So we would see an increase within an hour of administering platelets because the system is seeing this emergency influx, yet within twelve hours we see the number drop again. Maybe not as low, but it drops. Why? Because it’s storing platelets. The system is still in emergency mode. It has seen no longer term reason to change yet. The circulating number will rise if sufficient platelet storage vaults are full and then there is an excess.

If it’s a very serious deficit like I had the first time, the platelets will disappear into this vault of storage as fast as you administer them. My platelets this time , never reached below 5000. They were right at the 5000 level. I believe the system production level was at that point. So, when I was administered platelets, 5000 was the number it dropped to after the system stored platelets and then let them free circulate because the storage vaults were full.

We get a spike upon administering and then within 12 hours we get a drop to five or four, maybe a little higher depending on system function. In the mean time, IVig is rebooting the immune system. The problem is not that it doesn’t work, I will tell you it does. The problem may be that it is operating counter to the steroid. The steroid is shutting it down, the IVig is trying to reboot a system that is shut down, and what is shutting it down is hindering the IVig’s ability to reboot it. So it acts like maybe this is also a timing issue.

If we know the in-system time of steroids versus the functional time of IVig and if we figure out this mechanism for emergency administration of platelets by the body, we can give the body time enough to function and recover.

Autoimmune?

I’m not a big fan of autoimmune terminology and application in respect to the body being in a state of disease. I recognize medicine sees it that way, but it is being viewed from a very limited perspective. Autoimmune would mean the body is attacking itself, that’s your standard theory. I have a problem with that, because unless something has corrupted the DNA to accomplish that, maybe even the RNA, anything that is being done medically may be futile. If it is actually corrupting DNA or RNA you’re looking in the wrong place.

What I feel is happening, is that something is attacking the system, and the body is attacking whatever is attacking the system at such a level, that medicine sees it as attacking THIS part. It’s not attacking THIS part of itself, its attacking something that is attacking that part, or has attached to that part, or has falsely marked that part. By having the perspective of the body attacking itself, your doing the body a great disservice. It knows how to fix itself, that’s what its attempting. Treatment plans are interfering because medicine can’t recognize what the actual trigger is. Autoimmune, if you want to call it that, is a symptom of something. Dis/ease is a symptom. It is a balance problem.

The body is not at ease and its function is impaired by something. It knows how to function. It does not self-destruct. Now, whether the something that causes what is perceived as self-destruction is physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, is not entertained. The problem with that is, physical is the bottom of the heap. Which is why, according to the last study I read, for all of the cancer studies and methods, cut it out, burn it or poison it, which have been going on since at least the early 1900’s, there is still the same overall rate of success in curing cancer. Whether people have the treatment or don’t have the treatment, its roughly a 50/50 who survives.

Why? Because cancer generally is not caused by a physical trigger, it’s symptomatic of a systemic imbalance. Those that do heal change. They rebalance and they look deeper. They find the level that was out of balance, having had the experience of the illness or dis/ease. It’s either emotional, mental, or spiritual, it’s a trickle down effect. When one doesn’t entertain the possibility or include the other levels in a treatment plan, there shouldn’t be better than a 50/50 success rate because it’s not physical. There are four levels thus I would expect a 25 percent cure rate.

My Experience

Back to my original theory. In my case, over multiple weeks, I was given; Dexamethasone, platelets, and IVig. Sometimes it would elicit a response. The first time it did, I got a response, rather rapidly. I was on my way to a good recovery, but early on in the recovery, I was overwhelmed by a higher level issue that crashed that recovery. Round two, Dexamethisone, IVig, no platelets. Almost no response on platelet count, very little, but this whole time, my levels never dropped to the basement (basement for me is <1000). They hovered around 5000. Round three, was actually a second round in a twelve day stay. I received no steroids or platelets, but received IVig. I received no platelets the third round because the Dr. on call said it would make no difference. I asked for steroids and they brought me another round of IVig because they said I was refractive, since receiving steroids last time. Then I was told, “it didn’t work after testing” and I said “I didn’t expect it to because IVig doesn’t treat inflammation”, (in this respect, halting inflammation is a good thing but it is only stemming the flow of platelets from the system. I feel that the down side to depressing the immune system may negatively offset this benefit). Round four, I received platelets, IVig, and the first dose of Nplate. This moved the platelet count to 6000. Round five, Dexamethasone, seven bags of platelets over four days, IVig, and the second round of Nplate. This moved the platelet count to 7000. (Keep reading for the coverage of the interim period). Two days after discharge I received the third round of Nplate, which pushed platelets to 178000.

What I was not certain of at the end of round two, but what I’m fairly certain of now is, because of this experience, it was the platelets that would have made the difference in the count. I was still trying to figure out if this was a production problem or a destruction problem and the medical perspective is always destructive; destruction. Well, that’s a normal function, the spleen is going to clear damaged platelets and cells from the blood. You’re trying to stop a normal function. If the platelet number is actually low then destruction (clearing) will not stop, but the system kicks into emergency mode because there is no production and then, I believe, it stores what platelets do exist either self produced or IV administered.

