ITP & Anti Depressiants

My son was diagnosed with ITP 5 years ago, he is now 23 years old.In addition to the ITP he suffers from Major Depression and Anxiety. Because all the anti-depressants lower Platelets his Psychiatrist does not want to prescribe anti depressants because she doesent want to deal with the liability of it if his platelets plummet . She has no problem Prescribing Clonazepam which has not been helping although they have had him on it for years now. He needs help and I feel if we cant elevate his mood level I might lose him. Has anyone had any success with anti depressants, I need some help with this.

My doc has the same concerns re: Platelets, and I have the same concerns re: If something doesn't help I don't know how much longer I can hang on. We are now trying Lithium, but my lithium levels will have to be closely monitored because I take gabapentin and hydrachlorathiazide, both of which don't play well with Lithium. I've only been on it a few days so I can't speak to effectiveness, plus different things work for different folks, but it seemed worth a try to me. Please share what works, I don't know where I'll turn of the Lithium doesn't do the trick.

I have major anxiety and depression. I had to experiment with meds because lexapro made my levels crash. Cymbalta has helped me without having any platelet issues.

Cymbalta is an SSRI and they're so not recommended for ITPers, I'm so happy for you that it hasn't given you problems but that entire class of meds is one my doc is totally unwilling to prescribe for me at all because I seem to really gravitate to the side effects on them. I wonder what might be different about Cymbalta?

I tried Cymbalta for neuropathy. It made me feel comatose.

I know this topic is a little old, but I take antidepressants and have mild ITP. I am diagnosed with depression and anxiety, and I am closely monitored due to drug interactions and multiple other issues. I'm a bit complicated, even with a bunch of milder "rare" conditions.

I currently take Zoloft and Effexor XR, at pretty low doses. I still have issues with depression and anxiety, but I work with my therapist weekly and use distraction techniques to keep my dosages from having to be increased or dealing with changing meds. I do extra work because my medication options are limited.

I only say this because it took me a long time to figure it out. At 23, I was not very patient for that process. I was a few years later. Hang in there and try to keep him motivated to keep trying.
I should also add that I am still dealing with platelet drops. Being classified "mild", I am a "watch and see" patient because my counts usually bouncing between 100-122. My highest is 146, but that was years ago. I'm sitting at 109 right now. The culprit could be one of my migraine abortives though.

I had ITP as a child for 2 years before it went into remission and the doctors said it was unlikely to reoccur. Then I had a blood test a couple of weeks ago and my platelets are at like 30-35 Doctors said citalopram might have caused it to come back or made it worse so I've had to stop taking it.