Platlets below 10

[Whitespot]

I a was wondering how often you all are having platlets below 10. I have been in the hospital twice in the last 2 months, is this normal?

[emailkevin]

I don't think its normal that your platelets are that low. But mine have shown 17 and 13 at its lowest without hospitalization

Be sure your labs are not distorted by poor handling, though. Platelets are the most sensitive of blood labs.

If your tubes are not properly handled, it will lower your platelet result. The blood will clot in the tube, and therefore have few left when it arrives to the lab.

Try not to use big labs, and use doctors with labs on site. Also request that your platelets are manually counted and not by machine.

Hope this helps. This is my first post.

Kev

[Whitespot in reply to emailkevin]

Thanks for reply i was just curious because mine were 47 on a friday then 8 on the following thursday

[emailkevin in reply to Whitespot]

Don't rule out your having faulty results. I had CBCs done on the same day, one where the lab was on site, and one where the lab was remote. That latter lab's results were dramatically lower and alarming

[tgk62]

My counts a week ago were 19000, then they sent them to the attached hospital to check again & they were 26000. I hope yours go up!

[Whitespot in reply to tgk62]

Thanks will have to check into that

[Robert1959]

It is not unusual to go below 10 and I was between 0 and 5 for 4 months. During that time I only spent a total of 3 weeks actually in hospital with the rest of the time being treated as a day patient.

How long have you had ITP for and what treatments are you receiving at the moment?

What sort of symptoms are you getting at that low count? (ie blood blisters in the mouth, nose bleeds, etc)

Robert

[Whitespot]

Hi. I was just recently diagnosed. Early last month had a count of 10.

This past thursday went in for bone biopsy and my count was 8. They admitted me, i had 6 bags of 200 ml immune globulins(?) then was sent home with prescription for 19 days of prednisone.

Bruising and those red blood dots.

When were u diagnosed and what has worked for you, how high has your count gone?

[Robert1959 in reply to Whitespot]

I started getting bruising and nose bleeds in early Feb 2014 and was diagnosed on the 9th Feb at a count of 9. After an initial 3 day response to Prednisone where I jumped to 160, I then crashed and spent the 4 months below 5. In addition to the Prednisone I also had 3 bags of Ivig for 5 days, Dapsone, 4 weekly doses of Rituximab, Dexmethasone, Cyclosporine and Tranexamic Acid - all to no effect. I also had 2 bone marrow biopsy's and a CT scan but these did not show any abnormalities.

I then started on NPlate and thankfully it worked for me. It took a while to take effect but once it did I never looked back and I was on it for another 5 months when my ITP just suddenly stopped. I consider myself to be so lucky as I have now been in remission for 9 months at 200+ without any treatments at all. My highest count was 1,084 - NPlate can be very potent and given in such small amounts that once it sent me very high but luckily I did not suffer any ill effects.

I hope that you can get your health under control.

Robert

[Whitespot in reply to Robert1959]

Wow, hope I can get my level up and have it stay there, sounds like you went through a lot, hope I don't have to go through all that. Best of luck to you.

[22-patience]

Sounds like you went to hell and back. You are a lucky man to have kicked it. Fingers crossed that it is gone forever.22-patience