TTP vs ITP?

How are the two differentiated?? What different lab results show up on each? I am diagnosed with ITP and was reading about TTP and got worried. How does my dr know it's not TTP? I do experience fatigue and brain fog at times. Worried I may have all these blood clots floating around and don't even know it??

There is a big difference between ITP and TTP. Usually with TTP, the red cells are also affected and might be low on a CBC. The symptoms would be more severe than with ITP, such as low platelets, low red cells and the accompanying symptoms of both, neurological symptoms and possibly kidney/renal involvement, fever, seizures, coma, stroke, etc. People who have it usually don't just walk around with it, they are usually admitted to the hospital with severe symptoms. Treatment for TTP is also different than ITP and usually won't respond to ITP treatments. TTP is treated with plasmapheresis (filtering of the blood) and other methods.

"Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura is a rare autoimmune blood disorder that is considered a true medical emergency. TTP is diagnosed at a rate of 3-4 in 1 million people per year. Potentially fatal complications can result from internal blood clotting with damage to critical organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys.

The cause of TTP continues to evade us. What is known is that blood becomes "sticky" and forms clots in blood vessels throughout the body. These clots are made up of platelets, one of the elements in blood. Vital blood flow to the body's organs is restricted, placing the organs at risk for damage due to a lack of oxygen and nutrients from the blood."

Known Triggers

There is still much to learn about the mechanism that causes TTP. But it has been generally accepted that the following may trigger an episode;

Pregnancy
Cancer
Infections and live vaccines
Underlying autoimmune conditions such as Lupus
Medical procedures, surgery and blood and marrow stem cell transplant and pancreatitis
Medicines such as quinine, chemotherapy, ticlopidine, clopidogrel, cyclosporine A, hormone replacement therapy and estrogens

www.answeringttp.org/ttp-overview

Here are some stories by people who have TTP.

www.answeringttp.org/patient-stories/heather-van-daele

www.answeringttp.org/patient-stories/amy-granados

www.answeringttp.org/patient-stories/kathy-downs

www.answeringttp.org/patient-stories/jennifer-hamilton

www.answeringttp.org/patient-stories/joshua-ragan

Thanks. Yeah, everything else on my CBC has always been within normal limits except the platelets. I had a blood smear done before I was diagnosed and that was normal too. So I'll stop freaking out. Lol. I do have some neurological symptoms from time to time--muscle twitching, sometimes I'll lose my footing and stumble, shakiness. But a million things can cause those and it's likely not TTP!! I have health anxiety, though, so I automatically jump to the worst case scenario!!

TTP is one scary disorder. That one scares me too!

As you can see though, most of these people had some pretty bad things going on, such as jaundice, being unable to speak or think, passing out; and things progressed quickly. I think you can stop worrying for the time being.

I have TTP and it is very scary because you don't know how its going to effect the body it is always different when your platelet are very low i have been dealing with it since 2007 but the last time i was in the hospital was 2011 so her it is 2016 and I'm dealing with it again thought i was having a stroke but it wasn't it was my platelets it makes you fell very sick and fatigue