Am currently laying in a hospital bed for 4weeks now. I have TTP and I have been on the plasma machine since.

[Oshittp]

Platelets went up the 272 1 1/2 day. This is my first time been diagnose with this disease and now the doc are looking to put me back on the machine because my platelet are down to 72. Is this normal .

[NickyD]

72 is high no, why are you in hospital? My consultant let me go home from hospital with a count of under 20. are you bruising? if you are not bruising you do not need to be in hospital.

[Older_Guy_With_ITP]

While it is not my place to question your doctor's decisions regarding your treatment, especially since I don't have all the fats, I will say that it seems somewhat extreme to me at this point. They may have slightly different treatment protocols in the U.K. than in the U.S., but generally speaking, in the U.S., currently, the first step is steroids, and the next step after steroids is IVIG (Immunoglobulin) infusions over 2 days or so. If they can get you back up over 50,000, then they like to leave you off any drugs or treatment until you drop below 30,000 again. They are much more "hands off" in trying to avoid a splenectomy or further drugs than they used to be. Often, they don't even hospitalize until 10,000 or lower, and sometimes 20,000. But every case is different, and your doctors may have a reason for what they are doing.

[Ltinny]

I agree with the 2 responses above. I WISH mine were 72. I will share with you what my hematologist told me, and my rheumatologist, because I have lupus. As a general rule counts over 50, as long as there is nothing else going on like bleeding, etc. are okay. My rheumatologist told me that 30 is the cutoff point, b/c mine have been 38 the last 2 draws I had, which were 6 months apart. Heme also said that platelets fluctuate quite a bit. So, I guess I would have to say that while 72 does not seem super urgent, there is probably a reason why the doctor is treating it. Maybe you could sit down with the Dr. and ask him/her what you just asked here? I am not sure how much the Dr. has explained to you why you are going through treatment? I wish you well, keep us posted. Platelets are very finicky at times.

[dobo1984]

I totally agree with all the comments thus far. Seems way too agressive to me. My hematologist was not even going to start considering treatment until I went below 50. i think you might look for more experienced Dr for your situation?

[Morgan]

I think you may be confusing Ttp with Itp, they are not the same. Trust your doctor