Has anyone gone into remission without treatment?

I might be deluded but after nearly five years I realise that I still firmly believe this will happen for Dougie. I am not sure why either - his count is still somewhere in the teens as it always is, nothing has really changed. I thought puberty might change things,but it doesnt seem to have done so far anyway. Maybe its because we were given such an optimistic prognosis when he was first diagnosed? And his doctor occasionally mentions that he would expect about 10% of chronic patients to go into remission spontaneously each year.
Anyway, I was just wondering who ARE these people - any of you?

Alison - for what it's worth, I do not think you are deluded. I do believe that anyone can go into remission at any time. It boils down to antibodies, and those can come and go at any time.

Thanks Sandi - its good to know that I am not completely doolally

So how come antibodies can come and go? In my simplistic understanding of ITP (and other autoimmune illnesses) Dougie has 'confused' antibodies. As I understood it, rituximab was supposed to temporarily wipe out those antibodies in the hope that they got less confused in the process - although that doesnt always work for some reason, and definitely didn't do much for Dougie. How do they disappear without help? i've got a friend who is a GP who tells me that ITP eventually burns itself out, but I don't really understand how this would happen. Maybe there isnt an answer.

My teen went into spontaneous remission after approximately two and a half years of ITP. She had IVIG at times, but the remission started months after her last treatment. She started having higher, safer, but still lower than normal counts. We were glad for anything over 80, which gave her breaks from doc visits. Eventually, the counts went higher, and now they stay in the normal range. It can happen. Hang in there. I have heard of other autoimmune disorders remitting without treatment, also.
Norma

I won't pretend to understand the specifics, but having frequent antibody tests myself for Lupus, I have seen them go from elevated to normal and back again many times. It just seems plausible that antibody production can wax and wane over time and wouldn't always be the same.

The good thing about ITP is that those antibodies only damage platelets. While that isn't necessarily a good thing for those with low counts, at least body tissue is left intact and there is no permanent damage done once remission occurs.

Hi

My spouse have itp and he never had any treatment he was diagnosed in 2010 but I can see his cbc from 2009 with low platelet. last cbc done at GP office, routine physical in 2013 mar with 99k platelet count.

My que is after being diagnosed with itp and holding count above 90k for years do he still need to go to hematologist to check up on itp or just annual routine exam at family practice doc is enough(in yearly routine exam they don't check serum protein elec test, immunoglobulin test and some other test) any suggestions ?

thanks

ITPCanada - I would suggest that he keep up with the hematologist even if he only went say every 6 months. As for regular checks (CBC) have them set up so that they are done just before he sees the hemo.

When I was in remission I stopped going than when I came out of remission I did not have a doctor to go to and had to do the whole referral system all over again.

thanks winnifred for the reply. we relocated to US, central PA and will be looking for good itp hema nearby.

Mine went into remission once, without anything. Saying that the second time I was on steroids and I it helped it back up.