Can You get ITP(Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura) from being around a person who has it?
Okay well my 2 out of 4 and one just got it and one already got treated for it. I just wanted to know if you can get it from being around her. Or from drinking from the same bottle or using the same chapstick or something. please and thanks.
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What is idiopathic thrombocytopenia? How is it related to idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura?
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idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura costs?
for a school research project im making a power point presenatation about ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura ) and i need to know how much it costs to get treatments etc.i looked it up and couldn't find it. please help me!!! and don't post if you aren't sure its right. thankssss!
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Well, why don't you look up prednisone and see how much that costs because that is the treatment, if treatment is even needed. Sometimes it is very mild. On the other hand sometimes the prednisone doesn't help and they have to take the spleen out so look up how much it cost to remove a spleen. THERE, that would be how to find your answer!
So in one person, it might me $0 and another might have to have the operation which could be $2000! So it all depends on how much treatment is needed.
How is ITP treated in children?
Because most children recover with no treatment, many doctors recommend just watching them carefully and taking care of the bleeding symptoms. Children don't have to go to the hospital if good care is available at home. However, some doctors recommend a short treatment with prednisone pills or intravenous infusions (given in a vein) of gamma globulin to increase the platelet count more quickly. Both medicines have some side effects.
How does ITP affect adults?
In most adults, ITP lasts much longer than it does in children. At the time of diagnosis, most adults have noticed increased bleeding and easy bruising for several weeks, or even months. In women, increased menstrual blood flow is a major sign.
Many adults have only mild thrombocytopenia. In fact, quite a few people have no bleeding symptoms. They are only diagnosed with ITP when their blood is checked for another reason and a low blood platelet count is found.
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How is ITP treated in adults?
Treatment of ITP in adults is aimed at increasing the blood platelet count. This is not the same as curing the disease. Patients may take prednisone for several weeks, even a month or longer. However, when the medicine is stopped, the platelet counts may get low again. If prednisone doesn't help enough, the spleen can be removed. The spleen makes most of the antibodies that destroy the blood platelets. It also destroys old or damaged blood cells. In an otherwise healthy young person, removal of the spleen is not a serious operation.
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/blood/113.html (
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Does anyone know the color of the awareness ribbon for: Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura?
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Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura ?
I had Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) when I was about 2 years old. Are there any life-long effects that I should know about?
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Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is the condition of having a low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) of no known cause (idiopathic). As most causes appear to be related to antibodies against platelets, it is also known as immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Although most cases are asymptomatic, very low platelet counts can lead to a bleeding diathesis and purpura.
Signs and Symptoms
ITP occurs most often in women over 40 years of age. It may be acute, lasting for 6 months or less, or chronic, lasting for over a year. The acute type is more often seen in children and will cure itself in more than 80% of cases. The chronic type is more commonly seen in adults and it tends to get worse as the disease progresses.
Occasionally, ITP patients suffer from bruising, nosebleeds, and bleeding gums; this is the characteristic pattern of bleeding in platelet disorders. Bleeding normally does not occur unless the platelet count is very low (below about 10,000 per mm3, compared to a normal range of 150,000–400,000 per mm3).
Subarachnoid and intracerebral hemorrhage are very serious possible complications of this disease. Fortunately, these are rare in patients who are being treated.
Pathogenesis
In many cases, the cause is not actually idiopathic but autoimmune, with antibodies against platelets being detected in approximately 80% of patients. Most often these antibodies are against platelet membrane glycoproteins IIb-IIIa or Ib-IX, and are of the IgG type. The coating of platelets with IgG renders them susceptible to opsonization and phagocytosis by splenic macrophages.
The IgG autoantibodies are also thought to damage megakaryocytes, the precursor cells to platelets, but this is thought to contribute only slightly to the decrease in platelet numbers.
Diagnosis
When measuring the platelet count, one has to bear in mind that the "normal values" for laboratory measures are all statistical. They are defined by the upper and lower 2.5th percentile. It is therefore possible to be completely healthy but to have a decreased platelet count. There is, however, a higher chance of pathology.
