I am a 37 year old male and for at least 2 years I have been bruising easily. I ignored the signs and put the bruising and swelling down to an active lifestyle. My job is also physically demanding so it was easy for me to ignore the symptoms. Family and friends became concerned and their concerns finally made me go to the Doctors.
I expected the Dr. to laugh me out of the surgery for wasting his time, so I was extremely shocked when the Dr. seemed to be taking my bruises very seriously. I didnt even get chance to sit down before he was ushering me into another room to take my blood.
A few hours later I recieved a phone call from the Doctors surgery stating that it was important I get there asap as there was an urgent problem with my results. The next half hour was the scariest half hour of my life, I expected the worst!!!
I was told my platelet count was 22 and was admitted into hospital. I was then diagnosed with ITP. I was actually relieved for a number of reasons. Firstly I could have had something much worse and secondly now it had been diagnosed it answered a lot of questions, such as why I was always so tired.
I was started on a daily dose of 90mg of Prednisone. Up until this point I hadn't felt ill. Once the Prednisone kicked in (approx. 30 mins after taking my first dose) I had high blood pressure, tight chest pains, pain behind my eyes and so on.
The Prednisone did not help at all and over the following 3 weeks my count dropped until it reached an all time low of 5.
I had an infusion of immunogobulin which saw my count rise to 65 but two days later it was down to 22 and a few days later back to 5.
The Dr has started to slowly lower my dosage of Prednisone (I'm currently on 70mg a day) and has informed me that I will probably start a course of Rituxan next week.
So its just a waiting game now to try and find something that will work. I will be happy if the Doctors can get my count above 30. I will class myself as cured above this limit. Until then I can't go back to work.
I have obviously suffered from this condition for a couple of years and have been blissfully ignorant to it. I participated in contact sports with no ill effects apart from large bruises. Therefore I am not going to let this condition affect me too much. I need to get on with life but make a few careful adjustments. The contact sports need to stop and my favourite past time of road cycling will have to stop for now but hey ho thats life.
The most important thing I have taken from this experience so far is that I could have been diagnosed with something much worse which could have left my wife without a husband and my children without a dad. When I have been treated in the hospital I look around the ward and realize there are a lot of people in a far worse position than I am. They would no doubt gladly swap conditions if they could. Although ITP is no doubt going to be a pain in the backside with lifestyle changes, toing and froing from the hospital and trying different teatments and putting up with the side effects of these treatments, it really could be much worse.