Suggested Change in Procedure

What are we looking at? We’re looking at a mechanism in action that is saving the body and into that process we administer certain drugs that stop or at least slow that ability. We need to be able to administer platelets and something else. We need to look at this initially as a production problem rather than a destruction problem. Treat it from a production problem perspective first and foremost, and as for platelet level, administer Nplate. The caveat to this is: we must at this time, until a better test comes along, perform a bone marrow biopsy in order to rule out illnesses that would preclude using Nplate. The biopsy also gives a good look at megakaryocytes. Can we get the system booted? That becomes the real issue.

My Experience cont.

Let’s go back to the time between round three’s IVig and round four. I was in a five day stand off with doctors. I let them run whatever tests they wanted but they were not administering any products and kept pushing towards a therapy I refused to do, that being chemotherapy to wipe out B cell function. I absolutely refused this because all the research I had done and my intuition did not conclusively lead me to this being the problem and there was no test results that would confirm that path either. Also the side effects seemed much worse to me than the ITP. By the fifth day I had concluded that I had no plan to heal in place and I felt cornered into chemotherapy or surgery as the only options I was being offered and I staunchly refused both. Because of this standoff I accepted the fact that I would die in that room. I would not acquiesce my knowings and beliefs to the authorities trying to enforce these therapies. I made my peace with the emotional/spiritual work I had done while in the hospital as having been all I could do. At the end of the fifth day a doctor who I met on the initial intake to the hospital came to see me. He listened to what I had to say and after our discussion everything changed for me. We came up with a healing plan based on my desires for proceeding. Later that day they administered platelets and IVig. After testing they said “Well, the numbers didn’t move”. That is a testament to how depleted the system had gotten, it sucked up those platelets for reserves, it didn’t kill them off, it was too fast a response and if it was going to kill them off , why didn’t it kill them all off? No, it was a different bag, a different batch, too fast a recognition, too fast a response. It didn’t kill them off, it was storing them. Because the system knows there is a production issue. The assembly line is shut down or creeping because of an issue. That’s what’s going on and the body knows it.

My platelet numbers slowly start creeping up, the problem was starting to pass. Stable at 9000 then its 11000 and then it retreats back to 9000, and the doctors say, “just go home and take it easy and let’s watch them go up”. I wasn’t receiving any meds other than the Nplate and they were giving me Nplate at such a low dose, (I understand the proper dose must be slowly increased), but at such a low level, it wasn’t enough to jumpstart the marrow. I went home to recover. At six days, a day before my appointment I went back to the clinic, because I needed to speak with a doctor about some symptoms I was having. I didn’t feel the Nplate was working yet. I had gum bleeding and blisters in my mouth. The blisters would resolve in a couple days and the gum bleeding would resolve as soon as it started.

They checked my platelets and they’re 5000 again. It wasn’t sufficient Nplate to bump production up, but I had been able to mediate the problem at that level because of platelet storage, because of removing all stress and stressors from my life. Stress is a major depressor of immune function. I am readmitted and they give me steroids, seven bags of platelets over four days to keep me loaded with platelets, IVig again.

The platelet reserve is really depleted and the system is storing them everywhere. It’s not destroying platelets, it’s storing platelets. The body is trying to boot the system yet we’re giving the system steroids which is turning the switch off. The IVig is trying to reboot. We’re into this viscious cycle. I received a second shot of Nplate a week after the first one, twice the dose of the first one. Platelet count rises from the first three bags to 16000 after administration, but 12 hours later they’re 6000. The doctors aren’t getting the response they demand. I’m telling you of this response because when you start loading platelets, we’re still in emergency mode. The body has not shut off emergency mode yet. It’s not destroying these new platelets, its storing them, its meting them out from storage, until it sees the production go up. Production has to rise, that’s the trigger for this to resolve.

I notice and I have read enough times now, that there is a level of fatigue that people complain about with low platelets. I think this is a body response to shortage of platelets. It starts shutting down non essential things to protect itself. If you don’t have a lot of energy, you can’t do a lot of work, you can’t raise the level of stress. You can’t raise the level of injury. You minimize that because you just don’t feel like moving.

All of these symptoms are part of the emergency mode response. I also think that an enlarged spleen is symptomatic of emergency mode gone chronic. Is the spleen enlarged because it is storing platelets? Is it possible that an enlarged spleen seen with diagnostic imaging is an indicator of enlargement secondary to required storage of platelets as an action for protection due to a perceived platelet production problem? Is a truly enlarged spleen reversable? Possibly, maybe even probably, but this would entail a long recovery period and an extremely high level of mental focus and intentional awareness to accomplish. I would at very least not make surgery for a splenectomy my first decision in healing the body as it has long term ramifications for you when you do correct your body imbalance and get platelets under control.

The second shot of Nplate has the system starting to slowly recover from the issue. It doesn’t have enough of what it needs yet, but its primed. The marrow is waiting for the next influx of TPO. My functional output is 7000, better than it was at 6000. The system is actually maintaining a functional output, but its running low on supplies. I receive the third shot of Nplate, four times the original dose. Now the marrow has the sufficient production supplies necessary and starts production ramping up. What’s the marrow telling the immune system? “I have sufficient supplies to maintain this level of production given this level of stressor input”. The spleen starts to modulate fatigue levels. It starts to modulate platelets in the system. It’s still hoarding because it’s still in emergency mode.

