ITP currently in remission, pregnancy safe?

Hello all,
I'm new here and I have a burning question to ask. I was diagnosed with ITP in Sept. 2010 with a platelet count of 7. I was given 100mg of prednisone and then tapered off until I got to 5mg. Then my levels dropped so I went back up to a higher dose and tapered off again. I was able to get down to taking no predisone and that lasted a few weeks until I dropped again and went on prednisone for the last time. I have been in remission since my last predisone treatment in Feb 2011. Yay for making it a full 2 years this month!!!!

Anyways, my husband and I really want to have children and I'm freaking out about it. I meet with a high risk OB next week to talk about it but I was just wondering if anyone had any experiences like me? What are my chances of staying in remission for the duration of the pregnancy? How often will my doc want me to get my blood checked? Any other helpful hints?

Anything could knock you out of remission, even a cold, so a pregnancy could also do that. However, if you really want a baby, I certainly wouldn't let ITP stop me. Now is a perfect time.

How often they do a CBC will depend on how your counts are doing.

Hi

I've been doing a little reading around this - I'm not in remission and my counts are all over the place. Steroids are doing nothing & Ivig is working but not lasting anyway - my point is that as soon as I hit remission, my hubby & I plan to try for a baby ASAP before ITP can rear its ugly head again. Like sandi says - anything could trigger your ITP again, but there are ways of managing ITP in pregnancy and (as I understand it) pregnancy is no more high risk with ITP, its the birth that needs thinking about BUT counts of over 40 are safe for a normal delivery, over 100 for an epidural. Steroids and Ivig can both be used in pregnancy so you know the steroid treatment would work and make you safe.

I'd love to be in your shoes right now hun and I'd grab the opportunity given by remission with both hands! Oh & enjoy

Let us know what you decide to do

Hi there,

I'm 33 and was only diagnosed 6 months ago. I'm still on my first taper. I told my doc that I wanted to try for a baby ASAP and he suggested waiting until my ITP was under control but he also said that I need to do what I need to do. He said it was OK to get pregnant but not ideal.

I plan to start actively trying as soon as this tapering has finished if everything goes well. Good luck!

I'm in the same boat, just got off prednisone after dealing with a wild case of the stomatch virus. Anyway, being freshly off prednisone, my counts are low - 27. After 3 years of dealing with this my counts usually stabilize between 45-60. The pregnancy discussion came up and my new Hem said the outcome will be better if I did a splenectomy first or he will put me on Prednisone if I drop below 50 while pregnant . My last Hem wasn't this aggressive with treatment but I am also confused if we should start trying now for a baby or not.

Thanks! I met with my OB and he has worked with a few pregnant women with ITP. He was very confident in his ability to work with me. We are going to start trying this summer if my levels are still okay

I had one Hem. prep me for getting my spleen removed (got the flu and pneumonia vaccination just in case) and it kind of freaked me out. I ended up meeting with another hem. and she was very anti splenectomy. She said there are so many better, less invasive options and that she RARELY recommended a splenectomy. I ended up really liking her so she is my new hem. and I have had great platelet levels since trying her new taper method from prednisone. She also recommended eating lots of foods high in antioxidants or taking an antioxidant supplement daily. I have had great luck with that!