High Platelets 461

[lois k]

I have had celiac now for 10 years now.  I am 63 yrs old and had a blood test done recently and my platelets are at 461...they should be under 400.  High platelets are caused by inflammation in the body.  I do have frequent loose bowel movements daily with all the clean eating in my diet.  Just wondering if anyone else has high

[plumbago]

High platelets can be a sign of inflammation. There are many other reasons for a high platelet count. What other evidence have you found to attribute high platelets to the inflammation - of Celiac, I assume? And have you done a recent Celiac panel? I would be more secure in interpreting a high platelet  count the way you do if at the same time something like my C reactive protein was high and/or if any test on the Celiac panel came back positive. Fill us in a bit more on you high platelets.

[lois k]

I forgot to mention I do have slight arthritis in my knee and feet.I had a colonoscopy & endoscopy done 2 yrs ago and the dr said I have inflammation in my bowels.  Just wondering if the high platelets are related to the inflammation in my bowels?

[plumbago]

I commonly see high platelets in people who've recently had surgery - this is common. (I'm a nurse.) If you have rheumatoid arthritis, you can also have high platelets. And there are other conditions. Others on the forum may have heard of bowel inflammation leading to high platelets, but I haven't.

 

Editing to add: Do you have any other abnormal lab results?

Edited October 31, 2023 by plumbago

[lois k]

My other lab results were fine.  I am puzzled?

[trents]

Your platelet count is higher than normal but not way higher. I would keep an eye on it and see if it continues to climb.

[Scott Adams]

Have you ever been screened for celiac disease? If your doctor says you have intestinal inflammation it would be a good idea to get screened. Do you have other symptoms that might point to celiac disease? You are in a celiac disease forum, so I am just wondering how your symptoms fit in here.

[lois k]

I do have celiac diagnosed 10 years now.  Just wondering if the inflammation is related to celiac. 

[trents]

2 hours ago, lois k said:

I do have celiac diagnosed 10 years now.  Just wondering if the inflammation is related to celiac. 

Celiac disease is all about inflammation. That's what damages the small bowel villi. But unless you have refractory celiac disease or are not sticking to a gluten free diet, that inflammation in the small bowel should have subsided. Also keep in mind that autoimmune disorders tend to cluster and I'm thinking there will be some inflammation connected with any autoimmune disorder. I would be interested to see what effect on your platelet count going on a prednisone regimen would have.

[Wheatwacked]

 Vitamin D treatment lowered platelet counts.  Vitamin D Replacement Effect on Platelet Counts

[Painful5]

1 hour ago, Wheatwacked said:

 Vitamin D treatment lowered platelet counts.  Vitamin D Replacement Effect on Platelet Counts

That is really interesting. Just a little dubious about overdoing it. I think it is difficult to know how much is too much. I know that healthy coeliac women have healthy babies all the time so I’m thinking they can’t be too deficient.

[Wheatwacked]

On 11/2/2023 at 4:20 AM, Painful5 said:

it is difficult to know how much is too much.

Almost every article you read about vitamin D emphasizes the danger of too much.  Hypervitamosis D is actually quite rare.  It seems to go back to an epidemic of infant deaths in the UK due to a manufacturing error in baby formula.  They added a thousand times the safe upper limit of vitamin D. I think probably because they used milligrams instead of micrograms of D to the formula.  Anyway the Royal College of Physicians declared it was vitamin D at fault and passed laws forbidding fortification and most of the world followed suit.  I've been taking 10,000 IU a day since 2015.  It wasn't until 2021 that my plasma reached 80 ng/ml (or 200 nmol/L in Europe).  Adding 3 hours a week this summer on a riding mower without shirt or sunscreen raised it to 97 ng/ml (242.5 nmol/L) still within the normal range of 29 to 150 ng/ml.  My doctor was fine with that.

