My 2 year old son was recently put in the hospital with "ITP". I can't remember what his platlets were but it was in the 4 digits. Our pediatrician said that since he was younger (Before 3 years) he would not have any more problems with ITP but had it been a year or two later it would have been a lifetime of medical help. Does this sound right to you guys?
Thanks for your help

Unless it has changed,platelet norms are 250 to 500 for an adult.Don't know what it would be in a child....sorry......

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Lynne

jsiplon,
i was diagnosed with ITp in 1980 when i was 10 years old. back then it was very rare and there were not many treatments for it. My platelet count dropped down to 2000. the normal range is 150,000 to 350,000.
the dr's had tried alot of stuff(prednisone) for many months which has caused me many problems now later in life. but finally had to resort to having my spleen removed( ended up having 2 spleens) they removed both of them. After the surgery i did not have a problem with my platelets dropping for many years untill 1995 when they dropped to 40,000 but i was told to stop working ( i worked in physically demanding job at psych hospital) which i did for a month and they went back up on thier own without any medical interaction. I am told to stay away from NSAIDS and Aspirin. being on NSAIDS is what caused the drop in plateletes in 95. but i have not had any problems since then . i just watch my levels every few months and make sure i check for bruising or patechei(little red spots)(can't spell).
On the other hand my sister was dx'd with ITP back in 92 she was 15 and she was put in hospital for a week and treated with gamma globulin.She has not had a problem since then and has even gone through surgeries and c-section with no problems.
it is not a lost cause.I suggest you take your child to go see a hematologist they are who deals with this kind of illness and know about all of the treatments available and i believe there are pediatric ones out there.Can i ask what your pediatrician has done to get your childs platelet count back up?
hope this helps you , if you need any more info please don't hesitate to ask.
SapphireChild

He was immediately put in the hospital ( I'm think they were down to 2400). This is going to sound awful but I can't remember what they gave him. I'll try to find out. Whatever it was he was back up to 140,000 in a week or less and has since checked out fine. My biggest question is what's the difference in the one year that changes ITP from a lifetime disease to a childhood disease that you should never see again???

to tell you the truth i have never heard that before
i have only heard of 2 kinds
the first being the one that happens when you are a child and the other happening as an adult
supposedly if you get it as a child it eventually goes away but mine never did.
wish i could help you more on that but i was dx'd so many years ago and it was very rare then and they have come a long way since then so maybe there is a different kind out there

not to scare you but i was diagnosed with ITP when i was 2 and i still have it at age 27. it seems to be a cycle with me where i have a couple good years followed by a couple of bad years. i have to be careful but live a mostly normal life (of course except for when i'm really low) its very important to have a medical alert bracelet.

there is an entire website with an extensive message board devoted soley to ITP. you can probably have you questions answered really well there. i don't think we can post websites here so you should do a search for it.

My son had ITP that he developed in 3rd grade. 150,000 - 300,000 is the normal range. If someone is giving only a 3 digit quote, than it is probably based on whatever report the instrument doing the counting provides and probably needs some zeros added to it (my husband is a med tech).

Our son was put on prednisone - it always helped - but he went from 60 - 77lbs in 3 months time. They tried gamma globulin and solumendrol. No results other than for the first few days. Had his spleen out in 4th grade and a month later he bottomed out again. Finally a specialist in NY told us to try every other day of prednisone at his usual dose. Well - that was the answer - over a year we slowly tapered his dose down 5 mg every other day and now at almost 19 he has been symptom free for 7 years. We are hoping he remains that way as we know he could have a recurrance - and then again, he might never have one!

hey gail,

i'm pretty sure your right about the numbers.....i notice that some dr.'s refer to my numbers like 115,000 (or whatever it happens to be) and others refer to it as 115... i guess just to keep it simple some like the shorter number.

my dr. always was trying to get my mom to let them take out my spleen but she wouldn't let them. after a long while with predisone we cut back too and i seemed to taper off. i still get reoccurrences but not nearly as bad as they used to be.

i hope your son does well!

Thanks, he seems to be doing well. He's 3 1/2 and I continue to check for the little red dots that came up on his belly a while ago. I keep my fingers crossed that it won't return.

I was 19 when dx with ITP.After nearly 2 yrs.with steroid treatment,they took my spleen out,I've been fine ever since,but my platelets are routinely checked.
When first discovered ,I couldn't even stand up without passing out,my platelt count at the time was 49,000..................

My son was just diagnosed with ITP last Monday. We were in the childrens hospital for 5 days. They did a treatment called intravenous gamma globulin, it was a 12 hour treatment. His platelettes before we left the hospital rose to 28000, he started at 3000. We go back on Friday to get them checked again. So far, no signs of spots or bruising back. Acute ITP is usually in children 1-6... One of the diffrences between Acute and Chronic, is that Acute usually comes on VERY suddenly, you will notice a lot of bruising and petechiae (looks like broken blood vessles) suddenly. Usually with Chronic patients, theres comes on gradually. Most adult cases are Chronic, where kids from 1-6 are 90% acute. Females get the chronic ITP more often. Children it can be male or female. The cause of ITP in children is usually because of a viral infection, although... some studies are showing it is being linked to the MMR shot. Which in our case, my son did just have his preschool MMR shot. Kind of scary. We are just praying his platelettes keep coming up up up. I pray this also for the rest of you. :)