The diagnosis of ITP is a clinical one and is a diagnosis of exclusion. Low platelet count can be a feature of a large number of diseases and, when serious, warrants investigation by a hematologist. Secondary causes include leukemia, medications (e.g. quinine, heparin), lupus erythematosus and some other autoimmune disorders, cirrhosis (leading to thrombocytopenia from hypersplenism), HIV, congenital causes, and antiphospholipid syndrome. A bone marrow examination may be performed on patients over the age of 60 and people who do not respond to treatment, or when the diagnosis is in doubt.
Despite the destruction of platelets by splenic macrophages, the spleen is normally not enlarged. In fact, an enlarged spleen should lead a clinician to investigate other possible causes for the thrombocytopenia.
Accelerated formation of platelets results in the presence of abnormally large platelets which are seen in a peripheral blood smear. Overall bleeding time is prolonged in these patients, but prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT) are normal (because the problem is with the platelets, not with the coagulation cascade).
Occasionally, autoimmune hemolytic anemia and immune thrombocytic purpura may coexist, which is a condition called Evans syndrome.
Treatment
Mild ITP does not require treatment. When platelet counts fall under 10,000 per microliter, or under 50,000 when hemorrhage occurs (e.g. in the digestive tract or in a severe nosebleed) treatment is generally initiated with steroids. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is used for life threatening cases. Later, so-called steroid-sparing agents (alternatively called DMARDs) may be used. When these strategies fail, splenectomy (removal of the spleen) is often undertaken, as platelets targeted for destruction will often meet their fate in the spleen. A relatively new strategy is treatment with anti-D, an agent used in mothers who have been sensitized to rhesus antigen by a Rh+ baby, but the patient must be Rh+. Immunosuppresants like mycophenolate mofetil and azathioprine are becoming more popular for their effectiveness. Rituximab has also been used with some success for some patients.
Extreme cases (very rare, especially rare in children) may require vincristine, a chemotherapy agent, to stop the immune system from destroying platelets.
Intravenous immunoglobulin, while sometimes effective although not all patients respond, is expensive and the improvement is temporary (generally lasting less than a month). However, in the case of a pre-splenectomy ITP patient with dangerously low platelet counts, and a poor response to other treatments, IVIg treatment can increase platelet counts, making the splenectomy operation less dangerous.
Platelet transfusion is not normally recommended and is usually unsuccessful in raising a patient's platelet count. This is because the underlying autoimmune mechanism that destroyed the patient's platelets to begin with will also destroy donor platelets. An exception to this rule is when a patient is bleeding profusely, when transfusion of platelets can quickly form a platelet plug to stop bleeding. (
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Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura patients who do not respond to PRETNIZON (steriods)?
Hi
My boyfriend was diagnozed in May with Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura as during a check up they found that he had a very low blood count, the lowest being 17. He has been on high dosages of pretnizon ( a steriod ) as well as some other medication but they have now weaned him off it because his blood count was getting a little higher and then 10 points back down again. Next week he is going for a bone marrow biopsy which I am told they will do from the front (normally in doctor shows it is in the spine but for some reason they are not doing it this way).
Can anyone tell me WHY they are doing this marrow biopsy?
The dr has informed us that it routine and that he should prepare himself for his spleen to be taken out.
Can anyone tell me what the consequences of this are?
ALSO a NEW development, he was laying on the couch and complaining of a severe headache, and after a while I looked at his face and he had a blood spot in his eye. I have looked it up and it LOOKS like a subconjunctival hemorrhage accompanied by a headache.
He is currently on the phone to the hospital (for them to determine if it is serious) but as we are in the Netherlands - and I dont speak nearly enough dutch to keep up - I was wondering if ANYONE had any advice... so that I can be prepared... or at least undestand what it going on.
