After my last blog post, I decided to share the two rare diagnoses I have and how I have been dealing with them...the first is idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura - ITP.
It was the fall of my sophomore year in college. I was unable to get the meningitis vaccine as a freshman because there was a drought in NC. So the sophomores were told they had to get the vaccine by a certain time to stay in school. I don't hate needles, it wasn't a big deal, went to SHS (Student Health Services) and was done in a flash.
About a week later, I was sitting in my room getting ready for my next class, and my nose started bleeding. I had had nose bleeds before so it didn't shock me. Until I couldn't stop the bleeding. Two hours and an ice pack on my nose later it stopped. So I thought all was fine.
I started noticing the bruising shortly there after. The one I noticed the most was a huge black bruise on the inside of my leg, but I am clumsy so again I didn't think anything was wrong.
Until I went home for the weekend for a friends wedding. Getting dressed in front of my mom (a nurse), her jaw dropped. I was covered in bruises. When she asked where I got them, I was honest when I answered "I don't know". She took me to her office to draw some blood and sent me back to school on Sunday.
Tuesday I get a phone call from her and she told me that my platelets were 13,000. Normal is 140,000-400,000. Still not panicking because really, what does that mean to a 19 year old? I went about my daily life and had an appointment with a hematologist in Roanoke Rapids that Friday.
On the way home, a tire tread fell off the 18-wheeler in front of us. My grandfather had to swerve to miss it....I joked and said "I am going to write on my arm, low platelets, take me first, if we crash".
At the doctors office I found out that my platelets were now 2,000. Which is the lowest the machine will read, I probably had less. The doctor said that I would be admitted to the hospital that day, and I started to cry. He said "Don't be scared we are going to take good care of you". I said, "I am not scared, I am not going!! I have an organic chemistry test on Monday". He said "Fine, I can't make you go. But if you go back to Chapel Hill today, you will not live until Monday. Your brain will most likely bleed and you will die". I also told him about the tire tread, he said "You wouldn't have made it". Talk about a harsh reality!!
At the hospital, I was given all sorts of tests, including a bone marrow aspiration to test for leukemia. Of course I showed off, saying I wouldn't sign the consent. But I did and the test was negative for leukemia. After all the tests were negative, I was diagnosed with ITP, an autoimmune disorder where my body attacks my platelets. I was given MASSIVE amounts of steroids and couldn't take a shower because I was a fall risk!! I was allowed to leave the hospital at 10,000 platelets, and released to go back to school at 100,000.
Extremely long story short, ITP is probably something I have always had. The meningitis vaccine just set it off. I was on a high dose of steroids for 6 months and gained 75 lbs. I was very depressed because of the weight and the mood swings the steroids gave me. But once I got off those I returned back to normal and my platelets stayed at a normal level. I am followed by a hematologist once a year. I am no longer allowed to have any vaccines because of the fear that the viruses (whether live or dead) will effect my body negatively.
It definitely was a trying thing to go through at 19 but I am glad to say I have had no more drops in platelets since that time!! :)