This is as far as I can go right now, but this is what it feels like. Energy levels are up, mental attitude is up, the body still needs lots of rest. Four hour long midday naps. The nap is actually moving later in the day as energy reserves are getting better. Enough mental clarity and concentration to actually do paperwork. Exercise in the morning. Walk four miles, started at one mile, added, added, added, within a very short time four miles, and like Sisyphus who just hit the top of the mountain, I feel successful.

The Steps to Healing

I’m writing this paragraph 4 months after my last dose of Nplate. I received ten doses of Nplate over fifteen weeks and my platelets are self sustaining at 189000. The doctors have cancelled all of my future appointments as I have been stable for this long. I firmly believe this level of recovery is available to anyone willing to work for it and I will now explain how I accomplished it. Some of what I will explain is ahead of modern medicine’s ability to test and prove it out but most of it is in the books if you put it together right. I desire that you recover rather than die waiting for a rigid medical structure to make another discovery. I will describe this in several layers, all of which are applicable and necessary.

Fear of Death

One of the major things you will need to confront is your fear of death. Every time I say this to someone they always respond “I’m not afraid of dying”. I know from personal experience almost every one of those people are in denial or flat out lying to themselves. They cannot see that every decision they have made and continue to make is running from death, not towards living, as they would state.

I was born with an interesting quality, that is I have never been afraid of dying. Thus, I had a hard time understanding a behavior I was constantly witnessing in others, as they engaged in self destructive behaviors trying to drown their fears, all the while claiming no fear of the end and ironically hastening that outcome with the very same behaviors.

I am not considering the bravado, showmanship, skill and sometimes insanity of the X games or Jackass as no fear of death, rather as a disrespect for death. I have a healthy respect for death, I just don’t fear it. My first time getting ITP seven years ago, I had a hematologist and a surgeon at the foot of my bed in intensive care (as I arrived at the hospital with a platelet count that was less than 5000 and quickly dropped to unreadable) telling me I must have surgery immediately and that my conditiion was extreemly dire.

In the ER the doctor had said “ if you have what I think you have it usually leads to surgery”, to which I replied “I’m not having surgery”. I told the hematologist and the surgeon “I am not afraid to die. If this leads to meeting my maker then so be it, I am not having surgery. This is my body and I live with the consequences of my decisions, not you”. Doing so, I was going against all medical advice at one of the best hematological hospitals in the country, some family and some friends. I had my brother and two dear friends who stood with me on my choice and it was much needed support.

Uncertainty Can Be Good

You must understand that the more certain the prognosis and then the treatment, the fewer the possible options for what could actually be happening and ways to treat it. In other words: you, your friends , family, and doctors can actually create an outcome that was incorrect for the symptoms and cause. So be very picky who you allow to support you in your time of need.

I will give you a perfect example of this principle in action. What I didn’t state above when I said that I had received my second shot of Nplate and my platelets were sitting at 7000 and not moving was the following insight I had with my brother. As we were sitting together in the hospital, he asked me “what was Nplate was supposed to do for my spleen?” I stated “nothing. It’s for the bone marrow to help platelet production.” Then he asked me “then why is it around your spleen?” At that moment I saw the exact energetic picture he was looking at. A line of energy running from the injection site of the Nplate medication to a bubble around my spleen. I said “no wonder it’s not working, the Nplate is in the wrong place” to which I set about rectifying by redirecting the energy to all major marrow producing bones and removing the bubble around the spleen. This will explain the massive jump in platelet count from 7000 to 178000 in one week, a jump that even those administering the Nplate were surprised by.

The doctors were so focused on this being a spleen destruction problem that the spleen became the energetic receiving point of all therapies. Once I mentally and emotionally internally corrected the point of focus everything turned around. It was at this point I was certain I had a production problem not a destruction problem. Whether you understand this or not, this is how quantum physics works in the higher realms. You and your supporters intentions will create outcomes. Make sure they are the same desired outcome.

The Plan

There is a certain power that is acquired by being culpable to your decisions and actions. I have always described it this way: you can’t kill a man who isn’t afraid of dying. The examples of this in action are numerous, we usually call them heroes. The first time I had ITP (7 years prior) I put it to rest in a different manner but one that is not available to most people. This time I did it in a manner that IS available to most so I am using this knowledge to enlighten you.

After weeks of studying, praying, and meditating I put together a theory and then set about proving it with me as the test subject (this is in hindsight, at the time I was working to find a resolution that matched what my body was telling me). What I realized is that medicine has no way to determine if you have a platelet production or destruction problem. I always err on the side of do the least first. All the info I had attained about ITP and what was happening in my body didn’t seem to match how and what I was feeling and sensing about the situation. Here is what I came up with: I would treat my issue as a production problem not a destruction problem. The reasons for this you read thru earlier.

