Well, I went off Hydroxyurea (Hu) about two weeks ago. A friend who is a doctor gave me a book on the connection between the mind and the body, called "The Power of Suggestion with Hypnosis" by Dr. E. Arthur Winkler. This book solidified and verified my understanding of human consciousness and its power. It seems likely that my own Essential Thrombocythemia (ET) is a result of my perception of the world as not working properly. Platelets can be conceptualized as shields, so when threat levels (even metaphorical) are high, it makes sense (to a human body, which has limited ability to interpret the thoughts that its consciousness holds) to make more platelets.
In my case, it is the production of platelet factory cells ("megakaryocytes") that my body increased. The medical establishment cannot distinguish between "abnormal" and "unhealthy," and in my case, I believe my abnormally high platelet count is not unhealthy. Dr. Tefferi of the Mayo clinic recommended (I don't have time to look up the reference) NOT treating ET with Hu unless there are symptoms. My health insurance company (Kaiser) has not yet assimilated this kind of thinking, so I and my friend Dr. Blanscet agreed to go ahead with my personal plan to stop taking Hu. I am now working on teaching my body that the threat for which it is preparing by making extra platelet factories is not the kind of threat that extra platelets will help mitigate. At the same time, I've stopped calling it "too many platelets," and started calling is "abnormally high platelets." The rephrasing warms my spirit because my body has furnished me with extra protection, and my consciousness is now on the same page with it.
I remember reading something in high school (late 80s) about cancer patients envisioning cancer therapies working as designed and other patients not bothering to do that mental work. The experiment suggested that the mental work improved the efficacy of the therapy. This memory has been sitting in my mind for about 30 years. It explains why I tend to be radically optimistic about things, if you really think about it for a while. I read that article in Time or Newsweek for the Orange County Academic Decathlon all those years ago.
