My daughter is 4yo has had ITP for a year and is due for immunizations needle. Is it advisable to have her immunized?

[Tessa07]

Hi we are from Australia my daughter who is now 4 was diagnosed with ITP a year ago her lowest count has been 2 and her highest 89 (she had been on a course of antibiotics for an ear infection) the only treatment she has been given is one course of prednisone and that got her count from 2 to 14 then it fell back down again they also treated her for h.pylori her count went up to 27, the doctors here don't seem to be to keen to treat her and still have the wait and see approach. She is due for her immunisations can she or should she have her immunisations her last platelet count was 15. What treatments would be advisable? At our last appointment was told they would like to do a bone marrow test before they consider treatment.

[sailor]

Hi (or should we say g'day) Tessa.

Here in the UK I have been told the general rule is ' if the vaccine is live, do not have it.' You must take the advice of your own consultant. However, if you look at the ITP Support Association web site, I feel sure you will find some general advice and advice on the MMR from Dr. John Grainger, a specailst paediatric consultant for ITP. There is a link from this website.

As to treatment, the watch method is not unusual and many like me live an active life style with a count of 10, which I have had for over 10 years, now only have annual visits to my conultant for blood tests and only have medication when I am due for an operation. This pleases me personally, as I do not like medication unless it is absolutely necassary.

The bone marrow test whilst not being very pleasant may give an indication of what is happening with platelet production.

Hope this is helpful and I am sure you will have many other helpful comments to digest.

Do keep positive. Many consultants will tell you it is worse for the Mums and Dads than the children who seem to take it in their stride especially if the parents are positive and do not show any outward signs of undue concern. I know it easier said than done.

Good luck and hope all goes well. Keep us upto date.We will be thinking of you in the sun whilst we are in the cold and wet.

[American_Mom]

Hello,

My daughter is 7 and has had ITP for two years. I think it was tied to her immunizations, specifically MMR. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

I also have worked to identify allergies she has and get those out of her system. The intent here is to calm down her immuze system. One doctor did skin prick testing with minimal results. Another doctor did blood allergy testing for antibodies IGG, IGM. One item identified was eggs. So, I did not allow her to have the flu shot immunization this year. I will never allow her to have an MMR booster as there is documented evidence that a percentage of children can develop ITP.

Also, I wanted to recommend that you investigate doctors. Origianlly my daughter's doctors at the Chidlren's Hospital did not want to treat her and advised me that ITP is a benign condition. I could not live with the risk of what could happen with low platelets and foudn a hematologist that does work with me and my input as her mother. I do not know if consulting in the States is a possiblity but this is a link: ilbcdi.org/

Lastly, there is a new medicine being studied in Germany that prevents the antibodies from adhearing to the platelets. It's information is at suppremol.com/

[vijij in reply to American_Mom]

What kind of method your haematologist treat your daughter? Already cured? .

I have two haematologists : one say No treatment unless platelet below 20.000. If below 20.000 use ivig or prednisolone ; another says treatment using prednisolone gradually reducing the rate ( tapering off ).

[Hidden]

Doctors don't tend to treat children in the UK either unless there's frank bleeding.. ie from the bladder or stomach, or constant nose bleeds, something like that. Remember that the side effects of the treatments are mostly horrible for the patient and far worse than the disorder.

I used to nurse children who were brain damaged either from birth or as a result of various illnesses. Measles can cause meningitis or encephalitis and result in catastrophic brain damage and I really wouldn't risk it. I'd rather my child had ITP than that which is why I got my own children vaccinated. Some children were born brain damaged when the mother caught one of the diseases during pregnancy, so even more important for girls to be vaccinated.