I decided to look at diet first because of certain experiences I’d had in this second reoccurrence. I removed anything from my diet that negatively affected blood or platelet production and I would add anything that positively affected it. You have to realize that a good part of the population needs to thin their blood for various reasons but if you have ITP you don’t. So the conventional wisdom and popular fads of today are deadly to you.

It works like this, if a food causes inflammation, salicylate containing foods for example for some salicylate sensitive people, then you cannot eat it because it will directly affect platelet production. Inflammation is a process where various cytokines and prostaglandins are entering tissue to stop blood from leaking into an injured area. This will shut down capillary beds and create swelling to immobilize a perceived injury. However, with ITP we must control abnormal bleeding, even without injury, meaning we must control inflammation. Any food that thins the blood promotes easier bleeding and these must be removed. Most things we consider delicacies thin the blood. Virtually every spice used in cooking does this. I will print the list of foods to avoid/eliminate at the end of the article.

We must also do whatever is necessary to promote blood and especially platelet production. This includes folic acid, B vitamins, vitamin D, collagen and protein. We must eat dark green leafy vegetables for the vitamin K which is needed for clotting. I have discovered that certain foods are blood thinners indirectly and these too must be eliminated, such as garlic and onions, which thin the blood because they are so antibacterial, that they kill off the bacteria in your intestines that produce vitamin K. Chocolate also acts as a blood thinner because it is so high in flavonoids that 2 oz. of chocolate is the same as taking a dose of Warfarin.

Another task would be to look up the types of foods that complement and disagree with your blood type. Yes different blood types have different requirements. You would then cross reference that list to the ‘avoid’ list. We cannot take blood thinners of any kind. I have even found reference to Tylenol thinning the blood although I have yet to find the dose at which that occurs, and that is really scary because it is the non-prescription pain reliever of choice for those suffering with ITP. Thankfully research has finally taken an aspirin a day away from doctors.

Next I eat only organic, period. There is no possible way to know the body cross reaction of the millions of chemicals that are used in food production. If it was processed, I don’t eat it. It was processed to increase sales and profits not your health, contrary to what the label says. Speaking of labels, you should get very good at reading and understanding what they are actually telling you. I have one exception to processed food and that is peanut butter, and I have found only one brand that does not adulterate the product, Santa Cruz peanut butter. You would think peanut butter would only contain peanuts. Well, surprise, surprise. Yes they will have peanuts and it should have peanut oil because that’s what happens when you smash peanuts, but peanut oil is a delicacy so it is removed and sold separately and cheap oil is substituted.

From my experience vegetable oils are dangerous to your health with ITP, (because of how they affect liver function. You need your liver to function as optimally as possible so it can make the required TPO). My only exception to this is a very good grade olive oil. Other oils have given me instant blood blisters in my mouth. By good grade I mean in a glass bottle and over $12/qt. and I don’t buy Italian anymore because their market has been so thoroughly corrupted you have no idea what is actually in the bottle. There is another reason to stay away from cheap oils, they are very hard on the liver and in my case will negatively affect my bilirubin levels.

These are but a few examples see the list at the end for my restrictions. My restrictions may seem harsh. They are, but you are trying to create a new body paradigm which goes against conventional wisdom. If it is too harsh for your mind, then consider what it will be like living (if you do) without an organ that has specific functions that are not replicated by any other in the body regardless of the doctors assurances. You can live without a lot of body parts, arms, legs, eyes, etc. but I don’t think you really want to. You can learn to live without eating certain foods. After all, your parents taught you to eat most of what you presently do, and for the most part western civilizations have only been eating spices for the last 400 years when shipping routes to the far east allowed the spice and tea trade to flourish.

We must also exercise. I do about five days a week sometimes more. Why you say? Because Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is needed for platelet production, is produced in the liver and is exercise supported. Also, some Thrombopoietin is produced in the striated muscle tissue (skeletal muscle). Do what you can with your doctors guidance. Walk if nothing else. If you can’t walk then get a pedal assembly that goes in front of your chair like a bicycle, or get in a pool. Just change your sedentary lifestyle. Remember we’re changing a lot of things at once, so do it in moderation because repetition builds strength and endurance. I view exercise in this context as a demonstration of intention to heal.

Ultimately, what is being asked of you is for you to overhaul your life. Care for yourself in a way you have not previously done. To cure yourself requires a different way of living than that which helped get you sick. I want for you to heal totally and never be burdened by this again and in order for that to happen you must decide that your life means more than your desire to engage in negative self-care habits. I’ll give you an example: I have pared my diet to organic farm fresh fruits and vegetables, organic meats and white rice, my preference being Jasmine. The only seasonings I use are olive oil and pink salt. You have to understand that until this bout I haven’t used a salt shaker since 1978, even now a small shaker (1.5” tall and 1” diameter will last me a month). I had to do this to add a bit of variety to what I did still eat. Family and friends ask me why I don’t start reintroducing foods that I cut out, now that I have tackled my ITP. To which I respond, “why would I want to go back to a way of life that I know contributed to getting me sick?” You have to be willing to accept that your system is different than 99.9999% of the world and thus treat it accordingly.