Quote

 

Vitamin D Is Not as Toxic as Was Once Thought  Mayo Clinic Proceedings

vitamin D toxicity and hypercalcemia were exceedingly rare...In Great Britain in the early 1950s, several cases of infants with facial abnormalities, supravalvular aortic stenosis, mental retardation, and hypercalcemia were reported.4 This was followed by reports of hypercalcemia as high as 19 mg/dL in some infants. The Royal College of Physicians and the British Pediatric Association were charged with finding the cause for these unusual occurrences. After careful scrutiny of the literature and surveys of dietary intake, they concluded that the most likely causes were the unregulated overfortification of milk with vitamin D and/or excessive intakes of vitamin D from various foods fortified with vitamin D and natural foods containing vitamin D, including dried milk and cod liver oil. Although the Royal Academy of Physicians admitted that it did not have any direct evidence for this conclusion, it based its conclusion on the literature that reported that pregnant rodents receiving intoxicating doses of vitamin D delivered pups with altered facial features, supravalvular aortic stenosis, and hypercalcemia. The British PediatricAssociation documented hypercalcemia but only in a relatively few infants who had approximate intakes of 1500 to 1725 IU/d of vitamin D. As a result, legislation was instituted in Great Britain forbidding the fortification of any food or any product with vitamin D. This concern for vitamin D toxicity in children led to most of the world (including countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America) banning vitamin D fortification of milk. Only the United States, Canada, and a few European countries continued to permit milk to be fortified with vitamin D...

 Vitamin D intoxication associated with hypercalcemia, hyperphosphatemia, and suppressed parathyroid hormone level is typically seen in patients who are receiving massive doses of vitamin D in the range of 50,000 to 1 million IU/d for several months to years. Ekwaru et al recently reported on more than 17,000 healthy adult volunteers participating in a preventative health program and taking varying doses of vitamin D up to 20,000 IU/d. These patients did not demonstrate any toxicity, and the blood level of 25(OH)D in those taking even 20,000 IU/d was less than 100 ng/mL.

 

 

Quote

 

Daily oral dosing of vitamin D3 using 5000 TO 50,000 international units a day in long-term hospitalized patients: Insights from a seven year experience

During this time, we have admitted over 4700 patients, the vast majority of whom agreed to supplementation with either 5000 or 10,000 IUs/day. Due to disease concerns, a few agreed to larger amounts, ranging from 20,000 to 50,000 IUs/day. There have been no cases of vitamin D3 induced hypercalcemia or any adverse events attributable to vitamin D3 supplementation in any patient.

 

Quote

 

Surge of information on benefits of vitamin D

Dave McCarthy, MD, said medical research on the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency motivated him to introduce the findings into his family practice, and his patients have had a substantial reduction in influenza and infections.

“When combined with supplemental magnesium, vitamin D repletion has dramatically changed my practice,” said McCarthy, whose family practice is affiliated with The Memorial Hospital of Belleville, Ill.

“There are now very few patients with infections, and asthmatics who are coming off medications are staying off of them. Elevations in blood pressure now require many fewer medications,” he said.

McCarthy has been employing these methods since February 2007, and patient acceptance has been high. He said he checks each patient’s 25(OH)D level and supplements to reach a target of 80 ng/mL in adults and children. Of the first 1,500 patients McCarthy tested, 40% began with vitamin D levels less than 20 ng/mL and 70% less than 35 ng/mL. Only 1% initially had values within his target range....

According to McCarthy, his target range is based upon several factors:

• A lifeguard study that found vitamin D levels in the 70 ng/mL range up to 100 ng/mL (nature’s level) were associated with no adverse effects;
• Data in patients with breast cancer showing a reduction in the incidence of new cancer with postulated 0 point at 80 ng/mL;
• Colon cancer data showing a reduction in the incidence of new cancer (linear) with postulated 0 point at 75 ng/mL;

 

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[Scott Adams]

This study indicates that a majority of celiacs don't recover until 5 years after diagnosis and starting a gluten-free diet:

• Mucosal recovery and mortality in adults with celiac disease after treatment with a gluten-free diet

However, it's also possible that what the study really shows is the difficulty in maintaining a 100% gluten-free diet. I suspect that if you looked closely at the diets of those who did not recover within 2 years might be that their diets were not 100% gluten-free. Perhaps they ate out more often, or didn't understand all of the hidden ingredients where gluten can hide. Either way, it shows how difficult recovery from celiac disease can be for most people.

 

[lois k]

On 11/2/2023 at 2:52 AM, Wheatwacked said:

 Vitamin D treatment lowered platelet counts.  Vitamin D Replacement Effect on Platelet Counts

I am on prolia injections for bone density and take K2 +D3 vitamin.