Chaz
My 5yr old daughter was diagnosed with this blood disorder in Nov. 2004. It is now Feb. 2005 and still has ITP. Immune globulin treatment (no luck). Winrho (work in progress). Her platelet count climbs dramatically after these treatments, but her antibodies continue to recognize her platelets as the enemy. Count fails to maintain.
No known cause?
No known cure?
" The mystery of the blood diseases" as one of our Doctors calls it.
To look at my little girl, to watch her play, to listen to her sing, never would you think there was anything wrong. Patience, hope, LOVE, PRAYER, above all is our best medicine so far.
Barb
When my now 20-year old daughter was 18 months old, she began to bruise all over. Her doctor said she was just more active than was my older daughter and I was a worry-wart. Two weeks later, when I saw her purple tongue, I took her to a different pediatrician who said, more kindly than this, that she either had leukemia or ITP. The only way to diagnose ITP was to rule out leukemia, so we went to Children's Hospital in Seattle and she had a bone marrow aspiration. No leukemia, thank goodness! I was told that ITP is a virus and would go away on its own, but that medication was needed so that, in the meantime, she did not hemorrhage internally. She was put on prednisone, and thank goodness, after two weeks of "hell" trying to get the nasty-tasting pills down her, my doctor found some good-tasting liquid prednisone for children! When her platelet count would get to normal levels, we would begin the gradual decrease of the prednisone. At the first blood check-up, her platelet count would drop dramatically and we would increase the prednisone once again. This see-saw ride went on for three months. I finally got fed up and took her off prednisone myself! And her platelet counts went back up and leveled off. I don't necessarily recommend doing something on your own, but it IS virally caused and viruses do go away eventually on their own. Three months later, I learned that there was doctor at Children's who spent three days a week doing ITP research and 2 days a week practicing. I can't remember her name, nor do I know if she is still there after all this time. I consulted with her even though my daughter was fine. This doctor confirmed that platelet counts would drop after treatment ended, but that was normal, and they would go up within a week or so. I am sure, after 18 and a half years, more has been discovered about ITP, but that was my experience with the disease.
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