Blood work says enemic

My Mom just completed her 3rd round of chemo today.  She says she feels great though a bit tired.  The Dr. reported that her blood test showed that she was a anemic.  Is there anything we can do to make this better?  Diet, vitamins ect...?

[Helmar]

Hi Alisa... I have a good 'across the board' diet.. which includes red meat, veggies, fruit, and still have milk in my tea/coffee and icecream..(love icecream),,, and I've found that my bloods have come up each time for chemo, except when I was doing Gemzar. That was really bad for me, and the only time that I needed transfusions for red cells and platelets. I don't take any vitamins or supplements, just eat healthy, which Iv'e always done in the past too. Some ladies with this cancer refrain from eating red meat, but my Oncol. has told me to ensure that I do have it 2-3 times each week, to keep the red cells up. That's good news that your Mum is feeling well after the chemo. I hope it's working really good, and she can take some time off after the treatments are finished. Best wishes and hugs..Helen...

[Kimchi]

My friend told me to that okra builds up the red blood cells. Haven't had a chance to confirm this sorry.  Like Helen, I eat a balanced diet (except beef) and  I like my milk with my coffee and tea too.  I also take lots of vitamins and supplements...Looking back at my blood tests, during chemo the red would drop down pretty low and then would bounce back up till the next round.

[Jan214]

I found this page that lists all of the vitamin and minerals & what foods they can be found in.  There were a few for Okra, the other unofficial food of the south.  Hope this helps.
Jan


http://www.gmhc.org/health/nutrition/factsheets/nutrients.html

[PF_PVD]

As Helen said, Gemzar is very tough on blood counts, and I am anemic from this chemo, so they've started me on weekly Procrit injections.  I wasn't able to get a full dose last week because of the anemia.  The symptoms are quite obvious as I huff and puff when I walk fast or even talk fast and I'm pretty tired--hard because I'm working full-time during tx.  My primary goal right now is to have chemo on time and in full dose so I am happy to have the weekly injections.  BTW, there are different types  of anemia:

"Anemia and Iron.  Anemia resulting from an iron deficiency can be treated with iron supplements. However, anemia resulting from chemotherapy is not easily treated with dietary iron."  Source:  http://www.patientadvocate.org/resources.php?p=197

Paula

[Conquerer]

I found I ate alot of eggs during treatment and yogurt and fish in every dinner meal.  during chemo I ate some meat (which I have since given up)  After my 2nd chemo I got procrit pretty routinely.  My counts came back each time except the last time we had to wait on the white cells for my last treastment.  good luck