Whoa Biggest Loser guy dies from ITP

perezhilton.com/2014-12-04-biggest-loser-season-7-alum-damien-gurganious-dead-die-age-38-rare-autoimmune-disorder-bleeding-brain

Well bless his heart.

Yikes! That's no good. My former hemo used to scare me with those kinds of stories. The article I read said "sudden onset of ITP". Makes me wonder if he had a history of ITP, something else going on, or if it just came out of the blue.

I think it can just seem sudden if a person has no need to have frequent CBCs. My own count was on a downward trend for 3 years (1 CBC per year) before becoming low enough to really notice.

This sad news sure makes one stop and think, doesn't it?

That is sad. He was only 38. I looked at his FB page.

(Keep in mind that we don't know the circumstances behind his death; whether or not he had any other health issues or complications. There could be more to the story.)

My ITP hit fast - it can and does.

Well, that's scary! I agree, there has to be more to the story. Hope so, anyway.
My daughter was diagnosed in April & has had counts of 1 many, many times so this is quite scary.

Like Sandy mentioned, there could be more to the story. It would be nice to know more about his situation. I had it come on gradually the first time; but, the second time it came on within hours.

Its scary to hear and hard not to jump to conclusions, but he could have had several undiagnosed underlying medical problems ( like an aneurysm, av malformation) that do not have a high survival rate in general. And sadly head trauma can be fatal for anyone too.

We can speculate all we want but we will never know. It is very possible this came on quickly and whatever he was experiencing wasn't "caught". It is a shame he died and so young but all we can do is take care of ourselves the best we can - if we let fear take over then we might as well get under the covers and never come out. (I'm looking at this rather tough aren't I - sorry but this is just how I feel because reality bites - admin can delete my post if they'd like)

Not going to delete anything, Melinda. It's ok to discuss this. Dying from ITP is a reality, although it is rare.

I'm going to see if I can find out what happened though. Speculation is not good since we sometimes assume the worst.

It is very sad that he died it is also very rare for this to happen

I am mad at the fact that the explanation "sudden onset of ITP" leaves anyone who does not know enough about ITP (most people - including many Doctors) that this autoimmune disorder can kill instantly - and I agree there is more to his story that we may never know.

Now if I try to explain "I have ITP" I can just imagine what thoughts might go thru the uneducated mind. I don't want pity because of ITP - but sometimes I have to explain multiple bruises all over my arms, legs etc....“No my husband is not beating me up :S "
I cant dress like a nun all the time

It could have been something like this:

Drug-induced thrombocytopenia (DITP), which also includes thrombocytopenia induced by beverages, foods, and herbal remedies, is an important clinical problem for hematologists. DITP typically appears suddenly, is often severe, and can cause major bleeding and death. In many patients, the drug etiology is not initially recognized. In hospitalized patients, unexpected thromb-ocytopenia may be attributed to complications such as sepsis. In previously asymptomatic patients, DITP is often misdiagnosed as immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) with resulting inappropriate treatment. Even when the diagnosis of DITP is considered, a drug etiology may not be apparent because patients may not think that self-regulated medications, beverages, foods, or herbal remedies are relevant to their bleeding symptoms and therefore they may not report them to their physician.

asheducationbook.hematologylibrary.org/content/2009/1/153.full

If I ever find out, I'll let you all know.

I'd like to know what happened, just to satisfy my curiosity and reduce any concerns that my friends or family may have about me. Since ITP can be exacerbated by lots of common substances, there are many possible scenarios to explain this death without invoking the specter of "sudden-onset" bleeding in the brain.

I agree that dying of ITP is rare. In addition, dying of a sudden brain bleed in your 30s is rare. This bit of data doesn't change my calculus of living with ITP. Still, I am curious and wouldn't mind knowing more about what exactly happened.

I actually contacted his wife yesterday. I wrote her a private FB message. I doubt she will contact me though for three reasons: 1) Her statement in the article said that she rarely posts on social media, and 2) since we are not friends, my message went into her 'other' box. Those are not easily seen when you are on FB. I never look in that box either. 3) She's just been through a devastating ordeal. Not many people would answer a stranger.

But if I do hear anything, I will let you all know.

