Away from the health care debate, and on to just plain health!
There is all sorts of information in various print media and on the internet about the positive effects of the antioxidants, particularly Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), in green tea.
But can you believe everything you read in print media, and/or on the internet?
There are certainly plenty of people around making claims about the efficacy of green tea and EGCG, while at the same time trying to capitalize on the supposed efficacy by selling vitamins and supplements containing EGCG. The supposed reasoning being, if a little is good, then a lot is better.
I for one don't subscribe to that theory, preferring to believe if you can't get it naturally, it's not worth getting. In fact I believe it was my megadosing on vitamin C, D, E and calcium which contributed to my contracting MCL in the first place. Now I refuse to take any medication, vitamin or supplement, even as benign as an aspirin, although I will admit to having taken an Advil or two, but that is about it.
So in order to get my dose of EGCG, I go to the Japanese supermarket and purchase Japanese (loose leaf) green tea, mostly Sencha, which is reported to be the highest in EGCG, but on rare occasions I do purchase Gyokura, which is a higher quality and better tasting green tea.
I will admit to having been drinking a considerable amount of green tea for many years since my diagnosis with little change in the progression of my disease, but during that time, I had been purchasing the least expensive green tea available in bags (40 bags for $2 at Fresh and Easy, or comparably priced green tea at Trader Joe's).
But in May of this year, spurred on by research a friend who was diagnosed with bladder cancer performed, I switched to purchasing the real stuff, that is loose leaf Japanese green tea, which I alluded to previously is reported to be the highest in EGCG [plus I have little faith in the quality of the green tea coming out of China].
And that's when I started to see some results.
Since April, I have seen a steady decline in my lymphocyte count, from approximately 100 thou/cumm (where they had been for about the past one to two years) to around 84 thou/cumm (reference range 4 - 11 thou/cumm) currently, which when you have a lymphoproliferative disease, could be taken as a good sign.
NOTE: These numbers are based on a six month moving average in order to reduce the influence of everyday fluctuations, and errors which are inherent in the testing procedure.
However, it's not all joy here in Mudville, as one not so great side effect appears to be a reduction in platelets [one of the first indications of bone marrow failure, so I watch it closely], which have dropped from around 200 in April to 172 (reference range 130 - 400) yesterday. [Also based on a 6 month moving average.]
I started noticing a very gradual downward trend in both the lymphocytes and platelets starting in July, but it wasn't until September that I realized something was happening. My lymphocyte count dropped dramatically to 62 thou/cumm, and platelets dropped to 158 thou/cumm.
At that point I started to get concerned, first thinking my spleen was malfunctioning (hoarding lymphocytes and platelets), but then I realized maybe it's the green tea.
So I decided to cut back on my green tea consumption, from about 4 to 5 cups per day to 3 to 4 cups per day, to see if there was a "green tea" effect.
Well, at first glance there appears to be a direct correlation. The next month my platelets climbed back up to 179 thou/cumm, and my lymphocytes climbed back up to 93 thou/cumm. I became a lot less concerned, knowing the drop in platelets wasn't likely the result of bone marrow failure, or my spleen malfunctioning, even despite the fact my lymphocytes did go back up.
The numbers did drop again slightly in November (lymphocytes down to 86 thou/cumm, and platelets to 171 thou/cumm), but I wasn't overly concerned. You can't put too much faith in one test, which is why I try to smooth out the results using a 6 month moving average.
Anywaze, after the blood test results in November, I gradually started increasing my consumption of green again, to an even greater amount than when I started. Instead of 4 to 5 cups a day, for the past couple of weeks I was drinking as much as 6 and even 7 cups a day.
And guess what?
My platelets dropped to their lowest level ever, 151 thou/cumm (172 using a 6 month moving average), and my lymphocytes dropped to 73 thou/cumm (84 thou/cumm based on a 6 month moving average), which excluding September of this year, hasn't been this low since March '06.
So now I'm faced with a dilemma. Do I maintain my current level of green tea consumption (5 to 6+ cups per day), and risk a further reduction in my platelets, or do I cut back again, and reduce the beneficial effects (a reduction in lymphocyte count) of the green tea?
Damn! I hate these kind of decisions, but it is good to know, at least anecdotally in my case, there is some truth to the claims of the efficacy of green tea. That knowledge, however, still won't make me change my mind about taking EGCG supplements.
NOTE: Oh, and BTW, all my other counts have pretty much remained stable this entire time.