Itp linked to virus

Hello, I have not been here in a while. My 7 year old daughter was diagnosed with itp back in May 2012. First platelet drop in May followed a virus and platelets dropped and then increased on their own. In June while sw was batteling the flu she also ha another platelet drop and this time she was given ivig. Since June we have had no platelet drop and she has not had any virus or been sick in any way. Her platelets were up to 221,000 on their own and the doctor ha already discharged her file. A few days ago I noticed petichea and yesterday she began a low grade fever. She has a cold and stomach pains. Her sister with no itp is suffering from the same virus. I took her to the hemo yesterday and her platelet count was 4,000. The doctor put her on prednisone and said to take her back on Friday to do another count. He said he can't say for certain if her itp happens everytime she is sick of if it's just a coninsendence that she has been sick when her platelets have dropped. Does anyone else have a platelet drop everytime they get sick? I would really like anyone input or suggestions regarding this. Also, has anyone had their child on predisone ? I really prefer to give her the predisone at home rather than have her admitted for a week and have them give her the ivig.

My son actually has the opposite reaction to a virus - mostly his platelet count goes up However, from what I read, drops when people are ill are quite common. Quick pulses of steroids to get her over the lows seem like quite a good idea if your daughter's count recovers quickly - like you say, its much less traumatic than a day in hospital to get IVIg. Why does she have to stay in hospital for a week? Hopefully, it will go up quickly this time and stay there!

My 7 year old son's count 10 days ago was up to a new "high" of 64k. Two days ago, I noticed ALOT of new bruises on his legs/arms. His throat was also hurting so we went to the Dr yesterday for a CBC and strep test. No fever or cough or anything else (at the time). Strep test negative but his platelets had dropped to 25k. Later that afternoon, his fever shot up to 104 and he was miserable. So the drop in platelets apparently happened before he had any obvious viral symptoms. A few months ago, he got a stomach virus and a few days later his count dropped to the 20's.

We've been very lucky that his counts haven't required treatment. His lowest levels have been 20-25k. Hopefully your daughter won't have to be hospitalized again! Hang in there!

I believe that a virus can trigger ITP. I feel a virus triggered mine. There are so many things that can trigger it. At first diagnosis I was terrified of getting sick for fear that Platelets would drop. 8 years and two rounds of Rituxan later I do not worry about getting sick. I also feel stress played a role in my counts. Prednisone usually only works as long as one is on the higher doses.

Good Luck with you Daughter!!

Hi my son was taken into hospital christmas eve 2008 at 8 months old with a virus..by christmas morning he was in a coma
after almost 2 weeks on a life support machine he started to breathe alone.
3 weeks later we noticed pin prick bleeding on his arms and after exhausting every other avenue he was diagnosed with Chronic I.T.P and Von Willerbrands disease he had a platlet count of 1.
Sam is now 4yrs old and still only has a platelet count 5.
We noticed everytime Sam got a cold he bruised horrendously aswell as recently suffering internal bleeding and has also had 2 head haemmorages just from slightly knocking his head. He has had Ivag and steroids and nothing has bumped his platelets up.
I really do believe that I.T.P and virus are connected. I hope your daughter does well and recovers quickly.

Yes, viruses can cause platelet drops, even in people that don't have ITP. Some people recover without intervention and some need a bump.

My daughter was on prednisone for a while- bad side affects with little help on the count side of things. It made her hyper, gained weight, not sleep etc... and it didn't do anything to help with the bruising/bleeding. The IVIG should only take 4 hours to give (as we have done this MANY times) and doesn't need to be an over night stay. This will help to stabilize the cells, and you can almost see immediate results. However, it doesn't stay long- at least in my daughter's case. It should stay at least 2 weeks or longer in the system. My daughters stayed for only 3 days- helped to stabilize her some but was right back down again. Good luck!

tracable,
Have they ever tried a slower IVIG infusion? My son had 8 within 2 weeks, they were 4-6 hours long. Than they decided to TRY again, and no miracle happened but they did it over 12 hours and 5 days later he was at 24...All the other ones he wasn't gettin to 13-20 and was back to 0-3 within 24-48 hours. After the longer infusion we haven't tried it again, but maybe it is worth a TRY if you are still using it??