Hi everyone,

I posted this a few days ago on another board and haven't received any replies. After reading here, maybe it might be better suited.

My daughter (6 years old) was just diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, and I wanted to seek out any information from those with children going through this, or from any adult.

It began 2 weeks ago with a few bruises on her...an since my wife is a dermatologist, she recognized they may not be bruises as we suspected ITP especially since my daughter just got over a virus 1 week prior.

The first blood test was all normal except for a low platlette count of 30,000...the second blood test 4 days later was similar with a platlette count of 25,000. Presently my duaghter's bruises have 90% gone away, and we haven't really seen any otther symptoms.

Our primary care children's doctor consulted with a specialist in Children's Hemotology and suggested that there is a good chance that this will self-correct itself in time. I've heard and read it can be 2 weeks to a few months. For now, they don't want to use prednisone or the other med (can't think of the name) since it's in early stages.

My questions are...what is our best course of action? Do we just keep up with weekly blood test? Do platlette counts go up and down until it finally corrects itself? At what stage do you consider prednisone?

I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions from those who have any experience. My wife and I feel so helpless.

Thank you in advance for any advice...

Stephan

Thank you your insights on this topic. We had some good news last Friday as her platelets went up to 55,000. Obviously we're not yet safe, but I hope it's a good sign.

Again, much appreciated on your reply.

I have ITP - I had my spleen taken out in 1995 and it seemed to solve the trouble despite occasional crashes here and there. Your drs are wise to wait and see if it goes up on its own.

I hope that it does. Platelet counts can go pretty low and you can still be safe - although some doctors do tend to freak out over a lower count, so keep a level head. Current research suggests holding back on treatment unless you have severe symptoms and the count is below 30K.

Take care,
Jill

Hi LvDrumn: My husband has Thrombocytopenia, and had his spleen removed in '93, but I would say that it's probably a better idea to hold off on treatment, because it may correct itself. In my husbands case removing the spleen didn't help much immediately and it wasn't until a couple of years later that his platelet count went back to normal.

Your daughter does have a low count but keep an eye on it and of course don't agree to any surgeries with it that low. Is she still bruising? Good luck and watch the count closely...:wave:

thanks so much for providing the usefull information. every little bit helps.

my wife and i feel the same about holding off on treatments, especially at this initial stage. her weekly blood tests have shown some upwards trend, but too early to tell. the four weeks of tests have been 30,000, 26,000, 50,000, 47,000...hopefully this week we'll see it increase.

my daughter's bruising seems to have cleared, but yesterday there was a couple new ones as she did recall some bumping in the areas of bruising....i'm sure the low platelet count adds to the bruising.

it's just so difficult to sit back and do nothing. we're doing our utmost to increase her rest/sleep....making sure she eats well, and we're giving her plenty of natutral vitiman C (heard some rumors that this can help....nothing to lose)

i hope all continues well for you and yours...again, thank you for your first-hand input. it means a lot....

regards,

stephan

Hi again: The low platelet count will cause the bruising. My husbands got so bad that he had spontaneous bruising and bleeding, when his count dropped to 20,000, but like I said his problem really went away on its own. It was really disapointing that the splenectomy didn't work, because he ended up having to have an additional surgery as a result of that, so it doesn't always solve the problem, but I think in a majority of cases it probably does.

Has your daughter seen a hematologist? or did her treating Dr just do a consult. Also has she had any infections lately? Besides the prednisone, sometimes they will try Vit K but the Dr would have to want to do that since it's a rx.

I hope you find out what's causing it, and also that it resolves real fast. If she in a lot of sports activities just be careful...:wave: