Falling Levels Of Platelets

[Mother of Jibril]

In the last five months I've had a CBC done three times. Most of my numbers are looking really GOOD. My liver enzymes are back to normal, I'm no longer borderline anemic, my red and white blood cell counts are within normal ranges (including the different kinds of white cells)... I'm getting pretty good at reading these things

The one thing I'm wondering about is my platelet count, which has been dropping.

July: 279,000

October: 233,000

December: 208,000

This is still well within the normal limits and far from the danger zone (below 30,000 you can have spontaneous bleeding... very scary). Has anyone else experienced this? I've read that ITP can be a cause... an autoimmune disorder where your body starts destroying platelets too quickly. I'm just wondering if there's anything else.

[trents]

I'm really glad you posted this topic. I have seen the same thing happen with me: slowly falling platelet count over the last 2-3 years. I was Dx with Celiac disease about 5 years ago. With the exception of total protein/albumin which is chronically a little low, my CBC/CMP values are normal. The platelets are now in the 180,000's, like you not yet out of the normal range but the tendency is what bothers me. I am 57 years old. I don't think any doctor will show much concern unless they drop out of the normal range but it still worries me. Like you I suspect there is some autoimmune destruction going on. As you know, people with one autoimmune disease will often develop others in time. Seems like once the immune system starts to go haywire it just gets worse with time. Sometimes I think I'd like to go on prednisone for a bit as an experiement to see if the platelet count would rebound. If it did, that would tell you something, woldn't it?

I take a low dose asprine daily and two fish oil caps daily but you wouldn't think that would have much effect on platelet count. I think they both just make the platelets less sticky. Even so, with the counts tending toward the low end of normal maybe I should cease taking them to maintain a safe clotting factor.

Steve

[aggie11]

Hey y'all.

I'm 17 years old & was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 4 years ago.

Just for anyone reading this who does not know what platelets do:

Platelets are what make your blood clot. For most scales, a count of 90,000+ is the safest zone, meaning your blood will clot when it needs to.

First of all, if you do not already have a hematologist, I recommend finding one in your area.

At the beginning of last year, my platelet level kept falling until it was dangerously low. It got as low as 3,000.

I was diagnosed with something called Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). This can be associated with autoimmune disorders - I'm not too sure of the exact connection though. Some of the symptoms were tiny red dots on my skin that almost resembled rashes... usually on my legs or arms... and I bruised EXTREMELY easily (purpura)- for absolutely no reason, I would have bruises all over.

My doctor tried many different methods of treatment for the ITP-

1) steroids (prednisone) were taken daily. they caused horrible aches, but they did increase my platelet count. but as soon as i got off of them, my count fell again.

2) a stronger steroid was taken once a week. it had the same effect as the prednisone.

3) every 2-3 weeks i would go in to the hospital for an IVIG, which was a treatment given to me through an IV that pumped more platelets into me so my body would not attack the ones I already had. this lastest 2-3 weeks, but they fell soon after.

4) the last thing my doctor resorted to to cure my ITP was a spleenectomy (removal of the spleen). I had the surgery in June, and my spleen was over twice the size of a normal spleen. This was why my body kept attacking my platelets. As soon as my spleen was removed, my platelet count increased within the hour. It is now at a strong 245,000 (last blood test i had). The only downside to this is that the spleen helps fight off other things- therefore, I am now on daily antibiotics for at least a year, and I have a poor immune system.

Before he figured out it was ITP, other diseases he tested me for includes Leukemia and Lupus.

I hope this helps!

Best wishes,

Shelly

[mommida]

Check out the web site for ITP. It is very informative.

I friend of mine developed it suddenly. It is an auto-immune disease. Diet changes are required.