ITP associated with seasons or months of the year?

My daughter was diagnosed with ITP 4 years ago. Since then we have noticed that during the summer months she hovers around the normal range but around the end of September she starts to drop and by October she needs to have a IVIG infusion or increased prednisone for a couple days and then starts to slowly drop again. This seems to happen every 3-4 weeks (IVIG infusion once month) until the month of May, then her platelet count slowly increases and stays around 100,000 to 140,000 until the end of September. Then platelets start to drop again and we go through the IVIG once a month until May-ish. Has anyone else noticed this pattern or can anyone guess what it could be that is causing the platelets to drop between October and May? We live in northern Wisconsin. I've had her Vit. D level tested and it is normal but she does take 2000 IU's of Vit. D.

Hi,

Your post brings several thoughts to mind.

1) Vit. D levels affect the immune system. Although my son tested "normal" at 48, we find he does better at 76. We supplement 5000mg of D3 daily to get that. It's possible your daughter needs higher D levels for her immune system to function properly. We're all a little different at what optimal levels are for us. It's not really something you can "test" for. You basically just have to experiment.

2) I would wonder if there is some industry around you that kicks into high manufacturing gear at the time of year she drops? I know of several people who've had AI diseases that only kicked in as a result of manufacturers dumping chemicals into the air even though they were technically within EPA limits. Some people are more sensitive then others. This would be any plant within a 10 mile radius or so because of winds blowing, etc. Just a thought.

3) School starts this time of year. Does the stress of a new year set her body's immune system off?

4) Does she have environmental allergies that kick in at that time of year? Again, they would trigger an immune response.

These are just a few thoughts that popped into my head. Considering how cyclical her ITP is, it would be so easy to fix with homeopathy. You might consider it and read some about it on this forum. We are having very good success with it.

Best wishes,

patti

I've kept careful records since my diagnosis in fall of 2000, and I see no link between platelet levels and seasons or weather in my own case. In fact, I see no link between my platelet levels and anything except my prednisone dosage!

I haven't seen any links between platelet levels and seasonal changes with myself, but everyone is different and different things may set it off, like Patti said it could be stress due to school starting back. I know stress seems to make my platelets drop more.

Like Angel85, my platelet levels don't seem to be affected by season. Lowest they ever went was when I was five and had a bad case of influenza. I don't remember the numbers, and in any case it wasn't that low. One good thing came out of that though: I learned origami!

Is there a chance that something in her school is causing an allergic re-action? We had a gentleman who used to visit the site frequently in the old day's whose counts went up when he started taking allergy shots. My sister's boy was sick all the time in their old school but hasn't had hardly any issues since they moved and the kids attend a new school. You might get a count just before a long break like Christmas and then just before they go back.

We've seen some seasonal fluctuations in Julianne's counts. She's 16, and was diagnosed just before her 13th birthday. I've wondered if it is increased virus exposure (she drops with colds), decreased sunlight, seasonal allergies, or increased indoor time (dust, mold, etc.). She's an anxious overachiever, so it could also be stress during sports and school times. All I know to do to counter it is to try to keep her well-fed (she's the usual teenage nutritional train wreck) and beg her to take supplemental vitamins and minerals (she balks). I wonder if there's a study on a seasonal connection. Sandi? Know about any?
Norma

PS - Cotton defoliant is used in great quantities in SC during the fall. I've wondered about that one, too.

No, I don't know of any studies about that. I've seen it come up now and then, but not often enough to be a pattern worth thinking about. A few people over the years have said their kids counts go down in the summer and blame chlorine in swimming pools, so there isn't anything consistent going on.

My first few years, my counts went down every March, but that eventually changed so I just looked at it as coincidence.

I've only had ITP for 7 months but I have looked at every possible angle from season changes and allergies to sleep patterns to monthly cycles and on and on. I find absolutely no rhyme or reason at all!

Thanks for your ideas. We have had her Vit. D level tested but I'll look into that a bit more. I think I will try homeopothy. I think her having a pattern might help find out her cause of ITP. She is now in college, and I did consider that it might have been something in the air at her high school, but now she's in a different environment so that theory didn't pan out. Maybe mold? What othere allergies kick in at this time of the year? I think the next step would be to get her tested for allergies - which she has had but I think she was tested for food allergies. Any more thoughts or ideas please send!

Wow!! Mine do that too!! Summer hovers around 40,000. Then drop in the fall/winter. Woke up this week to a cold front that came thru, and saw my right leg covered in petichia, and bruises!!WoW!! Maybe its some kind of trigger to the immune system in some of us??