ITP and Leukemia

When my husband (who is 70) was recommended to a hemotologist, his platelets were 34. The doctor did a bone marrow and diagnosed him as Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. (CLL.) After our 3rd round of chemo, his blood sugar spiked to 650 from the steroids and sent us to the hospital for a week. While there, his hemoglobin went south and he had to have two units of blood. So now, instead of watching only his platelets, we are now diabetic and have low hemoglobin. Really? Doesn't this seem wrong... many live with low platelets, are we overtreating?

Having low platelets due to CLL can be much different than ITP. Most people with ITP do okay because they have new, large platelets that work well. I'm not sure that is the case with CLL, so treating at a higher count may be necessary. Also, due to his age, bleeding is more of a risk.

Prednisone shouldn't cause a low hemoglobin, but it could cause the blood sugar to rise. Hopefully, that is temporary and will normalize once the steroid dose is lowered.

This isn't related to your question, but I wanted you to know I have a cousin (age 73) who has had CLL for about 30 years (has treated with traditional CLL treatments, but lives a fairly normal life) and a brother (age 69) who is in remission from CLL since 2000 when he had an autologous bone marrow transplant. My brother is a practicing pediatrician. I hope your husband's treatments are as successful as theirs have been.

Thank you so much for your comments, they helped a lot. Yes, his glucose numbers are down to the normal range and he has been off steroids for 5 days.