lab mistakes

so i'm just curious. i have had chronic, untreated itp for 20 years, almost always in single digits, one miraculous 32k.
so i came down with some type of bug, both ends as they say, nausea and so forth. after a few days i went to the er (4/1).
they couldnt really find anything. the cbc showed platelets 8k. as usual.
on the 12th i was still sick and i figured i would go again this time they might find something. and again blood test showed nothing but an amazing platelet count of 133k. the doctor wasnt fazed that 20 years of chronic low counts, and she had my history could be 133k. they had trouble drawing my blood and came back 3 times saying the lab rejected some tubes. anyhow, the realistic answer of course is to make an appointment with my hemo, but, in the meantime, i'm assuming it was a mistake, because i dont want to jinx myself and say the only two areas of blood i ever see are nose blowing and flossing, and it had been none for a while before that count.
the question is, anyone experience a huge mistake like that?
the evidence for it not being a mistake is first, if they got another persons tube mixed up, that would be a coincidence that 133k is below the normal value so that person would also hae low platelets, and two, 133k would be machine counted so the machine would have had to make a mistake and what are the chances of that.
anyhow, anyone ever seen that?

thanks
freckles

Far more likely that the virus you had caused it. Counts often go up with a virus. It may or may not come back down.

I don't think it was a mistake. I've had counts go up even as high as 395 with bronchitis. I thought I was in remission yay! Counts came back down- but good news my counts never came back down as low as they were and I was able to lower my dose of Nplate. I like your story of 20 years with no treatment. I've thought of doing that, maybe will try it someday when I'm not working and driving so much. I don't have symptoms that are bad, no bleeding gums or anything. So thanks for sharing your story! And it will be interesting what your counts do. good luck!

Hmmmm....interesting responses. It does seem being sick (flu, cold or similar) has an effect on the platelets with many people here. And interestingly it often increases the number of platelets.

It is not suprising to me that an ER doctor was not fazed by your ITP history. Has your sickness (flu or other) resolved? Have you seen your hematologist since?

I would say mistakes can happen with anything and I have had lab mistakes happen with my platelet counts. I asked for a recount because I could tell the labs were incorrect from how I was feeling at that time. However, since you have had ITP for 20 years and not treated, the situation could be very different. I'm not sure you would be able to tell (symptom-wise) if the lab made an error or not...

But back to your question, yes, it is possible.

freckles, your ITP story doesn't sound that different than mine. Beyond bruising, I'm without symptoms. The bruising became easy after age 45-50. Just thought it was part of getting older. ITP was discovered when I had an appendicitis.
Have you ever looked into low dose Danazol? The ultra low dose of 50mg elevates my counts by 34 - which would ensure you are out of danger as you get older. It is not expensive either.
Just a thought...

Oh BTW. When they took my appendix out, at hospital admission count was 12. A week later they were 134. A month later, counts returned to 12.

I'm also one of those whose platelets usually rise when my body undergoes some kind of shock--like getting sick, getting surgery.