I also want to tell you about some symptoms and experiences I have had that none of my doctors has heard of but if you are reading this you may have experienced. First, I have managed to get my body to resolve ITP symptoms at only a 5000 count. This was accomplished before I figured out how to put it to rest for good. I would have petechiae show up for a fleeting few minutes on my legs and resolve before my eyes so that when I went to the ER it was no longer visible. The only place it would display was above my neck. Gums, cheek walls, tongue and maybe nose, but as soon as a blister would appear it would start resolving or as quick as my gums would start bleeding they would stop. No doctor would admit to having seen this happen.

Another thing I have experience with is a symptom I will liken to an allergy for lack of a better description. It seems to be a hypersensitivity to foods that have properties of blood thinning. The food in question will give me a blister on cheek or tongue on contact. This is instantaneous and it is an ITP type blister, not the kind that can be popped. I have had this blister experience with a platelet count of 175000 so foods can negatively affect you. An example is store bought corn chips made in canola oil. One chip is all it will take to blister my mouth and this is a really scary proposition.

Canola oil is basically a milder version of Rapeseed oil which has toxic properties to humans, so Canada took it upon themselves to genetically modify Rapeseed plants to lower the toxicity and created Canola. Obviously it is still toxic to me. I have had blueberries do the same thing. If you speak with your doctor, they will most likely tell you food has zero effect on ITP and tell you there are no food restrictions. I disagree, and my experience of putting my ITP to rest is proof of that. It is also where the list of “NO” foods came from. This list is always changing but this is where it is today.

This episode was, from a very different perspective, a spiritual, emotional, mental trigger of a past life. This is a karmic resolution of past life patterns set up in order for them to be healed in this life. Please don’t get caught up in the language, if it is affecting you now then it is a current life issue and the resolution of that is the same as a past life. Through this entire experience, I was doing a level of emotional/spiritual work that had the ability to modulate the problem. The karmic influence was the major limiting factor in TPO production. These outside forces were set up in my body to actually force me to resolve these issues. I’m still resolving some of them, but enough of the system has been unhindered to enable this level of function and recovery.

Having read this far you probably have questions and the first is probably, “How did I get ITP?” Let me explain this and I need to say, much of this is in the literature if you put it together right and some of what I will say will not be there for twenty or more years. Recognition of new paradigms by the entrenched one takes decades due to vested interests and momentum. Old paradigms do not change, the people that support them die off, and thus the existing paradigm with them.

Karma

Let us look at the concept of Karma. It is not the negative that its reputation brings. Imagine it as a bank, and you want to take out a loan of creation energy and support to accomplish an action where you have neither enough energy or support to do currently. You receive this loan and the one condition is that it must be repaid, period. There are zero exceptions and no timeframes on repayment. When you choose to incarnate in a body, the forces of the universe conspire to create a method for you to repay your debt by incorporating in your body, strengths and weaknesses that will eventually lead you to the necessity of dealing with things. These things turn out to be situations, illnesses, circumstances etc., that through your interaction allow you to repay this debt.

How does it do that? Through your experience and the work, (The Work-psychological self examination that includes contemplation, integration, and transformation of self through discovering the hidden emotional traumas and beliefs stored in the unconscious, then resolving them by integrating them in the conscious) you come to recognize the issue causing your problem and as you process it you learn to have more compassion for yourself because most of these transgressions were affected upon us at an age in this lifetime where we were still powerless. This will eventually lead you to recognize that others are going through the same struggles as you, just at different stages and manifestations of the struggle. This eventually will lead you to operate from loving kindness and compassion for you will know there is no separation and that we are all one. Basing your new decision making process on loving kindness and compassion works off your karma by bringing this level of energy into the world. All this is to your benefit, even if the outcome is fatal because you have experiences and make decisions (hopefully for the greater good and driven by your new knowledge of the lack of separation) based on those experiences and that advances your being.

Now, to get a situation into your body and in this case let’s talk ITP, we need a setup or inherent weakness.

Viruses

Let’s talk about viruses. Viruses are interesting creatures,. They technically aren’t alive because they have no DNA. So they are more like robots programmed to execute an outcome. They do this by commandeering your DNA for their own purposes. They get into cells by attaching to receptor sites on cells. Human physiology is interesting because there are levels to it that medical science is not ready to acknowledge but are operating in the background. So, if karma has set us up with a mechanism, a virus would be a perfect sabetour . We have the ability to create a De Novo virus when our environment is right for us to do healing work. This will never be opportune timing according to our rational mind, but the universal timeline has little concern for our personal preferences.

In the big picture it has a job to do and sent you to accomplish your part of it. De Novo viruses are a breed that will manifest for you and only you and your biology. It will most likely not respond to antiviral medications because they will not be able to recognize it. Its job is, therefore, to flip the switch on your illness to start the process of you healing your chronic emotional conflicts that have been hidden from you or forgotten by you. Because you have forgotten it doesn’t mean it’s not functioning in your psyche. This healing, in turn, changes your perceptions (hopefully towards more loving kindness and compassion, for yourself and others, because of your experiences). Your actions based on this change in perceptions repays your karmic debt.

