So it's been ten years and my platelets are still staying up there,around 400,000 pretty consistantly. I'm very thankful for that. I do have some questions though. 1) I can't seem to get a consistant answer from my docs about how often I need to get the vaccinations associated with having no spleen. Heard everything from 1 booster 6 months post operation to every 5 years, any ideas? 2) I have a couple of other issues that started almost exactly when I was diagnosed with ITP. Gout has been a huge problem as has been ED. I really had problems with the huge doses of pred (up to 250/day) they had me on and was wondering if that could be the root of the problem(s). Anybody else have the same experience? Oh yeah, I was only 34 when diagnosed, too young for either problem.