Started Pred this morning

I called my hema and asked if I could come in a get a platelet count yesterday because I had a feeling my counts might be low.

Anyway, they are 20k. I've been around 45k-75k for the past year so avoided treatment like the plague. The Hema said she would consider a transfusion at 15k (that doesn't go along with what I read here though, so I didn't let myself freak out).

My psychiatric doctor works with my hema and were worried about prednisone because I am bipolar.

So I will be taking 20mg a day for 5 days. She said this is a lower dose than they would normally start with. In addition, she gave me a prescription for .5mg of Lorazepam for any anxiety attacks I guess.

I guess it just sucks because it's the holidays and I don't want to be a total psycho.

Anyway, just wanted to say something. I'm guessing with such a low dose this won't be bad but I guess I'll see.

Lorna I don't remember if you have taken prednisone before. I hope this dose will bring your count up for you! I had to go on a tapering dose of prednisone due to a virus that messed up my ear - started with 60mg and was tapered down over, oh heck I can't remember how long. Anyway that didn't bother me so hopefully the 20mg for 5 days won't bother you.

Hang in there!

Thanks Melinda. No I haven't had any treatment for ITP yet. Mostly because I hear all these horror stories and thus I don't want to treat unless I really have to.

Although, knowing my counts- last night I nearly had a panic attack when I was a passenger in the car and the car to my right decided to get into my lane without looking. We swerved out of the way and everything was fine- but all I could think about was what would happen if I got hurt?

Lorna,

My usual count is somewhere in the 26-60 range, and since I don't have any bleeding issues, I coast without treatment. When it plunged to 4 following a viral illness, my hema insisted I treat. He knew I'd refuse high-dose pred, so he prescribed just 20 mgs. It raised my count to over 120 within days. I took that much for maybe a month, then slowly (agonizingly so) tapered to nothing over the next 8 months. Point is, I never needed more than 20 mgs, and I can honestly say I didn't feel it produced even one detrimental side effect. Oh, I fully expected it to... thought it'd be my total destruction. [Just ask the kind folks here who talked me down before I swallowed that first pill... LOL.]

Everybody's different, of course; but I hope you'll have the same good experience with pred that I did. Have a great Christmas and New Year!

Thanks Lorna, I remember now. Have you looked at the treatment section? Do you feel you would rather try something else besides prednisone [I was an absolute *itch while on it for ITP - it did put me in a "remission" though].

Lorna:

I take 20 mg's every day and don't have any noticeable side effects. You might not either. Stay calm and try to forget you're taking it. I hope you respond well, some people do at a low dose like that. The problem is that 5 days may not be long enough to hold the count. Good luck!

Lorna,
Try not to worry too much. At least you went this last year without having any treatment. I ended up taking Decadron pulses and worried about having panic attacks from it. It turned out that I did fine on the pulses--just very tired when I came off of them. All through the years, I use to get a lot of panic attacks-so that is why I thought the Decadron would make them worse. I also think that as I get older the meds affect me different than when I was younger.

Good luck and try not to worry. Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a great holiday!

Dee Dee

Thanks everyone. Day 2 and no really serious side effects. I didn't feel good when I took my other medicine later but nothing I can't handle.

I would like to try other treatments, but those will have to wait until next summer when my husband starts his new job- they have fantastic health insurance.

My counts were 24k in October, but my counts go up and down. I guess I don't really know when I have to treat. I mean by next week, my counts could have been up to 40-60 anyway.

Ugh I don't know- it would be nice to go in remission and not see so many bruises though.

Just wanted to share a quick update. After five days at 20mg, my counts raised from 20k to 80k. They have me taking 10mg for 7 days and then probably five. I don't really agree with this because my counts go up and down on there own and it's possible my counts could have raised on their own (right?)

No side effects. Not a fan of taking a medicine that isn't going to cure me just so I can have a higher PC. But at such a low dose, it can't really hurt right? When people taper, do their counts tend to go down as the dose does?