ITP with Virus only

Hi everyone. I haven't been on this site in about three years. My son has ITP and has only been affected when fighting a virus. We had many episodes for about a year and a half, then it stopped. We thought he'd outgrown it, but last month it came back when he got a cold. His platelets get low, in the low teens and twenties, then return to normal when he starts feeling better from the illness. So, my question is...does anyone else experience ITP in this way? It seems like many children are experiencing long term low platelets that need treatments etc. I just wonder how many people are in the same situation as my son is.

Thanks!

There are definitely some other kids/adults like your son but I can't remember the names. It must be reassuring to know that the problem usually goes away with the virus. For what its worth, my son seems to have the opposite reaction to a virus - it usually brings his counts up a bit!

My son is the same. He normally fluctuates around 80 - 170 normally. But a virus will drop him into single digits. We give him a quick pulse of Decadron and he comes back up until the next virus. We have been through this 3 times in the past 7 years now. Last time we got a 3 year remission. We are now coming up on a 1 year remission but the flu season is upon us.

How long does your son have to be on Decadron before his counts come back up?

We put him on a 4 day high dosage. Go in the next week for a test and he is normally in the 200's. He then settles down to his normal 80-170ish over the next couple of months. UNTIL THE NEXT VIRUS HITS. But what is really interesting is that he can be sick and not show any signs for up to 2 weeks.