At what age were you first diagnosed ... - ITP Support Assoc...
At what age were you first diagnosed with ITP ?
AnthonyHeardAdministratorITP Support Association44 VotersPlease select one:
Diagnosed at the ripe old age of 46. Never had any serious illness until ITP was diagnosed completely out of the blue in July 2006.
Diagnosed at 3 years of age in 1981, not much was known about ITP back then.
Diagnosed in June of this year at the age of 20!
Diagnosed 4 weeks ago age 36, still in a confused way about it all !
Hi, I've been diagnosed for around a year and I found the whole thing very baffling and I'm only now really getting my head around it. If I can give some advice, try and make sure you've got a sympathetic haematologist and one who is up-to-speed with the latest ITP protocol (if that's the right word). This made all the difference to me.
Hello Dave,
I absolutely agree with the point you make.Getting a sympathetic and progressive specialist is so important and it is why the ITP Support Association are campaigning for Regional Centres of Excellence to be established across the UK (see itpsupport.org.uk for details) .
Always discuss your situation fully with your specialist . Ask what the alternatives are, discuss the possible side effects, talk about your issues, ask what they are looking to achieve from any suggested treatment, ask what the alternatives are. Tell your specialist about your job, family, lifestye as it helps them to build up a picture of your situation and it will impact on the options they consider.
All this sounds like common sense but I have met many ITP sufferers who simply just do not see the relationship with their specialist as a full, interactive two way relationship. With so many developments in treatments and increased ITP awareness and understanding the options are so much wider than even when I was diagnosed 5 years ago.
I have also found it useful to have my wife with me at any appointments I have had with my specialist. She has been able to ask the questions that I might have forgotten about and also she has been able to take in some of the information that is being given to us which I might have missed. Absolutely having another person at meetings with specialists would be something I reccommend to other ITP sufferers. It also provides the much needed moral and emotional support as well.
Best Wishes and thank you for sharing some of your ITP experience
Anthony
diagnosed at 23. a few days before New years eve!!
They told me I would be there a few days and they turned the light off at 10.
Luckily they let me out on New years eve so I wasn't sitting in a dark ward when it turned 2005 
I WAS DIAGNOSED IN 2009, NEVER HAD ANYTHING WRONG WITH ME UNTIL THEN, NOTICED BRUISING ON MY FEET AND RED DOTS ON MY ANKLES. NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFORE,
2004 i was 52 had my spleen out itp came back april 2013 age 60
ca. 74
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