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Okay going to try to keep this short.... I was diagnosed with ITP 5 years ago. went through a horrible bout with steriods (pred & decadron), which never really worked. after about 7 months of being jacked up on the steriods I took 4 treatments of Rituxan. Which actually held me to around 50-60 for the last 4 years. I have been on "observation" since with no bruising or bleeding! Now I am 14 weeks prego, and I have dropped to 21... eeek!!! My hemo said if I go below 20 (I know there really isn't a dif. between 21 and 20) that he will highly suggest treatment. Now my delihma... IVIG or steriods... I really don't want to live the hell I lived previously on steriods now that I am pregnant. But I can not really find any info on the web about the effects of IVIG on a fetus... Please if anyone has any suggestions throw them my way. I am going in to see my Highrisk OB (who has several years experiance with ITP patients) before I see my Hemo again... will be asking him alot of questions!! but any advise any ladies have on here is mighty welcome!

IVIG and steriods are both safe for the baby. I was at 20-30 throughout my entire pregnancy. When I waws 36 weeks I started weekly IVIG and steriods. I was on 80mg (I only respond to high doses) along with IV steriods during the IVIG infussions. I held off as long as possible from doing steriods since it can mess with your glucose levels. I failed my first glucose tolerance testing.

I gave birth to a healthy baby boy. I even had a c section with minimal bleeding and actually healed much faster then expected. MY OB was extremly suprised.

Have you had IVIG before? How do you respond to it? Keep in mind that the meds dont always work the same when your pregnant. Usually Id get a huge kick in counts with the IVIG but I found out that once I was pregnant that my body didnt respond the same. i was lucky to hit 100 (when I usually get 300) You can always try steriods and see how you respond. Or try IVIG and see how you respond. But both are very safe and may work better if you do both together.

Congrats on the baby

Thanks! I was on 100mg a day on the steriods.. with not much response. And, No I haven't had IVIG... and the only time I had anything over 80 in the last 5 years is when I had Gallbladder surgery and they gave me two bags of platlets right before surgury!! (got to 139 I think then) I want to hold out as long as I can!! I am trying to go with out the c section, but we will see! I want to have an epi though, the world will be a much better place if I can have that! lol

thank you for the advise

Have your OB and hema talked? Its important that they work together. I planned on a vag birth and went into labor on my own. He just didnt want to come out. My birth went like this. I went into labor on my own 5cm at my weekly check up. So I was sent to the hospital where I was started on IV steriods, IVIG and platelets. I got 2.5 units of platelets. My labor slowed, contractions were even registering on the monitor so my water was buldging so they broke it, hoping to restart contractions. It did and I had all back labor, so they checked my counts I was at 92. So they finally agreed to give me the epidural. Took 3 tires but I got it--and felt tons better. At this point it had been 12 hrs and I was only at 6 cm. So they waited another few hrs and gave me the option of a c section since I wasnt progressing. I was offered to wait until the morning but it had already been 12 hrs since they broke my water and my OB didnt feel like I would progress any further and since my counts were high I agreed to the c section. I only spent 3 days in the hospital and was also givin IVIG the next day while in the maternity floor.

So you can get your epidural just let your OB and hema know the plan. We had all this worked out prior to me getting to the hospital and dont be upset if everything doesnt go as planned. I was upset I got a c section, but everything turned out great.

Oh I did try to breast feed but ended up giving up after 5 weeks. I pumped and dumped becasue I was still on steriods. You can breast feed while on steriods but it does pass through the breast milk. Just talk with your drs about what you want to do. and good luck.