New Possible ITP Case. Poor. What do I do?

Hi folks. I am a 35 year old male in Northern California. Thanks in advance for your time.

I had 2 outbreaks of different kinds of skin rashes, lesions and bruises about 12 months apart.

The initial outbreak had some considerable itching... I mistook it for bed bugs and was misdiagnosed. (Canine unit came to my place, no bed bugs). I wonder if a lot of the symptoms I experienced then weren't psychosomatic. (brought on mentally/emotionally)

*It all started with image one... image one looked a lot like image 2 ... appearing to have broken the skin but not sensitive to the touch. (from last 10 days) when it presented and is taking FOREVER to heal.

My other symptoms are
-The big line of dots on my shin
-Bruising
Rather large to small. They take an abormal amount of time to heal and are NOT painful if I push on them/sensitive whatsoever. Unlike typical purple ITP bruising I've seen online today they were brown or yellow...and again, not real bruises... not sensitive when pushed on.
Mostly they were brown bruises that turned yellow as they healed... normal looking.
-A bunch of red dots w/ possible broke capillaries (image 4, my chest, current). I had a few of these bright red dots for years but now there are more. They present then subside fairly quickly.
-All different sizes of what appear to be abrasions that broke the skin... but again... they don't hurt or itch and take an atypically long time to heal.
-Some small circular dots that I don't have an image of. They seem to heal the quickest.
*no picture but it doesn't look like typical ringworm at all.
-Blood in my stool exactly once

The skin lesions and bruises are on, in order of severity and frequency,
1. my legs 2. my feet 3. my chest (no bruising) 4. my arms 6. my back (mostly red lines) 7. my hands (very minimal, small "cuts" and bruises)... pretty much everywhere but my face and privates.

Some of this has been rather extreme!
I had a red raised area w/ scales show up on my forearm about 7 inches long by 2 inches wide.. It looked EXACTLY like I had just fallen and scraped my skin on pavement... but again... it didn't hurt or itch. It quickly went away and was replaced by a bruise that slowly healed

*All the bruises are slow to heal. The original 3 dots thing on my leg seems to be healing... the slowest I've ever seen anything heal.

*I would still have more of these images from my initial outbreak if my iphone didn't get wiped.

Anyhow I had another outbreak in the last week-10 days. It coincided with me being put on antibiotics because of an infected tooth that I had removed. (consistent w/ somehow having to do with my immune system)

The only common factor I can think of is that both times I was exposed to "Raid" bug spray. The first time I was exposed A LOT b/c I thought it was spider bites or bed bugs... I've never had any allergic reaction to bug spray... but it is of course poison.

I am HIV negative and in a monogamous relationship/engaged.
When I went to a free clinic after the first outbreak they tested me for syphilis, negative.
It is not scabies.
It is not bed bugs.
*I had a contact dermatitis outbreak on my inner thighs right around this outbreak... but I've been prone to those my whole life. OTC creams take care of it.
*Yesterday I tried applying Lamisil to a line/cut on my stomach. It's gone! Obviously I just put Lamasil on everything on my body. This was a lighter red line... not like image 3. Those have appeared on my back and torso mostly and legs as well.


The obvious answer, is "for god's sake, go see a Dr."

I cannot afford to. I am poor. While we're at it I'm also a Reiki master and have had success with Chinese herbs, acupuncture... when dealing with previous conditions. (I am now too poor to pursue this)

Does anyone have ANY insight? I know not to get into self-diagnosis. I was not aware of ITP until today.

The GOOD NEWS the whole way is that, aside from the initial outbreak at the start, none of this itches or hurts and I haven't had any other medical conditions arise at the same time. I'm pretty healthy... no chronic conditions.

So here's me. I apologize if this posting was disorganized or in the wrong place on the message board. I'm a newbie.

Please help me however you can. Thanks again for your time.

CL

First off, wow. What a story. I wish there was an easy answer for you. Most of us are ITPers or parents of ITPers so we see symptoms like these, however, you just don't know until you get a complete blood count, my friend. We can conject and and guess all day long, but until you rule it out, there is no way of knowing. Is there anyway you could go to an urgent care...do you have insurance to cover it? If you are like me, paying a premium to have peace of mind is totally worth it. ITP is extremely rare. Trust us, we know. I'm not saying you don't have something related or could, but just guessing that it is ITP is proabably not gonna give you the diagnosis you need. ITP is a diagnosis of exclusion after all appropriate blood tests are run. It is an autoimmune disease that has nothing to do with bed bugs. It is an antibody disorder where antibodies attack blood platelets causing bruising and bleeding. Go to a doctor. I hope, for your sake, it is something easy to manage. Good luck.

Hi CL,

Self-diagnosis isn't for everyone, but if you are worried about ITP and can't afford to see a doctor then sometimes you do what you have to do.

I will leave it to others to read over your symptoms and hazard a guess as to what might be going on with you, but if you are still worried about ITP, then an independent lab test is probably the cheapest way to go.

Can you afford $29 to get a CBC blood test? You can get one at an independent lab such as:
requestatest.com/tests 1-888-732-2348. They have multiple locations in Northern California.
The CBC will give you your Platelet count in addition to Red blood cells, White blood cells, Hemoglobin and Hematocrit. You would have to follow up on any positive (bad) results, but a negative (good) result can easily rule out ITP. The internet can provide you with a lot of good information how to interpret the test.

As an aside, we have a lab in Atlanta that will do a strep test for $10. This can be a big help for a child you suspect of having strep throat, as otherwise you pay for an office visit just to find out the same info. If positive, only then do you shell out for Minit Clinic or somesuch so you can get that Rx for antibiotics. Of course, this only applies if there is not some other compelling reason to seek a medical opinion.

Good luck, and keep us updated!

I agree a blood count is the way to go but looking at your pictures, it doesn't look like ITP to me. I'm not a doctor though so best to get that blood count done.

I agree with Ann. It does not look like petechiae which is typical with ITP. The only way to know though is to get a CBC. There is a very cheap treatment - Prednisone, that you could use if needed. The only advice I have for you, which you don't want to do, is to see a doctor.

There are several free medical insurance options for low income in California. Medi-Cal and some new variations referred to as CMSP. Things are changing after the 1st of the year to expand the low-income insurance programs I'm told.

An excellent low-income clinic is north of San Francisco in Petaluma- PHC Petaluma Health Center. Just the best doctors ever. Beautiful building, no waiting, well-organized. Not only is it cheap/free but they have wonderful counselors who will get you signed up for some sort of Medi-Cal low-income/no cost health insurance. good luck!

Yourhero47

I found this site www.personalabs.com/low-cost-blood-testing-california.aspx

A lot of states have walk in labs you can get blood work done with out a doctor. You can order online or just walk in. Either way you don't have to have a doctor sign off on it. I know how you feel I don't have insurance and if there is a will there is a way. I have a good client that does Reiki and she did a session on me when I went through my first Rituxan in 2012 and I felt a big weight off my shoulders. Can't really explain it but I am thinking of calling her again to do another session on me. If you need any more help trying to find ways to get things done just let me know. I am very good now at finding ways around things and getting it done with out insurance.

Aren't we supposed to have national healthcare at this point or sometime in the near future? Everyone in Massachusetts has to have health insurance or you'll get fined. It's been that way here for a while now.

Here's a link to the governments national healthcare application page. I really don't know anything about it though.

www.healthcare.gov/families/

There seems to be some controversy in DC regarding the affordable health insurance!

Having chronic blood disorders I am so grateful to live in MA where my health insurance is great and we can afford it.

Agree with getting a CBC (complete blood count). This will determine if Platelets are low and possible ITP.