Concerned

My daughter is doing well with diet change but yesterday noticed she has bit of blood in bowel movement, is this related to ITP and will it go away?

It can be related to ITP and it will go away when counts go up. When is her next appointment? She does need to mention that to her doctor. Whether or not it's serious depends on where the blood is coming from.

She has an appointment with hematologist next wednesday. Her platelet reading was 38K last week. She is doing all the right things by the family doctor until she sees the Hema but now this has happened and im concerned.

Just tell her to keep an eye on it. If need be, she can always go to the ER. Don't be surprised if the Hematologist has different ideas.

When my son's counts were very low he would get anal fissures that would bleed. He never got them any other time but then. If the blood is bright red it's a bit less concerning then if it's black which could indicate internal bleeding. It was easy to tell with him since it was so bright and hurt when he had a bowel movement. That may be one thing you can ask her in trying to discern if you should worry.

my daughter has now developed little red dots on her legs this seems all very disheartening. does it mean her platelets have decreased and will they go away once her platelets increase?

Hello, here in Minnesota we do not see a family doctor at all for my daughter's ITP, only a hematologist. And our Hemo. always says if she has bleeding in the stool or in her pee she for sure needs to be evaluated by a hematologist or taken the the ER. Because from my understand it can mean that the platelet level is very low and the child may need treatment. It's always good to double check right away rather than wait it out.

hi mia....well she will be seeing a hematologist tomorrow. The family doctor will no longer be handling it. she was only diagnosed recently after discovering bruising on her legs. just recently the nose bleeding started and only one time she had some blood in her bowel movement..she was advised until she sees the hema to change her diet. At the moment she is only eating organic foods. she is totally against taking steroids and other forms of medication etc., her platelet level at present is 38k and is due for a blood test in a few days. She is hoping that she will be able to treat her problem in a more natural way, perhaps homeopathy, whether that will work we just have to see what her hema says. this diagnosis is really getting her down and she feels she cant live a normal life without worrying when her nose is going to start bleeding. I understand her frustration because this happens unexpectedly.

Victoria - the red dots are called petechiae and can indicate that counts are down. Yes, they will go away when counts are up. It's possible that her counts are down from 38k based on the symptoms.

I know your daughter wants to treat this naturally, but it can take a while to see any results if it even works at all. If she is stressing over it and feels that she can't live her life, she will need to reconsider traditional treatments for now until she gets a handle on it.

i agree with you sandi in terms of traditional treatment. her paranoia is weight gain through use of steroids, thats major issue for her. tomorrow she will discuss everything with her hema..

Some of us managed to avoid major weight gain. There are things you can do to keep that to a minimum. Staying active, watching food intake and avoiding salt and sugar can help. Sometimes water retention is a problem but that comes off as the dose is tapered. I'm sure that someone as consious as your daughter would do what she had to do to keep her weight down.

There was a man here a while ago who swore that keeping his daily exercise regimine kept him from all Prednisone side effects. If I can find his posts, I'll link them.

Sandi,
That was KO27.
Erica

No, I was thinking of this guy.

www.pdsa.org/forum/5-newly-diagnosed-a-frequently-asked-questions/9654-to-everyone-newly-diagnosed.html#9654

www.pdsa.org/forum/5-newly-diagnosed-a-frequently-asked-questions/5851-some-encouragement.html

www.pdsa.org/forum/6-general-itp-discussion/2611-prednisone-hoping-to-side-step-around-the-weight.html#2616

Oh - my bad! You are totaly correct Sandi, it was that guy.
Erica