The Nuts and Bolts

The mechanics of this process for ITP go like this:
Note: this is a very complex process that I have simplified to make it palatable by describing the major players in the platelet production process.

Let us look at the platelet production process. Platelets are very small cells compared to red blood cells. They are produced in the bone marrow by cells called megakaryocytes through a process known as Thrombopoiesis. This process uses a hematopoietic cytokine, which is a glycoprotein hormone called Thrombopoietin that attaches to a cell receptor site on the megakaryocytes. The attachment site is known as “c-Mpl” receptors or more exactly CD110 receptors. Both megakaryocytes and platelets have these receptors. When Thrombopoietin attaches to the c-Mpl site on a megakaryocyte it triggers the maturation of that cell which ultimately births thousands of platelets. Thrombopoietin is produced primarily in the liver and kidneys and its production is regulated through a unique negative feedback loop, in that Thrombopoietin is not under hormonal control but ‘USE’ or shall I say ‘CONSUMPTION’ control. The negative feedback loop monitors the efficiency of Thrombopoietin consumption by platelets and megakaryocytes and the quantity of platelets that are ready to leave the hematopoietic system of the bone marrow.

TPO Regulation

The negative feedback loop works like this: The liver and kidneys make TPO based on feedback from the system through the negative feedback loop. The TPO is sent to the hematopoietic system (bone marrow) for use by megakaryocytes and platelets. This raises the systemic TPO levels. The TPO is then bound to c-MPL receptor sites on megakaryocytes and platelets and, depending on the volume of TPO in the system, undifferentiated marrow cells. These undifferentiated stem cells will become whatever cells are necessary in the system by applying the appropriate hormone to them, in this case Thrombopoietin thus creating megakaryocytes. Once the c-MPL sites are loaded, the quantity of TPO in the system starts to drop because of consumption by megakaryocytes and platelets. High TPO consumption which leads to a higher cell count (production of megakaryocytes and platelets) leads to lower systemic TPO, this means less undifferentiated marrow cells can come into contact with TPO because of the reduced levels from consumption. This reduced TPO level leads to less creation of new megakaryocytes and that leads to less production of new platelets. Through normal apoptosis (cell death) and spleen action (clearing of the blood of old and dead cells) platelet levels drop. The low consumption of TPO due to fewer megakaryocytes and platelets leads to higher TPO levels in the system because the feedback loop sent the low TPO data to the liver and kidneys and they supplied more TPO. This leads to more undifferentiated marrow cells coming into contact with TPO to create new megakaryocytes and thus platelets. The higher TPO level is reported back as data input to slow TPO production. This high cell production reduces TPO in the system and the negative feedback loop signals the liver and kidneys to produce more TPO.

See figure 1 for a flow chart on the Thrombopoietin producing feedback loop. In this simplified version Fig.1, there are actually eight processes happening at the same time that are all necessary for the feedback loop to operate. 1. TPO production, 2. TPO transportation, 3. Undifferentiated cell conversion, 4. Megakaryocyte transformation, 5. Platelet production, 6. Platelet clearing from bloodstream, 7. TPO consumption, 8. Negative feedback loop operation.

figure 1

From the above description and figure 1. you should have a cursory understanding of platelet production. If a virus was to attach (insert itself at number 3 in figure 1) to the c-MPL site on megakaryocytes and platelets it would block the cells from receiving and consuming TPO. Very quickly platelet levels would drop due to megakaryocyte shutdown of platelet production and normal cell apoptosis. This would leave high levels of TPO circulating in the system so the liver doesn’t get the signal to produce more. The virus will also be blocking c-MPL sites on undifferentiated hematopoietic cells and this will slow the production of new megakaryocytes and the system quickly declines to life threatening.

Currently medicine administers steroids as a first line defense for ITP. Prednisone (and I’m assuming Dexamethasone) cause granulocyte (white blood cell) aggregation within bone marrow and seems to increase aggregation in the presence of platelets. This granulocyte increase especially with the addition of platelets and IVig is probably responsible for the success in returning platelet production to normal, but what happens when a system goes refractory? In the scenario I’m describing, these drugs illicit a response because the virus is still in a general enough state to be recognized, but out of self survival and mission critical performance, the virus mutates until medication ceases to have an effect. This makes sense because this virus’s intention is solely to affect only your biology, to force the issue you have been reticent to engage.

Why then you ask, does Nplate work in this situation? I think it comes down to a numbers game. If we can put enough TPO in the system, then the system stands a better chance of having TPO contact an undifferentiated cell, megakaryocyte, and/or platelet site before the virus does, especially after the administration of platelets. I also think time plays a role, for if we can populate c-MPL sites faster than the virus can reproduce we can return the system to normal.

Emergency Mode

This returns me to my earlier assertion that the body goes into emergency mode. What is the trigger for emergency mode? We exist in a space/time continuum. This means time is always part of the equation. For there to be time, there must be a clock mechanism. Otherwise we have time relative to what? This infers that in the original design parameters of the system there is a time function. This will have been put in place as a failsafe on this life critical process. The system would have to know the design parameters in order to function with a failsafe. Therefore, if the monitor (negative feedback loop) does not see a request for a quantity of TPO over a prescribed time, it signals, in conjunction with feedback from the spleen, emergency mode. (For the spleen has seen the drop in platelets that need filtering out). Thus sending the body wide signal to hoard platelets and a systems check to determine where the problem lies.

