ITP and my struggle

What it ITP   ?

ITP – Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura  is a bleeding disorder where platelets count go low to a level of 10000 platelets per microliter of blood which cause bleeding and bruising. It is also called Immune thrombocytopenic  purpura which affects both children and adults.

Causes of ITP

The exact cause of ITP is unknown hence the name ‘IDIOPATHIC’ comes which , means “of unknown cause”.  In most individuals the malfunctions have involved an attack on the platelets in the blood and destroying them. The spleen, which helps your body fight infection, recognizes the antibodies and removes the platelets from your system.

This disorder is easy to explain, suffering is not to the patient of ITP.

Symptoms of ITP

1-   Bruising and pinpoint – size reddish purple spots.

2-   Bleed from gums or nose

3-   Unususally heavy or prolonged periods

4-   Blood in Urine or stool.

ITP and my struggle with it

Diagnosis

I was a healthy and active child before I was diagnose with ITP, at that point I was  13 year old. My periods started for the very first time, however they never stopped. I bled for about a month. My mom took me to the doctor, he did some blood test. We got the results on the same day and my platelet count was 13000.

Doctor did some other test as well to make sure which treatment to start. Bone marrow test, to establish whether or not the cells that make the platelets, are still present in the marrow. Luckily the results of bone marrow were normal.

First treatment and its side effects.

 At this point of time , doctor started few medicine – prednisone to increase the platelet count, Primolut N so that my periods would be in control.  So after taking all these medicines for a week , platelet count improved.

However, in a couples of months I could see the side effects of these medicines like weight gain, dizziness, lack of concentration etc.

I took medicine for about a year and my body, platelet count and periods all were more or passably controlled.

I couldn’t do anything about this, just taking medicine and expecting that my periods would have less flow this time, coz I used to experience super heavy flow that too with large clots.

The day I stopped my medicine, I got all the problems back, so there was no treatment left except surgery.

An year later, splenectomy was performed in the year 2002 as doctors recommended that my spleen was destroying my platelets. Even that didn't give me positive results. So they started some Iron  , vitamin B and folic acid which I was taking but personally I did not want any medicines or artificial vitamins and minerals.

No doctor had told me about the side effects of steroids which suppressed my immune system.

My periods were still the same with heavy flow and recurring after every 2 to 3 weeks because of which my HB became low.

My hematologist  referred me to gynecologist saying my periods problem needs to be check by them. They have done sonography and apparently diagnosed with cyst in the ovary. I started treatment of the same, but again after stopping all the medicines given by gynecologist, my problem resurfaced.

How it changed my life

I wanted to end all the medicines, those medicines were not the treatment  , they were making my body dependent on medicines. After all how long was I supposed to take those, believe me none of the doctors had the answer to this question.

I have taken all kind of medicines allopathy, Ayurvedic and homeopathic but none of the medicines has given me positive results. At this point I was in a position where I did not believe in any of the medicines.

A stage comes where I used to get stomach pain after every 3 weeks, which weakened my digestive system. Period was horrible with heavy bleeding and clots and there was no cure of the same. When I was tired, which is most of the time, I got irritated more easily than when I am feeling well-rested.

I thought a lot about my health and how to cure this. There must be something in this world by which I can cure this without any side effects and live a normal healthy life like others.

Now after 15 years I have finally found a solution of this , and feeling very positive about the results. I am going to share the cure of ITP with nutrition in my next article.

I just want to help people suffering from ITP and struggling on daily basis.