Fatigue

Hi all,

I know this topic has been discussed on here before, however, when I searched for it, all I found was some postings to the effect of "my hematologist does/doesn't think that ITP caused fatigue".

My question for this forum is what do you do to combat the dragging fatigue that your ITP is causing you? Exercise, multi-vitamins, naturopathy, sleep, diet...? When you reply, please share specifics, if possible. For example, you sleep 8 hours a day, you exercise twice a week, you take multi-vitamins for so many months etc.... until you feel its effect. I have tried a little bit of everything, however, I feel like I am taking a shotgun approach and fumble in the dark.

By the way, I am a female with ITP (57 years old, diagnosed 3 years ago, platelet count steady around 100 for the last 2 1/2 years)

Thanks in advance,
Kathy

I don't think that a count of 100 would be the cause of serious fatigue. You should consider working with your doctor to investigate this further. Maybe you are having thyroid problems, that would be a possible cause of fatigue. I've not heard of anyone with counts of 100 having any ITP symptoms at all.
Erica

Kathy:

I second Erica. Many times, there are other causes of fatigue. Many of us find that we have low vitamin or mineral levels. Others find out that they have thyroid problems or some other autoimmune problems. I'd talk to your doctor and see if you can have additional testing to investigate further.

100k is considered to be a nearly normal count.

I agree. I think if you have one auto immune problem you possibly have another, ( not saying it's true in all cases) but with auto immune diseases may come tiredness but personally when I had very low counts I never even had tiredness. I was perfectly well(apart from the low count) but I did not feel ill and the only time I felt anxious was tapering up that terrible prednisone. I actually felt crazy. That lasted a day or two. But that was medicine.
If you feel fatigued it will be due to something else possibly esp at counts of a hundred. There may be fatigue at lower ranges but itp alone doesn't cos u fatigue. Keep an eye on it, your body tells you something when it's fatigued.

Kathy when was the last time a thyroid panel [blood work] was done on you. 100k should not be causing the fatigue you are describing. And to be honest with you even when my count was 11k and dropping I didn't have fatigue. I am however jealous you can get 8 hours of sleep a day!

If your thyroid hasn't been checked in a while I'd ask for it to be done.

I have crushing fatigue when my counts are low. My legs feel so heavy that it's hard to climb the stairs. But I don't have it with counts over 100 and I do think your fatigue needs more investigating, along with the pain you talk of in the other thread.

How to combat the fatigue depends on the type. If it causes sleepiness, which mine never has, then extra sleep when you need it would help. If however, it's like mine which doesn't make me feel sleepy, pacing myself is the answer. Doing things in small bites and not setting myself too difficult goals. So not deciding that today I will do cleaning, shopping, and ten other things after work. It took me a while to realise that I need to set myself achievable goals otherwise I feel I've failed every day and that's miserable. And not just with ITP either, just in ordinary life!

Hi Kathy,
I have had I.T.P. for 3.5 years. I was put on folic acid 1 mg daily. After 1.5 years, I could not walk and so exhausted. The hematologist did a Vitamin level blood test. My folic acid levels were 9 times normal levels. My B12 levels were depleted. Therefore, the hematologist had me to stop taking Folic Acid. Started on B12 injection approx. 2 years ago. I take B12 injections every 2 weeks. I no longer have the extreme exhaustion, however, I do get tired a lot as my platelets are always low. Before I started on the B12 injections, I had a difficult time walking. Now I can walk and get around well. Last check, Platelets were 18K. I'm not taking any medication for I.T.P.