ITP & Sports Risk- Looking for Opinions

Hi everyone. I have had ITP for almost 10 years now, but it has been fairly stable and mild. My counts are usually between 65-80k and I have only been treated once with winrho prior to a surgery.

I would like to return to a childhood favorite sport/martial art of Judo. It is fairly physical and I will be taking some bumps and falls. As with any sport, there is always the risk of some kind of trauma, but it is just that...a risk.

My hematologist has advised against it and I can understand her point. But, she also probably has to worry about insurance.

So, please share your honest opinions about what the chances are for me to have something major happen or some kind of serious internal bleeding with counts at my level. I am under the impression that if my counts stay above 50k then I should be just fine. Is this true?

I am not being careless, I know we have risk in everything we do. I have two children that also do Judo and I want to be responsible and make sure I stick around for awhile. But, I am also determined to not let this *thing* dominate my life.

Thanks!!! Laureen

Could you wear a helmet, or is that too weird? I think the greatest risk would be a head injury. Although at 65-80 - those are pretty good numbers.
Erica

Thanks!

No helmets in Judo, that doesn't work. :lol:

Personally, I would do it. Especially if your counts stay at such safe levels. I too have counts in the 60-80 range and I have not changed my workout routine at all since my dx. Just use common sense which I'm sure you will. If you get back into it and find yourself constantly getting hurt, I would re-think it. But you owe it to yourself to give it a try. As long as you are aware and cautious, I'm sure you will be fine- just be sure to listen to your body

Hi Laureen,back in my teens I belonged to a Judo club for a few years and enjoyed the sport very much,(now 66yrs old). For people who have not participated in the sport I think it is very hard for them to gauge the level of phyical contact or the toll and demands it does or does not take on your body.

Firstly the sport takes place on a rubber mat,and you learn how to fall without bumping your head. I would like to think you could enjoy the sport once more, but you do have other considerations you must take into account.

If you could have a talk to an Instructor of a club, tell him/her about your ITP and ask for an opion. Then talk to your Dr to see what he/she thinks. If positive then go back to your Haematologist for another chat. If the answer is still NO then you may fell a lot happier about accepting this descision.

Also ask your family what they think, Judo is a great sport but not worth having an internal head bleed over. I had a Pilots Licence and enjoyed flying, also did alot of water skiing in summer but have given them both up. You do adjust and get over it, or at least I did.

Wishing all goes well for you,
Benny.

Hi, Laureen,

I have a son with ITP. He is 14 years old and has had ITP for a little over 9 years. He has been treated many times but seems to have stabilized a bit in the last couple of years. (just a little background). Anyway - he is very active and participates in competitive basketball, wakeboarding, etc. and his counts are almost never above 60k. His doctors would want to see him closer to 100k to play tackle football or lacrosse, but those are major contact sports. Our doctor has indicated that most sports are safe at a count of 60-80, although I don't know anything about judo.

Having said that, it seems that Benny's suggestions are good ones. It would be worthwhile to talk to an instructor. Maybe you could participate in most aspects of judo or your participation could be slightly modified. Is there a big risk of hitting your head or getting kicked in the head in judo? I guess that's the big question. If you google platelet counts needed for sports you'll find additional info. One of the lists I've seen lumps in karate with a sport like basketball, in terms of counts needed. On that list, if you're above 50k you're safe. Does your hematologist know what exactly is involved in judo?

It's really important to our son that he stay active even though he has ITP. He would not be at all happy if he couldn't play basketball all year or go wakeboarding and tubing in the summer, so we probably push the guidelines a bit more than some people. As with so many things, it's a matter of measuring risk vs. reward, I guess.

Good luck - and I hope you get to do judo. It sounds like a fun thing to share with your kids!

I think if your count consistently stays above 50 and you are not taking direct blows to the head, then I would say go for it! My daughter Caitlin has had ITP for 4 years now and we've never really had her stop competitive cheerleading, but we have had things modified from time to time when her counts fell below 30. Now that her count is consistently above 80 with treatment, we allow her to do all aspects of the sport and that includes being thrown up in the air. She got a huge footprint bruise on her chest last week from one of the girls' accidentally stepping on her with their shoes on, but her count this morning was still 137 so it told me that this was a bruise she would have gotten regardless of ITP. We got alot of comments last week asking her if her count was low (her team is aware of her disorder) and we told them we didn't think so. It looked like she had the biggest hickey all across her chest and it went up above where her uniform went so it didn't look good on an almost 13-year old girl.

I just wouldn't risk it if you are consistantly questioning whether a certain hit was a good hit or a bad hit. If it is something where you are going to ask whether a CT Scan would be warranted one or two times a year...it might be more costly to go through with the sport. (And competitive cheerleading truly does warrant CT Scans from time to time, but we monitor things closely and make modifications when necessary.)

Laureen we can't tell you "...what the chances are for me to have something major happen or some kind of serious internal bleeding with counts at my level." - wish we did have that crystal ball.

I will tell you - I know someone with a wonderful normal platelet count, no ITP, and he fell in his kitchen & hit his head on the tile floor and at the time didn't know it but he did have a brain bleed. Took him a while to get symptoms, then he wasn't sure what was going on, finally went to the doctor & they found the brain bleed and he had surgery to stop it. No ITP - he had a brain bleed.

This is what is suggested for kids re: sports:

www.itpkids.org/content/itp_sports.html

Hi everyone, My name is Maria and i am mother to Shane (16)who was diagnosed with ITP in Jan 2010, his platelets were very low in the begining at 6 but with prednisone treatment they have risen above 50-60 generally, the only time it seems to go below this is when he is sick, with either a cold or a bug of some kind, which doesn't happen very often. He is very active and loves all sports and is very good at all of them, he has been scouted by a fairly major rugby team here in Ireland but i really don't think he should go and play for them but he is adamant that he wants to. I will be getting in touch with his haemo doc on Monday but i know what she will say, i feel stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment, this is his dream and i havent seen him so happy since he was diagnosed,

Hi Maria

As with any ITP question, I suspect you will get a few different and possibly conflicting answers, so, here for the mix, is mine.

My son's consultant says any sport is ok for my 12 year old at any count............other than rugby, trampolining, heading the ball in football and boxing. Sorry. For these sports, he needs a consistent 70K or above. I suspect it would be even higher if he were playing very competitively. This seems like quite lenient advice from what I read here.

This is one of those situations where I would seriously consider whether it would be worth treating ITP though, so maybe it would be worth talking to your son's doctor about other treatment options. I know how hard it is when your kid really really wants to play sport as my son is also very sporty on a count of 10-20K. I let him do pretty much everything apart from the activities I listed above, and he still manages to complain! His safety comes first though.

I hope you find a good solution; maybe you will find that Shane's haematologist is even more lenient.......in which case, please don't tell my son about it!!!! :laugh:

Ali

Thank you Ali, as i thought the doc said a very emphatic no to rugby, she did say that if he wanted he could have a spleenectomy, but with only a 60% chance of it working we vetoed that idea for now. He was very upset, but thankfully he seems to have come to terms with it now, as she told him to stick with the Gaelic football and soccer, providing his bloods stay above 50.