THANKS
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ITP typically responds well to steroids. When a patient does not respond well to corticosteroids, then we start questioning the diagnosis. The doctors are most likely doing a bone marrow biopsy to be sure that they are not missing any other diagnosis that could explain his low platelets. Spleen removal is usually the next step in a patient with ITP that does not respond to steroids. This is because the spleen is an important part in the destruction of platelets in ITP and if you remove it then you will destroy less platelets. The biggest risk with spleen removal is infections in the future. Doctors usually vaccinate patients who will have their spleen removed against three bacteria (Meningococcus, Pneumococcus and Haemophilus influenzae). Even with vaccination, the patient still is at risk for serious fatal infections in the future. Infections in patients without a spleen require prompt treatment to prevent these serious complications. There are many people walking around without a spleen that are doing just fine. I don't mean to scare you.
Subconjunctival hemorrhages are not really anything to worry about and they will resolve with time. If your boyfriend develops eye pain or visual difficulties then he should see a doctor for it, because this is not typical for subconjunctival hemorrhage and suggests a more serious disease. Headaches are not typical for subconjunctival hemorrhage. (
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does anyone here have Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura?
I have cronic itp and was wanting to hear from anyone else that has it and if it makes them tired, so on so forth
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I found out I had it right after I turned 18. I had a bloody nose that lasted 2 1/2 hours and purple spots showed up on my face and in my mouth and throat. I went to the ear nose and throat Dr to get my nose cauterized and he sent me to the lab to get my blood tested. That's when we found out my platelet count was 5000. If you have it you know that normal is at LEAST 120,000. I was in the hospital for a week.They had to do a bone marrow test which was awful! I got pumped with platelets all week. After I got released I was put on prednisone for 2 months but had a relapse in Feb of the next year. I went in as an outpatient for a day to get platelets again and was put back on the prednisone fro another 4 months.
I have been fine since(I'm 32). Was considered in remission 4 years after. I have a CBC done every year just to make sure and last month I was at a very safe 450,000.
I remember it did make be pretty tired. My friends would get mad because I didnt feel like going out. They couldnt understand the whole thing.
If you have anyother questions, let me know! (
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Has Anyone Lost someone to Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP)?
I am loosing someone to ITP..Not ITP exactly but my little cousin was diagnosed with ITP at 3 years old, but he's been getting really sick on and off for about 5 years now. My cousin is 12 years old and he is now in the hospital in PICU and he has been declared brain dead. The doctors say that the medicine that he was taking to keep his blood level stable caused him to get an infection in his brain, what they think is meningitis. I dont understand how this can happen. and me and my cousins are finding it so hard to cope with this. Has anyone ever lost someone to this? How did you cope and just learn to move on. He hasnt died yet because hes still on a repirator. He cant breath on his own and i know the parents are thinking about pulling the plug. How can this be? This is the hardest thing ive ever been through. If you have information on support groups please send em. I dont want to talk someone but i feel like im cryin out for help. I dont know wat to do n e more.
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I feel sorry your family is going through this experience. Immune suppresion is one of the ways to treat ITP which on the other hand predisposes one to infections, meningitis can be fatal unfortunately, I have copied below the search results on yahoo for itp support groups, if I can help more, please write to me, (
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ITP? Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura?
can someone tell me as much info as they know..
i dont know aout it and my friend has it..
can it lead to death?
hope not :S
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Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot as it should. The bleeding is due to a low number of platelets (PLATE-lets), blood cells that help the blood clot and stop bleeding. People with ITP often have purple bruises that appear on the skin. The bruises mean that bleeding has occurred in small blood vessels under the skin.
ITP is largely an autoimmune disease. The decrease in platelets occurs because the immune system attacks and destroys the body's own platelets, for an unknown reason. Normally, your immune system helps your body fight off infections and diseases. But when the immune system mistakenly attacks some part of a person's own body, this is called an autoimmune disease. Because "idiopathic" means "of unknown cause," a better name for most cases of ITP is immune thrombocytopenic purpura.
Have a look at the below website for more info. (
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any cure for itp i.e.Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura?
Idiopathic (immunologic) thrombocytopenic purpura is a bleeding disorder caused by thrombocytopenia not associated with a systemic disease. Typically, it is chronic in adults but is usually acute and self-limited in children. Spleen size is normal. Diagnosis requires that other disorders be excluded through selective tests. Treatment includes corticosteroids, splenectomy, and, for life-threatening bleeding, platelet transfusions, and IV immune globulin. (
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