help?how can my sons count change from 7 to 16 without meds, always been under 10 for past 6 months,then after short break went up down now.

[iccle]

Hi everyone,my son who has itp for past 6 months, has had counts always below 10,until last week first time in 6 months risen to16,the only thing differentlty done was a trip to scotland for few days away from our pet dog a choc lab, does anyone know if animals have any effect on itp?,we now home 1 week and bruises are back,and tiredness setting in again,this is so strange, he has had no medication yet as he has had no bleeds in a while,so we know its not meds,does anyone know if itp can be emotionally triggered? His dad left to work in England when this began, could this be a factor?,really confused at different readings and how

[GretaB]

Stress can be a contributing factor in ITP. I think that is what triggered my ITP but no one can say for sure. As for allergies to your dog, I have no idea.

[iccle in reply to GretaB]

Thanks for this info, it could b just that, as he is very close to his dad, and could B major stressor for him.

[scaryteacher]

My count was consistently between 60-80 for about 14 years; now it dips down to 20 every 3 months or so. I don't take any meds for ITP either.

Counts change all the time; on one day mine went from 20 in the morning at the GP to 29 at A&E in the space of 2 hours, and then was 55 the next day. I think it depends on the luck of the draw when you have your blood tests as to what your count is. I had to have some surgery and my count was strangely over 100 when I went for bloods before hand. I made them test it again, as I was convinced it wasn't my results!

I'm not sure that ITP is emotionally triggered as it is your immune system going haywire. Afaik, there will be a physical trigger for that - mine was pregnancy.

[LHine]

Did his diet change? I know kale has a powerful thinning effect on the blood, as do many foods, herbs and drinks.

Also, my count changes (can go either way!) when I'm fighting off a cold virus, even if I don;t get symptoms. I guess, ITP being an autoimmune disease, it gets affected when our immune systems ramp up or get depleted.

You don't say how old your son is, but if he's still a child there's always the chance he just grows out of it. Touching wood on his behalf.

[iccle in reply to LHine]

His diet actually was worse over the time we were away, u know when u ate on holls, cause I would stick to quite a good diet for him, he's 4 and going on now 7 months, although not that bad of change,

[Mesh]

My daughter has had ITP for 2 yrs. She will be 6 in July. For the first 14 months of her condition her count was less than 10. She never had severe bleeding, but has often had petechai all over her body and has had some awful black bruises. Her count suddenly rose from 3 - 16 last April and then went up again. Within a couple months it rose to 118, we were so excited. No medication,or change in anything as far as we were aware. She looked better, was less tired, you could see the difference. I had fogotten how pale she had become because she had been like it so long. Her next blood test showed it had dropped to 7!! Bombshell and since then has hovered around 10. We were so disappointed. With her count around 10 we visit the consultant every 6 months unless we have a problem and she has a blood test every 2 months. I dont think it is unusual for their count to bob up and down, you just get used to it and start to notice when they are better again for a few weeks. I would love to know what helps millies count go up and then why it goes down! I think not being at school helps so half terms etc she seems to look better. Possibly just because she is not running around lots of other children. We must remember the blood test is just a snap shot at that particular time and that platelets only live 7 days so it changes all the time! so isnt much help really as it is not accurate by the day later when we get the result! Good Luck, hope your son improves or gets better. I have heard they can grow out of it, after 2 yrs im still hopefull!

[iccle in reply to Mesh]

Thanks, we as parents get so excited when it goes u, u just wish life could b normal for him as his activities are so restricted, and so tired again, so yeah it's dissapointing , to learn they down again, we as u say just hang onto hope.