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Thrombocytopenia is the medical term for low blood platelets. Platelets are a type of cell in your bloodstream that help grade blood clots. When you get a cut or injury to a claret vessel, claret clots form to plug the pigsty and stop the bleeding. If you take low platelets, y'all may non be able to course clots properly. That can put y'all at adventure for severe bleeding.
Normal platelet counts for adults are between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per microliter (uL) of blood. Thrombocytopenia is a platelet count below 150,000. This condition tin can exist more or less severe. The fewer platelets y'all have, the more serious your symptoms may be. Most people have a steady platelet count over time, so large changes in your platelet count tin can too be cause for concern.
If you've been diagnosed with thrombocytopenia or you have a depression platelet count on your blood tests, work with your doctor to make a treatment plan. The good news is that there are effective treatments that tin assist manage symptoms and prevent complications.
Platelets are an important role of the blood clotting procedure in your torso. When platelet counts are likewise depression, you accept an increased risk of bleeding. Symptoms of thrombocytopenia include:
- Bleeding from your gums after brushing your teeth
- Nosebleeds that are hard to finish
- Easy bleeding or bruising
- Blood in your stool (poop)
- Small-scale red spots on your skin (called petechiae)
If yous accept bleeding that won't stop, get emergency medical help right abroad.
The risk for severe haemorrhage depends on how low your platelet count is. If you lot take balmy thrombocytopenia, your risk for life-threatening bleeding is not high. All the same, if you take a moderately low platelet count (less than 75,000/uL), y'all may be at gamble of serious haemorrhage from traumatic injuries such as car accidents. At this level, it may too be dangerous to have surgery.
If your platelet count is severely low (less than 30,000/uL), yous may exist at risk for severe spontaneous haemorrhage (bleeding that happens for no apparent reason). Trauma, surgery or other blood disorders can also raise your adventure for severe bleeding. Work with your doctor to understand what your platelet count ways for yous.
What Causes Thrombocytopenia?
The lifespan of platelets is seven to ten days, so your body is constantly making, using and destroying platelets. Thrombocytopenia can happen due to three different problems in this process — if your trunk doesn't make enough new platelets, destroys more than platelets than normal, or traps besides many platelets in your spleen instead of releasing them into your blood.
Decreased Platelet Production
1 type of thrombocytopenia happens when your body doesn't brand plenty new platelets. Your torso makes platelets in your os marrow. So mutual causes of decreased platelet production include bone marrow cancer and bug with your bone marrow from chemotherapy. Other causes include:
- Infections, such as hepatitis C, HIV, mumps and rubella
- Chronic heavy drinking
- Vitamin B12 deficiency
- Folate deficiency
Increased Platelet Destruction
Some other blazon of thrombocytopenia happens when your trunk destroys also many platelets. This type is sometimes caused past bug with the allowed system, like autoimmune disorders or immune reactions to blood transfusions. I specific type is chosen immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). This happens when your immune system attacks your platelets.
Other causes include:
- Infections
- Side effects of sure medicines, like certain blood thinners and antibiotics
- Side furnishings of a mechanical heart valve
- Sepsis (a severe complexity from an infection)
- Preeclampsia (a pregnancy complication)
Increased Platelet Sequestration
The third type of thrombocytopenia happens when your body sequesters (traps) likewise many platelets within the spleen. It's normal for your torso to capture and hold some platelets in the spleen. Just if there's increased platelet sequestration, that means besides many platelets are trapped in the spleen instead of floating around in the bloodstream.
Causes of this blazon include:
- Chronic heavy drinking
- Liver illness
- Enlarged spleen
- Pregnancy
It tin can besides exist caused by excessive bleeding, blood clots or high blood force per unit area in the lung or too much intravenous fluid.
Am I at Take a chance for Thrombocytopenia?
You lot may exist at higher take a chance for thrombocytopenia if you:
- Have a family history of thrombocytopenia
- Have had cancer, liver disease or an autoimmune disease
- Take certain medicines, like heparin or sure antibiotics
- Are meaning, especially if you have preeclampsia during pregnancy
- Beverage heavily over a long period of fourth dimension
Other adventure factors include contempo centre valve replacement, recent blood transfusion and certain infections. If you have a low platelet count or unexplained bleeding, your doctor volition ask to most these take chances factors to help diagnose thrombocytopenia.
How Do Doctors Diagnose Thrombocytopenia?
To find out if y'all take thrombocytopenia, your doctor volition do a blood test chosen a complete blood count. This test checks the levels of all the dissimilar types of cells in your blood, including platelets. If your platelet count is beneath 150,000/uL, you lot have thrombocytopenia. Merely your md may do additional tests or ask yous some questions to discover out what type of thrombocytopenia y'all have and what's causing it.
If you get an annual physical, your medico may diagnose thrombocytopenia based on routine blood work. In this case, your doctor will do a complete medical history and physical exam to bank check for underlying wellness weather that can lead to thrombocytopenia. You may also have blood tests every bit office of your medical care when y'all're sick or injured — and doctors may notice out y'all have thrombocytopenia that manner.
What Are the Treatments for Thrombocytopenia?
Your treatment will depend on the crusade of your thrombocytopenia. For example:
- If your body isn't making plenty new platelets, y'all may demand blood or platelet transfusions.
- If your thrombocytopenia is a side effect of a medicine or transfusion, you may need to stop taking that medicine or transfusion.
- If you take an autoimmune disorder or an infection, your md may prescribe medicine to treat that status.
- If you take cancer, you may need chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
- If your trunk is trapping besides many platelets in the spleen, y'all may need surgery to remove your spleen.
- If heavy drinking or another behavior is causing your thrombocytopenia, your doctor can assist you make a plan to stop drinking or make other lifestyle changes.
Overall, there are as many treatment options as there are causes of thrombocytopenia. And so it's important to work with your doctor to effigy out the crusade and make a handling plan that's correct for y'all.
Your Side by side Steps to Stay Healthy If You Accept Thrombocytopenia
If y'all have thrombocytopenia, you tin take steps at domicile to stay good for you. The most important step is to go along up with your md appointments and claret piece of work. Ask your doctor how often you demand claret tests and make sure to become to all your follow-upwardly appointments.
If yous accept thrombocytopenia from an enlarged spleen, your md may recommend lifestyle changes to avert injuries. This is considering injuries can cause an enlarged spleen to rupture. You may need to switch from contact sports to non-contact sports.
If you drink heavily or you lot take liver disease, you lot'll need to end drinking. Booze employ disorder is a common trouble, and there are resources bachelor to help you. Talk with your doctor about ways to cut back on drinking.
Depending on the cause of your thrombocytopenia, in that location may be other steps you lot tin take, like avoiding certain over-the-counter medicines. Retrieve, the well-nigh important step is to piece of work with your doctor to find the crusade and go the treatment yous demand.
Resources Links:
- "Thrombocytopenia" via Goldman-Cecil Medicine
- "Thrombocytopenia (low platelet count)" via Mayo Clinic
- "Thrombocytopenia" via MedlinePlus
- "Thrombocytopenia" via National Heart, Lung, and Claret Institute.
- "The Birth and Death of Platelets in Health and Disease" via Physiology
Source: https://www.symptomfind.com/health-conditions/thrombocytopenia-low-platelets-condition?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740013%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
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