I was diagnosed with ITP right after Christmas this year. At that time, my platelet count was EXTREMELY low and there was danger of internal bleeding if I hurt myself at all. I went to a hematologist and was put on 50 mg prednisone once a day.
While on the prednisone, my petechiae cleared up within a few days and almost all my bruises have faded away. I knew that the pred was working, but I did not like the side-effects at all! It made me very jittery, I could not sleep, my legs were twitchy, and I got really bad headaches. But, I just dealt with it because I knew it was important to get the platelet count up.
Today, I went in for my two week checkup. I knew my numbers had to have gone up, just based on the fact that most of my bruises were gone, but I did not expect to receive the news I got. My platelet count had gone from under 20,000 all the way up to 306,000 in just two weeks! I was very surprised, but very happy about it. I never expected to have that great of a response.
Apparently, the platelets that I have are a little bigger than what they really should be, but that is probably due to the fact that the platelets are brand new. So, at this time I am not concerned about that at all.
Anyway, the doctor dropped my prednisone down to 30 mg a day for two more weeks. So, that's a good thing. I really would like to get off of it completely, but we have to go down slowly or I could end up at the same point that I started. I'm hoping that the side effects will be lessened with the lowered dose.
Yea for my young, fat, happy platelets! If I was an artsy person, I would draw a happy, fat platelet with a super hero cape and mask because that's how I am imagining them inside me! :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment