Hi MDGal,
When our son was on pred., by the 4th day he started bleeding like a stuck pig. Prior to that, he never bled at zero platelets. We pulled that stuff faster then you can blink and within 24hrs he stopped bleeding. We had this discussion regarding benadryl on another thread quite awhile ago as well. Why any MD with half a brain would suggest to someone with a blood disease a drug that causes a blood issue is just beyond me. Use it for other stuff if they want, but to fix the same issue? ITP is autoimmune, but someone has to have a propensity to blood issues for the body to hit it there. There is absolutely no common sense in that at all. Because blood diseases do run in my husband's family and our son clearly has that propensity, we NEVER give him anything that has low platelets or any sort of blood disease as a side effect. Not even natural stuff (which is all we do now after this experience).
If you look up the thread on benadryl you'll find a link for a list of drugs that causes low platelets. It is by no means complete, but covers the stuff you're most likely to use (motrin, etc.). You might want to become familiar with it so you can avoid it if it bothers you that that's a side effect.
Some people don't care if it's a side effect. Some do.....in our house, we fall into the "we care" category so avoid them.
patti
