Pregnancy and chronic itp

[Leahgersh]

Hi everyone , I was diagnosed with itp at age 21. I am 26 now and pregnant. Baby is perfectly fine thank gd but my counts are not! I am 5 1/2 month now and have a count of 22 thousand. Prednisone 30 Mg a day which only stabilizes my counts. Ivig infusion works brings counts over 150,000 that's what will be needed to deliver but praying I can lessen my dose soon. It causes horrible side effects , you don't feel yourself. Before the pregnancy I maintained levels of 40- 60 thousand platelets with monthly doctor visits. I am a healthy eater but was considering a high protein and kale diet. Hoping for a miracle and writing for any advice. ..

[SoporRose]

Leah,

I wish I had advice for you — others probably will — but I want you to know I'm rooting for you.

[Leahgersh in reply to SoporRose]

Thanks Soporrose. Ill keep writing in.

[ella2012]

Hi Leahgersh

My platelet count dropped down to 10 when I was pregnant with my daughter, I was also an older mum at 42 when I found out I was pregnant which was a worry in itself, I was put on steroids and Prednisone and kept under very close watch by antenatal and my heamatologist, I kept a count of between 30 and 40, my heamatologist was happy for me to have a normal birth with platelet transfusions before the delivery, unfortunately my waters broke early and I didn't go into labour so I had a C section, it went well and I now have a beautiful baby girl, so don't worry I'm sure everything will go well, enjoy your pregnancy

[Leahgersh in reply to ella2012]

Hi Ella! So nice to hear that. You made my day. Ya I am closely monitored every week hoping the prednisone stabilizes me for the next few months. Thanks for writing

[scaryteacher]

I was diagnosed in 1995 when pregnant. No meds, counts at between 60-80k and a laid back consultant haematologist who saw no problem with a normal delivery, and who had a pregnant patient with a count of 10 (or so he said). I wasn't given anything at all, and had a normal labour. He was at the end of the phone if needed when I went into labour and that was all.

Advice now seems to be that your count should be about/above 50k, for surgery. If you are not having a caesarian why do they need your count to be so high?

My baby was OK, and is now applying to uni 18 years on. He had a low count when born, but that went....mine remains, and has been steady for a long time, but now drops regularly to about 19 and seems to be between 30-50k as opposed to the 60-80k it was for years.

Good luck, enjoy being pregnant, ask as many questions of your Docs as you can, and make sure they give you answers.

[LHine]

I was lucky that pregnancy made my count go up (yay!) to 80. Was told I needed 50 min for natural birth and 80 min for caesarean (which I didn't want and JUST avoided). Also told no way could I have an epidural because of risk of bleeding into the spine. It's an extra worry at a time when there's enough to lose sleep over as it is, but like everyone else, it all went fine and I now have a wonderful healthy girl. (Well, actually, she's got an ear infection, but you get my point.) Also, I read some really scary stats about ITP in pregnancy and miscarriage - turned out they were all based on acute ITP which begins in pregnancy and isn't diagnosed until too late - a whole different thing, really. Good luck and congratulations!

[Hidden]

I have itp and am 7 months pregnant. I am currently having ivig every 2 weeks. My count goes to 60 ish post treatment. And drops to about 30 before treatment. My docs are happy as long as it above 10 without symptons. But now getting close to delivery they will start to aim for a count of 50 so more ivig. They are planning a normal birth. I have had no problems so far. But will be pleased when baby and me ate safely through labour.

[Leahgersh in reply to Hidden]

Efd106. So happy to hear about your success so far. Seems like the itp is controller and it will go off

Without a hitch. I truely believe our bodies are stronger than we are lead to believe.

[Hidden in reply to Leahgersh]

It sounds like your platelets are doing ok too apart from the annoying ivig so hopefully both our deliveries will be ok. Since I was 6 months my count is holding for longer so hopefully yours will too.

[Tosh]

Hope everything goes well for you. My count was below 10 when I was pregnant. I remember going to one appointment and all the doctors saying "look this is the lady with a platelet count of 1" I had to have ivig, prednisolone, cyclosporine first time round but second time just ivig and prednisolone. I had normal delivery both times and I have a beautiful son and daughter. My son had a low count for a couple of days but is perfectly healthy now. I wish you well. X

[Leahgersh]

Wow Tosh ! That's amazing so happy to hear such an amazing success. Giving me confidence.