Emergency mode also changes platelet circulation patterns, so that if levels go low enough, platelets are directed to critical bleeding as necessary from storage. When platelets are administered they immediately go into storage reserves until the reserves are full, then they will be allowed to circulate. This is why they disappear so rapidly. Emergency mode is not turned off until normal cyclic rhythms of TPO rise and fall return.

How We Heal

Now we come to the critical question. How do we rid the virus if it is not recognized by antivirals, etc? We must remove the NEED for the virus. It only exists to force a plan of action. Remove the necessity and it will resolve. How do we do that? Self examination through psychology, meditation, contemplation, prayer. This is critical to long term success. We have not found ourselves in this predicament by accident but by design.

As C.G. Jung is often quoted: Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.

The unexpressed chronic emotional conflicts from our traumas, either in this lifetime or another, reside in our unconscious. It is from this place that the energy to motivate said virus is fed. I won’t lie to you. Doing this type of processing is painful, that’s why we don’t do it in the first place, but it is truly the path to our salvation and health. Doing psychological work does not imply mental illness. I would state quite the opposite, that not doing psychological processing is insane.

How can you go through a major physical upset and not need to process all the emotions that are coming up? Not processing it is the recipe for disaster for if you manage to get your physical health back, and the emotional energy has not been dissipated, it will re-manifest the illness in order to get you to resolve it. Because as I have stated, this is a trickle down effect and physical is the final attempt to get your attention and deal with the issue.

Levels of Imbalance

I will describe the most basic level of these imbalances with the understanding that your life experience has piled on many additional levels. We must make these unconscious levels conscious because this brings these chronic conflicts into autobiographical awareness of the brain and consciousness. From this point we can resolve them. When these hidden perceived monsters are seen in the light of day, they lose some of their power over us. This is because we have effectively moved the subconscious issue from under the ego’s ability to modify it. The ego does this to control our deepest fears, yet, by turning these deeply troubling experiences into something more palatable to us, we don’t consciously pursue it to resolution. To bring them forward and face them with loving kindness, compassion, and forgiveness is the action that is required to heal.

What is the spiritual imbalance? We innately know we are spiritual beings having a human experience, not human beings having a spiritual experience. Yet the mileu we are raised in, the authorities we engage, literally everything we encounter tells us the later. What is the result of believing the later? Disempowerment, self sabotage, crazy making internal conflict. Ultimately leading to mental imbalance, for what else can result when your body knows one thing and your mental faculties are constantly told something else.

Then, if you lack processing skills (and why shouldn’t you, you were never taught them, purposely) this mental conflict will trickle down and become an emotional issue. Emotion = energy in motion. Emotional energy must move, whether that is through physical expression (anger, frustration, guilt, shame, etc.) or mental expression (writing, discussion, etc.) it must be an outward release.

We don’t do this often. We are taught from an early age that this behavior is unacceptable. What we often do is swallow it because this is the only socially acceptable method. We suppress these things by eating (trying to swallow it), or locking it in our brain (this creates the crew that never rests). I have lost count of the times I’ve had discussions with people who were struggling and they told me, “I work it out in my head”. This is a lie and an impossibility, because it gets twisted around in your head by your ego, as it attempts to spare you a painful experience. In reality, it twists a lie to placate you and the issue is never resolved, then soon forgotten. Left to fester, this energy starts creating physical symptoms to get your attention. At first mild, they will keep growing more debilitating the longer you put off dealing with them. It is this putting off of healing these perceived calamitous and painful events that I believe create the De Novo virus that forces us to deal with our lack of trust and desire to correct the karmic imprints that plague our daily lives.

Partners

I am in no way advocating any lack of treatment while you pursue health. I am advocating not making decisions out of fear. Truly decide what your intentions are for your healing path moving forward, create a plan to accomplish that desired end and pursue them with everything you have. Find someone who understands these intentions and will fight for you when you can’t. When you truly grok the fact that life is fatal, and change is a mandate, you no longer make decisions while running from death.

The Being that animates your body can never be sick, injured, or die. Some spiritual traditions call this Being the soul. At some point you will wear out or permanently stifle your human vehicle’s ability to engage in growth and you will find a way to leave it behind so that you can continue the process again.

The greatest act you can do at the time of physical crisis, is to make your doctor your partner in this healing. They are not in control, you are. You must be. You may pray to whatever entity you choose, but they will not heal you, it’s not their job, it’s yours. They cannot (because that would be them overriding your free will), but they can and will support you on your healing journey. For you have the power to heal yourself. You were given that by your creator. If you expect your doctor to heal you, they will fail. Why? Because you are the leader in your life and the leader’s job is to set and maintain the intention. If you give up your power to the doctor, you are making the decision to let the chips fall where they may.

