Advice please - operation pending

[purplecaz]

Advice please lovely people. I have a buried wisdom tooth, and need an operation to remove it, but my recent blood test showed a count of 58. This is a great count for me, but I've been told by the hospital that I will need steroid treatment 3 weeks before the operation to boost my platelets. I've had my ITP for years, but have managed to avoid any treatment ie steroids, so I'm slightly anxious as to what to expect from taking steroids, and I don't know what steroids they are going to give me yet. Feeling nervous!

[Lynnek]

Hi Purplecaz. I had a similar issue as you 18 months ago. I did not have to take steriods as my Haemotologist prescribed IVIG infusions for 5 days prior to my dentistry. My platelets went from 12 to 65 and I had the dental treatment at the hospital dentist.

Good luck x

[purplecaz in reply to Lynnek]

Thanks for sharing. are you in uk? my count is over 50 so confused as to why I need to take steroids.

[Lynnek in reply to purplecaz]

Hi. Yes I'm in UK x

[LifeafterITP]

My haematologist told me platelet count needs to be above 50 before they would perform surgery.

[purplecaz in reply to LifeafterITP]

Hiya, my count is above 50 but my heamatologist still says I have to take steroids - I'm confused. Are you in uk?

[LifeafterITP in reply to purplecaz]

Yes am in the UK. I guess different doctors can give differrnt advice depending on circumstances.

[Morgan]

Hi, I had to have teeth out in hospital last October and at the time my count was 24 and it needed to be over 50. Years before with a similar op I had to have predisolone which plummeted my count to 0 and subsequently IVIG which gave me head pain but worked. This time I had two Romiplostim (Nplate) injections in my stomach which did the trick with no side effects at all. Good luck

[purplecaz in reply to Morgan]

Hiya, my count is above 50 but my heamatologist still says I have to take steroids - I'm confused. Are you in uk?

[Morgan in reply to purplecaz]

Yes on the south coast.

[ITPAffecty]

Since count is above 50, you should be okay. I had my wisdom tooth removed when count was below 10k. It was a mess actually, so obvious after effects were.. Bleeding took little longer to stop, 1 or 2 hrs. Then my chin was swollen initially followed by bruise after few days. I took almost 20 to 25 days to get back to normal. But that's it, not so bad, being with ITP for many years.

[purplecaz in reply to ITPAffecty]

Hiya, my count is above 50 but my hematologist still says I have to take steroids - I'm confused. Are you in uk?

[ITPAffecty in reply to purplecaz]

No I was in India by then, now am in US... try to convince doctor... compared to steroids side effects, it's better to take this risk is what I feel...

[Lin6]

I have a rotator cuff injury was told if I have surgery I will be ok as long as my platelets are over 50

Pray all goes well for you

Lin

[purplecaz in reply to Lin6]

thank you, good luck

[scaryteacher]

When I had all mine out in 1996, the count had to be over 100. I had three weeks of steroids. Just make sure you are stocked up with soup and ice cream. Avoid crisps and tomato seeds as they hurt like nothing on earth if you catch them on the incision.

[Kyriak51]

Hi purplecz you can avoid steroids if you go to an oral surgeon for the extradition of impacted wisdom tooth have hemostatic solutions containing epinephrine which will stop the bleeding. With my first extradition my platelet count was 60K and didn't interest on Hemodent, the bleeding continued for 14 hours. I now have my own supply and the bleeding stopped after one hour for the second extraction. Ask your doctor about using this drug as I don't think steroids will increase your platelets to 100K. Be firm advocate for yourself, good luck. kyriak51