“Well,” the ER doctor said, “your platelet levels are falling fast. Yesterday they were 11, this morning they were 4, and now they are 2. Something needs to be done right now.”
“What does that mean? I don’t know what all those numbers mean,” I whimpered, “and why do I have all these bruises and the red dots all over my legs?”
The doctor explained, “Your platelets should be over 140 to be in the normal range. Without the platelets, your blood will not clot. The bruises and red dots, which are called petechiae, are the result of the low platelets. Your blood is actually leaking through the walls of your capillaries and up through the pores in your skin causing the red dots. With your platelets so low, you are in danger of hemorrhaging either internally or externally. It’s a good thing you did not wait any longer before you came to the hospital.”
“Oh, OK” was my tremulous answer; that was the beginning of my struggle with ITP.
(Excerpt from Heartaches and Miracles by Greta Burroughs)
That is the way most people discover they have ITP or Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura. A person will go to the doctor for some other medical issue, and then discover through blood work that he/she has a low platelet count. After further investigation, the diagnosis will come back ITP.
ITP is an autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system produces autoantibodies that attach to proteins on the patient’s platelets, resulting in them being destroyed by the white blood cells. Since platelets are what cause the blood to clot and seal tiny holes in blood vessels, a low platelet count can result in blood seeping through the walls of capillaries, veins and arteries leading to unexplained bruising, bleeding gums or noses and petechiae. ITP can also cause internal hemorrhaging in the stomach, brain, kidneys or liver.
This blood disorder is a never-ending roller coaster ride for the folks afflicted with this chronic disease. The goal is to have a steady platelet count with no large drops in the numbers. There are various treatments including corticosteroids, immunoglobulin (IVIg), rituxan, immunosuppressants, chemo drugs and splenectomy used to attain this goal but the results and side effects vary from person to person. For some ITPers, the side effects from the treatments are worse than the disease itself.
According to the Platelet Disorder Support Association (PDSA), chronic ITP affects both sexes and all ages and races. “The estimated prevalence of Adult ITP in the US is 50-60,000, but that estimate is based on a limited payer source, so the likely total is closer to 120,000 persons. That’s more than 10 times the number with Hemophilia.”
“ITP is the most common bleeding disorder that most people do not know anything about,” says Caroline Kruse, executive director of the PDSA. “It is important to educate the public and medical professionals to be aware of ITP and recognize symptoms of this blood disorder.”
