What did the doctor say how you got your ITP?

What did your doctors say how you got your ITP. Mine ((I believe that everyone gets it for one reason or another. Say for me, it was the prefect storm (the first doctor said), stress, medication, more stress and I some how got mono in 12/11 (which of course made my system come to a crash). I always am interested in what other peoples doctors have said about them.))

I was diagnosed right after my 31 birthday. Went through a bankruptcy in 2011 then foreclosure in the beginning of 2012. Lots of stress and then boom it hit in April 2012 and of course with having to move came lots of bruise.

I was diagnosed right after having a hysterectomy, so thought that was brought it on. Not so said both of my doctors. They couldn't give me a reason, so I never let it bother me. It bugged my mom more than me that they couldn't tell me where it came from.

I was also under a lot of stress just before getting ITP. I can't really blame the stress though. Sometimes I'd like to, I'll start thinking if only my life was in a better place then maybe... type of thoughts. I don't know why I go there because it doesn't help. Me, my grandmother, my mother and my sister all developed autoimmune disorders around the age of 30 so although I occasionally ruminate on the why and if only thoughts I don't get as stuck there as much as I think I would if I didn't have such a family history.

What is kind of annoying though is that my grandmother never discussed her thyroid condition, I think because she's from a generation where health problems were kept more secret, my mother was told when she was diagnosed with sarcoidosis that she had caught it from breathing in some toxin in her environment and she didn't realize it was an autoimmune disorder so although there's a blatant family history I had no idea until I got mine.

I don't think many doctors give reasons. They usually just say "I don't know". Giving a reason would probably only be a guess anyway.

I think for most people, it's an accumulation of factors with ITP as the end result.

Yeah my doctor didn't say it was due too but we did talk about what could be the cause.

I was diagnosed in August, and I was pretty sure that it was because of stress. I'd been experiencing the worse stress of my life for a little over two months at that point and I was doing a terrible job coping with it. I was really surprised when I told the doctor I saw in the hospital this, and he pretty much said that no, it wasn't caused by the immense stress I'd been going through. Although, he did admit that it could have been a catalyst to this...

I also don't think many doctors give reasons/guesses.
No reason was given to me. 11 years later, no reason has been discovered.
All of my family members, on both sides, back at least three generations, have had auto-immune disorders. I've come to the conclusion it is genetic predisposition and luck of the draw. My twin sister also has a platelet disorder, but not ITP. Go figure?


.

I am the only one in my family that has any real health issues.

The stress prior to my diagnosis was triggered by circumstances out of my control but looking back now I also think my budding health problems could have been a factor in why other difficulties in my life became such a struggle for me. Would I have been as stressed at that time if my health wasn't beginning to circle the drain... I don't know.

Prior to my diagnosis Drs kept telling me my symptoms were just stress. It made me feel like somehow everyone else in the world knew how to manage stress but me. Like my problem was due to a lack of effort.

To combat stress I did yoga, meditated, had gym memberships, read self help books, went to therapy, shopped, knit, painted...

I now view stress a lot differently. When I think about stress I think of a wooden plank resting between two tables and I picture bricks getting piled on the plank. How many bricks is it going to take until the "stress" from the weight causes the plank to break. Now when I deal with stress I think what is my burden, what is in my control to change. It's definitely more about making compromises than tacking on a yoga class.

I use to be stressed all the time and stress isn't going to help anything. I just try to go with the flow of things its life and your really can't control it.

Just like today, my counts yesterday 13k and today 2k. Can't control it and can't stress about it. I have to do what I have to do!! Just walked in the door from CBC and getting platelets. When I was told it was 2k again, I was like "hey there is always tomorrow and hoping for better numbers, it is just a number".

I was diagnosed with ITP five weeks after having my second child in 2003 with counts around 30K which then dropped down to 14K. I was on prednisolon for 7 months (horrible) without any success and then had my spleen removed with success. I have been in remission now for 10yr.

In my case I think the pregnancy triggered the ITP

When I was diagnosed my doctor said there was no cause hence the term idiopathic. That said I don't remember being under stress or being sick. That was a few years ago when my kids were little now they are adults.


I believe most things have a trigger but I also believe somethings just happen. Now that said I do have other medical issues none actually related but I do have asthma which is considered an auto-immune disease.


For me I just chalked it up to another illness/ disease to add to my list!

My doctors also said mine is idiopathic. I also have Grave's disease. No one else in my family has any autoimmune diseases, but my sister battled cancer two years ago at age 22. My mom is convinced that we were exposed to something in our environment growing up. We know that our house had high levels of radon in it, but did not really think about it. Is there some connection? I don't know if we will ever know.

I do think stress doesn't necessarily cause autoimmune disorders, but I don't think it helps it. I was diagnosed with Graves a month before graduating college and ITP two weeks after grad school. These were both pivotal times in my life, which caused a lot of stress. The joke for me is I'm not allowed to get any more degrees....I may develop a new autoimmune disorder.

I think stress can absolutely contribute to the onset of autoimmune disorders. If the predisposition is already there, stress can wreak havoc on the immune system and trigger whatever is lurking. I also believe that the predisposition is bound to happen at some point, stress or no.

I also had incredible stress prior to diagnosis. I had horrible job stress and the stress of 3 young, busy kids. I caught a bad cold that lasted weeks in the midst of months and months of stress and that did it. I was diagnosed shortly thereafter.

I have quite a few autoimmune disorders in my family. One sister had ITP, another sister has discoid Lupus, two cousins with MS, many cousins with eczema, son with eczema and daughter with Graves, asthma and eczema.

Winnifred wrote: When I was diagnosed my doctor said there was no cause hence the term idiopathic.

Your doctor will not admit what my ankle ortho told me:
...you know what idiopathic means don't you, we are idiots because we don't know why, there is a reason but we don't know it

Melinda, that's almost exactly what my doctor said when he was explaining it to us!

Cindy it was great to hear that come out of his mouth - he was being honest! Idiopathic doesn't mean there is no reason/cause - it means we are idiots because we don't know why!

Needless to say, I like this man!

.

you know what idiopathic means don't you, we are idiots because we don't know why, there is a reason but we don't know it

I can't agree with that statement more! Doctors know a vast amount of information but that doesn't mean they know everything!

After blood tests and a BMB came back with no issues as to why Platelets were low, I was diagnosed with ITP. They could not find a reason. I believe my counts are affected by a virus and stress combo. Stress alone may not always trigger my low counts, but if there is a virus present along with unnecessary stress, that can cause my counts to drop.

i was told that i had gotten very sick at some point and my body marked a platelet as a bad guy and now when my army (immune system) amps up to fight.. platelets become casualties of war

Stress, colds, germs, or anything else that casues immune response drops my counts