HI, I am new to this website and this is my first post on any forum anywhere. The death of the biggest loser guy and the timing of it was quite alarming to me and for the first time I am finding myself afraid of a shortened life expectancy and the future. I was diagnosed with ITP 10 years ago when I had a routine physical (my platelets were 70K) once I got over the initial shock, I generally have lived a normal life with no fears about ITP--other than the annoyance of having it checked periodically and worrying about my "number". I was told my platelets are big and do the job and I have never, to date, had any symptoms of ITP. I have always hovered in the 50-70k range and my hematologist is of the belief that there is no need to treat unless under 30k. 6 years ago I did drop below 30k and he put me on a 4 day course of Dexamethasone and it did the trick, brought me up to even 100K and then i fell back to my normal range of 50-70. The monday before thanksgiving of this year, I was at 29 and we repeated the treatment. I hated the meds and how they made me feel--but my platelets went up to 160K in the next visit. 2 weeks later (this past Monday) they were down to 47. Later that evening I happened to come across the news of the Biggest Loser passing and I really got freaked out for the first time. I tried finding information online about ITP and life expectancy and couldn't find anything conclusive other then some upsetting anecdotal information--e.g. (20 years less, etc.) I was up all night. This Website was the first place where I felt that I was getting realistic advice. I am afriad that my platelets are suddenlty going to be uncontrollable, that I will start having symptoms, that my life is going to change. I feel like a newly diagnosed person even though ITP has been a fact of my life for so long. thank you for your words, reading them has helped me. and I look forward to learning more about everyone's experiences. I would like to know how old is the oldest person living with ITP. Does anyone out there know?? thank you.

From what I understand our life expectancy is the same as anyone else's we just have to be monitored to make sure we're not in those danger zones I have and I'm sure many others have walked around at 1-3,000 platelets and got treatment and have been just fine. I have had Itp for 12 years since I was 17 years old im now 29, I've rode roller coasters drank alcohol and even had a baby there's no reason we can't have the same life as a normal person just have to watch our numbers and trust our hematologists don't worry

Michres:

ITP does not cause a shortened life expectancy. Actually, more people die from infection due to treatments than they do from bleeding. As long as you are vigilant and monitor yourself for symptoms, you'll be fine.

As I said in the Biggest Loser post, there may have been circumstances of which we are not aware that could have made a huge difference.

Many of us have had counts under 5k and survived it. It is not considered to be a medical emergency unless bleeding is present and that is rare. At counts under 5k, many of us were still going to work and doing our normal things. You have a treatment that works so if counts drop, you start treating again and life goes on.

I got diagnosed just over 4 months ago and my numbers have been at 1-5 most of the time. Apart from short periods with normal numbers when on HD steroids (then I drop back down).
And on the pdsa Facebookgroup, there's this one girl who's been at 2-5 for 14 years! And she's travelled around the world and done rock climbing, skiing etc etc!

With my low numbers, I get petechiae and some bruises and sometimes there's a little bit of blood when I floss or in the paper when I blow my nose (I haven't had any nosebleeds though). But that's it and my hematologist said internal bleedings from itp were (luckily!) extremely rare and she'd never had a patient with uncontrollable bleeding. My main problem has been my periods, which are extremely heavy. Since getting the diagnosis, I've had to have blood transfusions twice and once I was admitted to the hospital for 3 days. (Now I have a hormone spiral and it seems to be working, my last period was not a problem.)

My impression is that what Sandi said is right, people who "die from itp" often have something else going on, that might cause complications that lead to death. (Personally I worry more about accidents and some of those medicines for itp can have really horrible side effects).

I also think it's more scary because it's so unpredictable and we get a lot of "visual symptoms" in form of bruises and petechiae. Plus most people know very little about this illness, so there's often a lot of focus on how dangerous and deadly it can be! I've found some articles or interviews on the net and the headline might be something like this: "Putney art student (25) gets bruises, discovers she has DEADLY illness!!!!"
Small wonder we get stressed sometimes!

thank you all for your responses and for helping me put ITP back in perspective. So grateful to find a place to share and learn.

Helgafj:

You are so right. Most of the news articles that I've seen about someone who has ITP have been very embellished. Many of them have incorrect information that can be very misleading. I've seen: "Baseball player contracts serious blood disorder and will never play sports again!" Now we all know that if that baseball player treats, his counts just might go up and stay high enough to play again, or he could go into remission. I have also seen articles where people are told by their doctor when counts were in single digits that they are going to die and they'd better get their affairs in order. Seriously?

Yes, people do die from ITP and it is tragic, but there could be more going on than we know. People die from chicken pox too but most do not.

Sandi:

There are actually doctors who tell their patients they're gonna die with single digits? :ohmy: I really like my doctor, who has this "stay calm and don't worry, you'll do just fine!" attitude, but now I like her even more! And I hope those people find their way here, so they can see for themselves how wrong that is!