You live in your body and there is no way a doctor knows your body better than you. You and your doctor must be a team; you both must be on the same page. They must know your intentions and plans to heal and the doctors and your family must respect them. You have enough things to deal with in a medical crisis situation, you don’t need a doctor to be your adversary. Besides, you are the one who lives with the consequences of the decision, not the doctor. If you do not get along with your doctor, get another one. What is the difference between patients that heal and those that don’t? The ones who heal, do so because they change how they are living. That statement means, if you think you will get over this illness and return to your life as it was, then you have doomed yourself from the start. All illnesses are opportunities for change, some offering gentle incentives while some are quite forceful as they point the way for change to support your own goodness and the gift of being human.

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Foods

Here is the list of foods that I suggest removing from your diet at least temporarily, but in reality permanently, for why would you need to keep tempting fate, it’s only a food item. There are two reasons to limit or exclude foods and it may be one or both for some. They cause inflammation or affect coagulation. Early in your recovery attempt I think it wise to exclude foods that negatively affect blood production processes regardless of the fact that the food also has positive effects on production, like high in vitamin K. At the end of the list is a link to a very good article on foods with salicylates. I would stay with foods in the negligible categories. The outer leaves of vegetables and the surface and just below the surface of fruits hold most of the salicylates. You can widen variety, but I would only consider this after you achieved control for some months.

As I have edited this document for the umpteenth time I was struck with an insight about a possible precursor for ITP or at least something that exacerbates the ITP. Many of the foods that made it to my list are high in salicylates and can affect blood consistency and as I have just had for the fourth time a random blood blister with a concurrently high platelet count, I believe I am concurrently chasing a salicylate sensitivity issue. You may be also, so consider it as you choose your foods. This will have to be a topic for my next paper, after I do more research.

FOODS TO AVOID
This list is by no means exhaustive and it is in flux.

The following contain the highest levels of salicylates: (forms of aspirin)

SPICES
Cayenne pepper
Cinnamon
Curry powder
Dill
Ginger
Licorice
Oregano
Paprika
Peppermint
Thyme
Tumeric
Aniseed
Clove
Mustard
Cumin
Pimiento
Tarragon
Rosemary

FRUITS
Raisins
Prunes
Apricots
Blackberries
Blueberries
Cherries
Cranberries
Grapes
Pineapple
Plums
Oranges
Tangerines
Strawberries
Guava
Mango

MISCELLANEOUS SALICYLATE RICH FOODS
Coffee
Chamomile Tea
Honey
Rum
Wine
Cordials
Vinegar
Gravies
Mints
Almonds
Water chestnuts
Licorice candy
Jam
Chewing gum
Pickles
Olives
Food colorings
Aloe vera
Savory flavored chips, crackers, and fruit flavorings

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS (check the labels ingredients)
Mint flavored toothpaste
Perfumes
Shampoos and conditioners
Mouthwash
Lotions
Medications
Aspirin
Non steroidal anti-inflammatories

VEGETABLES (these are high in salicylates)
Cucumbers
Okra
Chicory
Endive
Radish
Zucchini
Watercress
Alfalfa sprouts
Squash
Sweet Potato
Spinach
Artichoke
Broad beans
Broccoli

These foods are removed because they cause adverse reactions in relation to blood and platelet processes.

HERBS AND VITAMINS
Feverfew
Dong quai
Grape seed extract
Ginko biloba
Vitamin E
Vitamin C
Ginseng
Evening primrose oil
Possibly arnica montana

MISCELLANEOUS FOODS
Sunflower seeds
Wheat germ oil
Cider
Chocolate (because the extremely high flavonoid levels make 2oz of it the same as a dose of warfarin)
Garlic and Onions (because they are so antibacterial, they kill off the gut bacteria that creates vitamin K which is necessary for clotting)
Vegetable oils:
Corn
Safflower
Sunflower
Canola
Soybean
Cottonseed
Rice bran oil

NIGHTSHADES (because they cause inflammation)
Tomato
White potato
Yellow potato
Eggplant
Bell peppers
Hot peppers

FISH (fish oil thins the blood and radiation negatively affects blood production). There is so much radiation that’s been dumped into the oceans by now fish should be glowing. Think Fukushima, Chernobyl fallout, illegal dumping by Russia and the U.S.Army. Three mile island. This is just what we know about. I’m sure other nuclear nations have done the same.
Albacore tuna
Anchovies
Herring
Trout
Salmon
Mackerel

This list is constantly being added to as new information or my experience dictates. Listen to your body and add your own. If you have removed all of these from your diet and regained control of your body, you will probably be ok if you get something on this list by mistake. I wouldn’t make a habit of going back, but it’s your life, your body, your decision and you live with the consequences.
I wish you all the health you desire.

This is the link to the salicylate article and lists. While putting together the list above I combined many lists I found online with my personal experiences of foods. When I finally discovered the article in the link I realized that most every online article copied parts or the entire article from this doctor so I have included only his in the links. I am currently working on an updated list based on the latest data, but that list will be in the second half of this article.
Millhousemedical.co.nz

For insights into physical illnesses and which emotions they are driven by read:
Messages from the body, by Narayan Singh