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Landing
USA
11 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Sep 2007 : 1:30:53 PM
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Hi new to the Forum and wanted to share my story...
I was newly diagnosed with ITP 9-5-07. I make a routine Doctors. appt to check out bruising , extreme fatigue, light headedness, red spots and very heavy monthly flow. The Doctor told me I was peri menopausal and that I had High Blood Pressure. Blood work was ordered to check for a possible Thyroid Problem and more test since it had been awhile since I had any of my other levels checked. Blood work was taken that afternoon, at 6:30 pm the Lab called and wanted me to return to the lab because and error had come out of 1 of my test, I was told it was probably and reaction between my blood and the solution in the vial, so I returned for yet another vial to be drawn. By 7:30 pm a Doctor who I had never seen called my home and told me that I needed to get to the ER immediately, that my Platelet Count was 5,900 and that I could be at risk for a Spontaneous Bleed. All this was confusing to me so she talked to my husband and told him what the normal count was suppose to be and that the risk of not coming in could end up in a Brain Bleed if I didn't come in as soon as possible.
Arrived at the hospital at 8:15 pm where I was put into a treatment room and another 6 Vials of blood was drawn making the days total at 16 Vials. While waiting around for the results and what their next step was going to be my platelets level dropped to 5,000, by the time I received my Platelet Transfusion at 3:45 am the next morning my count was 3,000 . After spending the day in the hospital I was released with a count of 9,000 and a prescription of Medrol (MethylPREDISolone)and a Doctors Appointment with a Hematologist/Oncologist the following Friday. The Medrol seemed to have no effect except the fact it raised my Blood Pressure the first couple of days and on the 4th day my Blood Pressure was going down and fast, which I thought was a good thing. On the last day of the Medrol I became extremely nauseated, had a cold clammy sweat, extremely dizzy and felt as if I was going pass out and I collapsed on the floor. My husband called 911 and I was taken to the ER once again. Diagnosed this time with very low Blood Pressure and was taken off Lisinopril and a platelet count of 24,000. I was released so I could follow up with the Hematologist the following morning.
The Hematologist was real helpful in explaining what could possibly be going on. Blood work was done and my Platelet count had dropped to 7,000, a Bone Marrow Biopsy and Aspiration was done and it was found to be ITP. The doctor seemed to think the cause was I had contracted a Virus about a month ago and that the Virus was so closed to my Platelets that now my body was tagging them to be destroyed. I was put on 60 mg. of Prednisone split out 3xs a day with meals and 20 mg. of Protonix daily and weekly Blood Work. After leaving the Doctors I was really weak and figured it was the after effects of the Bone Marrow Biopsy, on the way home I had another episode as the day before where my Blood Pressure fell to a very low level.
I now have a mission to find out all I could about ITP and happened upon this Forum, and I am so thankful to find this very Informative site.
~ Lisa ~
Last count was 7,000 (9-14-07) ~ Blood Work today ~ Hope they have increased............
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senjapet
USA
223 Posts |
Posted - 03 Oct 2007 : 7:11:29 PM
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Lisa,
I have a mild chronic ITP, never cought actual crash to such low numbers on record. Consequently, never treated with anything to bring platelets up. I have no experience with Prednisone, can't comment. All my life, I've been drug free, mostly because my mom scared me off since I used to get rashes to antibiotics and aspirin in childhood.
But I've had crashes with sudden chill and drop in blood pressure naturally, with infections and they are scary. I've had a number of them over life span and the last few also resulted in severe weakness. I'd say that most were of abdominal type, it's possible I had a transient GI bleed causing the weakness or bone marrow having lost production temporarelly. There's no proof, just speculation.
I also had a few episodes of TIAs, my memory has taken hits for periods of time. My periods are heavy and I tend to run low on iron without even knowing until I show dizzy. My TIAs are far more correlated with sinusitis/allergy.
My ITP was cought 11 years ago when after second pregnancy I had appendectomy and following that, I started losing weight like a rock and platelets were dropping, tracking the weight. Few months later, both got stable and after a while, platelets jumped back up. During that drop period, I didn't have the chills/weakness. It was almost transparent, had I not been monitored, I wouldn't have known I had ITP.
When i get the chill/bp drop, I curl up with lots of covers and drink sugar water and just sleep/rest until energy comes back up. Interestingly, they are far more likely to occur at night.
With memory fog, I just move much more and aspirate sinuses, swim and do yoga. It's really just an intuitive reaction, but so far it has worked by keeping me from a really long, low count crash.
Have a full body checkup, it's the most prudent thing to do. Best,
Senja
I keep trying to figure it out so that I can fix it. Yes, I'm a nerd. |
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