I have a very high platlet count - last monday it was at 1.9 million. I am in the process of trying for my second baby, and after watching my counts for two months i thought they would be me on some kind of treatment to help while i try and get pregnant. There was a few people who posted about Interferon - how did it work for you? Any side effects? Who is your doc? And do you know why he/she put you on that instead of nothing? My Doc talked to another Doc at another hospital, and they decided to not put me on anything - my concern is for when i do become pregant, i feel that my chances of a miscarriage will be even greater!! I am seeking out more information to go back to my Doc in the next couple of weeks. I am just not sure if this will work. I found out i had ET during my first pregnancy, so we are not sure what my counts were before, but once they found out my counts were around 1.8 million and they did the pharesis to keep them lower durning my first trimester and then after that, they stayed around 700 - 800thousand on their own for the rest of the pregnancy. I am looking for some other stories and information on other women through their pregnancies. I feel that i should talk to another Doc and see what they say as well for using Interferon during the pregnancy.

Melissa

So here s my story hope it will help you
I am 27 was diagnosed with ET at 25 with a platelet count of 1.2 million since then on hydroxyurea(HU) 1000mg and aspirin 75mg. This has stabilized my count to about 600 000.
Presently trying to get pregnant too. Stopped HU 2 weeks before ovulation and continued taking aspirin daily .Conceived on my first attempt in July though miscarried(m/c) in August at 7 weeks, The dr assured me that Et was not the reason why I M/c but it just had to happen since it was to early for ET to be the cause however he did not agree that I stopped HU. The reason being that it may take up to 8 months for a healthy couple to conceive. Hence if I don t take my medication for months the platelets would go up so high that I would consequently miscarry. So this is his plan
-HU and Aspirin
-once pregnancy is confirmed stop HU and take low molecular heparin and aspirin
-if platelets go over 1 million take interferon

I did not agree with taking HU until pregnancy is confirmed since I know that these are cytoxic. However the heamo assured me that by the time pregnancy is confirmed the baby would have not yet developed a blood circulation hence the medication won t reach the foetus. Re interferon I can t give you much info people on the board haven t complained much about it but my haemo says that it use may have side effects later on in life.
What I query most is the amount of pregnant females with high platelet count who went on to have healthy babies. Maybe the Drs give us these meds just to protect themselves from the slightest risk. This makes me think that maybe I shouldn t do anything either and let nature take its course. However on the other hand I work in the medical profession specifically in Radiology sector and consequently I know the results that blood cloths may have. So sometimes I feel I am in a vicious circle.
Hope I have been of some help let me know if you have any questions and good luck you are not alone.
Amy

Well, i have been off my meds since Nov - I had two Hemo. Docs and I high risk OB both suggested being off the meds atleast 2 months before even trying to conceive - so the meds have a chance to get out of my system. So my husband and i tryed for the first time just this past ovulation time - now it is the waiting game - waiting to see if i get my next period!! I wish we could find out a couple days after. My last cout was on January 15th and my count was 1.9 million - I have no symptons of Et at all and feel great. I guess you could say that i am rolling the dice - but it is a chance that i took the first time - not even knowing that i had ET and things went great. I guess we just don't want to take the chance of the meds effecting the baby. Well, i hope all is going well for you and i wish you all the luck in the world.

Melissa