When you say, 'random vomiting', can you describe it further? I mean, does it appear to be associated with any other symptoms, like headache, fever, stomach cramps or diarrhea?
Is he in daycare or preschool where he might be exposed to a lot of stomach bugs? At his age, it's fairly common for those to be spread quite easily. Do any other family members have similar gastro-intestinal upsets? Or, could it be caused from motion sickness in the car? Most cases of stomach flus should resolve themselves within a relatively short time, though, of just a few days. I am just wondering if that's what the doctors suspect it is. Or, does this seem to be a more chronic issue?
Has he been given any sort of medication to treat the vomiting or to treat some other condition like a cough or teething? You might be surprised to find that many of the very common OTC medicines that people regularly give to their children, have been shown to cause thrombocytopenia in sensitive patients. Also, many doctor prescribed medications such as many kinds of antibiotics can cause these drops in platelets. Quite a few parents feel that their child's ITP was triggered after a vaccine. Both the MMR and the H1N1 flu shot are suspected of triggering ITP in some children.
It may be that your doctors suspect that one of these may have been the cause. There are many cases of drug-induced thrombocytopenia, and these will often resolve themselves, once the drug is discontinued. If the medication was frequently given, it may take more time, and sometimes other measures may need to be taken to get rid of this effect. Once a child has ITP, I have found that even when their platelets come back up, they can be quickly dropped again, by using one of these medications.
Before my daughter got ITP, she would have frequent bouts where she would vomit for days at a time, off and on throughout the day. She'd sometimes get a fever that would come and go with it, too, but no other symptoms. Other times, it would just be the vomiting. She would vomit a lot of bile, could not keep anything down at all. I remember she used to draw pages and pages of food, because she was so hungry, yet couldn't eat! No one could ever figure out what was wrong with her, or how to treat it. But, other than that, she was a robust child, and would seem just fine the rest of the time. When she got the ITP, the vomiting became one of her main symptoms, and she would always have it as a side effect to treatments, which would cause very violent vomiting in her. But, the doctors said, no, the vomiting didn't have anything to do with the ITP, that I'd have to take her to an internist to figure that one out. Well, they were wrong. The vomiting had a LOT to do with her ITP! Our bodies are not fragmented parts, and doctors need to start looking at the whole patient. "Sorry, it's not my department!" just doesn't fly with me, and doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Your child is more than his platelet count! For my daughter, I took her to my homeopath (I was a homeopathic student at the time.), and he really paid close attention to this symptom, as well as all the other things that made her case unique. After one dose of a remedy that he chose for her, the vomiting stopped, even when she had the IVIG treatments. It also brought her platelets up to 144k in 10 days. Ultimately, this remedy did not hold, and a couple of months later i found a remedy that was closely related, that brought her count from 11k to 411k in 4 days. It not only resolved the platelets, but benifited her in so many other ways. One, was that she's never since had that kind of vomiting like that. So, I would say, take note of that, as well as any other more unusual things about your son, and you may find it can be useful information down the road. And, actually, it may be that your doctors are simply more conservative. Especially in some other countries, they do more of a watch and wait, if there are no bleeding symptoms. The treatments often seem to be worse than the disorder, and actually, ITP is one of the side effects of many of the most common ones (like Prednisone, as well as the common pre-treatment drugs of Benadryl and Tylenol). So, perhaps for some, the treatments are actually keeping the platelets from coming up. Young children are more apt to have acute cases, and many times their little immune systems can overcome it on their own, without any treatment. read on the Parent's forum, and you may find other parents who are doing watch and wait. None of the medical treatments are without risk, and would be particularly difficult for such a young child. So, I am guessing that is probably why your doctors haven't yet given him any treatments.
I wish the best for you and your son,
April
Here's a partial list of common OTC drugs that can lower the platelets.
Aspirin and any other medicine containing salicylates, such as Pepto-Bismol or
Alka Seltzershould be avoided.
Reference:
rileychildrenshospital.com/resources/documents/Hem_Onc_ITP.pdf
Aspirin and non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory medications, such as
aspirin, Ibuprofen, Motrin, Advil, naproxen, naprosyn, and Aleve are medications that may interfere with platelet function and may cause bleeding.
Reference:
www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site1138/mainpageS1138P0.html
Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) side effects for the
Hematologic System: Hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, agranulocytosis.
Reference:
www.drugs.com/sfx/diphenhydramine-side-effects.html
(Scroll down to Diphenhydramine Side Effects for the Professional)
Tylenol (acetaminophen)--Acute thrombocytopenia caused by sensitivity to the glucuronide conjugate of acetaminophen—a good article to read.
Reference:
bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.org/cgi/content/full/109/8/3608
Coricidin D (acetaminophen/chlorpheniramine/phenylpropanolamine is a combination pain reliever/fever reducer/antihistamine and decongestant,
used to treat nasal congestion; itchy, watery eyes; itchy throat; sneezing; headache; fever; and other symptoms associated with allergies, hay fever, and the common cold.)
Hematologic side effects of chlorpheniramine have included bone marrow suppression, thrombocytopenia, and aplastic anemia.
Reference:
www.drugs.com/sfx/coricidin-side-effects.html
Coricidin D HBP (same as above but with an added High Blood Pressure medicine)
Parents—be aware! It has become one of the most abused OTC drugs for teens in the 13-19 age range, as they can easily buy them at the drugstore, or find them in their parent’s medicine cabinet. It is an inexpensive and legal drug, easily available, so one of the fastest growing drug problems. Kids are taking 10-15 of them at a time, some have died from them, but they can cause many side effects, including liver damage and thrombocytopenia. Abusers report a heightened sense of perceptual awareness, altered time perception and visual hallucinations, much like LSD.
Street names are “Skittles” (they resemble the red Skittles candy),” Red Dragons”, “Red Devils”, “Red D’s”, “C’s”, “Cory (Cori)”, “CCC” and “TripleC”.
Robitussin Night Time Cough and Cold (a cough suppressant, expectorant and decongestant, used to treat stuffy nose, sinus congestion, cough, and chest congestion caused by the common cold or flu.)
Hematologic side effects have included hemolytic anemia, agranulocytosis, and thrombocytopenia.
Reference:
www.drugs.com/sfx/robitussin-night-time-cough-cold-side-effects.html
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