Ah the big question - What causes ITP (Immune Thrombocytopenic)? A question I often asked myself and never really got a straight answer. The fact is nobody really knows what causes ITP, yes they are aware that it's an immune system malfunction and they have theories on the possible causes of this immune system malfunction but nothing concrete. All they really know is that for some unusual reason the body or should I say immune system has latched on and has commenced attacking itself. It's a bit like cannibalism - your body is pretty much eating itself. Grose right?
However although there is nothing set in stone to answer this lingering question I thought it may be fun to do a process of elimination. Let's run through these theories and see if any could be the possible culprit of my ITP condition.
Leukemia - ITP can have very similar symptoms to Leukemia. Leukemia is cancer in the blood cells that starts in the bone marrow. But unlike ITP Leukemia attacks both the red blood cells and the platelets. Whereas ITP is when the immune system is purely attacking the platelets. Sometimes depending on ones platelet count Doctor's may be concerned that what they once thought was ITP could be in actual fact Leukemia. Which is what happened in my case. When I was first diagnose my platelets where dropping at a dramatic rate therefore my Doctor was concerned that her first diagnosis may have been wrong however a lovely bone marrow test got that straightened out (you know that I am being sarcastic when I say lovely bone marrow test right?). The bone marrow test came back conclusive that I have ITP. Which means I can rule out Leukemia.
Viral Infection - Ok well I can 100% rule out HIV and Hepatitis C as I was tested for this in the early days. FEW. However could some other form of viral infection be the cause of my condition? Now I have to think back, like way back. You have to remember I was diagnose in late 2016 and I probably had ITP for a little while before finding out therefore could I have caught a viral infection in 2015 or 2016 that could have caused my ITP condition? Well a viral infection is caused by microbes (which are very tiny) and are spread from things such as;
contact with an infected person (eg. someone coughing or sneezing) - I do recall catching a cold that I needed to take a few days off work. I remember this because it was pretty bad and I don't usually take too much time off work. However I never went to the doctors for it as I never really went to the doctors before contracting ITP. Doctor's here in Australia generally don't hand out medication willy nilly, they basically make you wait an hour or so to see them, then tell you that you are sick (because clearly you didn't know that), to take some Panadol and get some rest. So I really do not see the point in going to see a doctor. I know the drill and I follow the steps. But could this virus be the culprit? To be honest I'm not really sure. I wouldn't say something so small could do so much damage but who knows.
contact with an infected person (eg. kissing or having sex) - Well as much as any women likes to point blame on their husband I believe in this case I do not think my husband has passed on some horrible viral infection that could have given me ITP. So he is off the hook.
Contact with contaminated (eg. food, water, air) - I generally eat and drink healthy. Australia's standards are pretty high when it comes to our drinking water and food standards are also good. Air? well could there have been something in the air that I swallowed that could have caused a viral infection which then lead to my ITP - wouldn't that be terrible luck. No I don't think I could say this was the culprit.
Certain types of Anemia - Anemia is a condition that is often correlated to iron deficiency, a lack of iron in the blood. What happens with Anemia is that the body can not or does not produce enough red blood cells. A quick blood test ruled out Anemia for me.
Cancer treatments - Sometimes cancer treatments like radiation or chemotherapy can cause ITP. For my case I did not have cancer prior to ITP.
Excessive alcohol consumption - Now whilst I like a wine or two I am not a massive drinker so no I can certainly confirm excessive alcohol consumption is not the cause of my ITP.
A family history of low platelet levels - My sister and I always joke about the crappy gene pool we were given so I thought to myself here is another one to add to the list. However apart from my sister and myself to my knowledge nobody else in my family bruises easily. Therefore to cross this off the list my sister had to get tested (apparently if ITP runs in the family treatment methods are different). The outcome of this test was that although she has her own health woes ITP is not one of them.
Vaccine - Well this one is very interesting. There has been growing concern that the MMR vaccination is associated with an increase in ITP patients. MMR vaccine is the measles mumps rubella vaccine. What makes this interesting is that I went on a trip to Bali around June 2015 which meant that I got a number of vaccines. Could one of those vaccines been the culprit to my ITP condition? Maybe just maybe.
Stress - There has been links to stress being the cause of some types of cancers, it's like it activates something that is already inside of you. Like flicking the switch. Stress is also another theory for someone having ITP. Now if you know me then you would know that I am a massive stress head. I stress about stress before there is even something to stress about. I always aim to please and I put myself under massive amounts of pressure which in turn causes me stress. I also have a husband at home whom doesn't seem to stress at all which I think makes me stress more because I stress for the both of us. I have to keep in mind that around that time my husband and I were locking heads and I was extremely busy at work so I was beyond stressed. Even talking about all this stress is making me stressed. However do I think stress could have caused my condition? Well whilst I am a self proclaimed stress head I really am not sure that my stress levels have tipped me over the edge to cause my condition. However I could be wrong.
Well whilst I have been able to rule out a few theories it seems I cannot lock anything down and say 100% I think that this is the culprit for my ITP condition. The fact is neither the Doctor's or myself can work out how a young, fit, healthy woman could all of a sudden have ITP. I suppose it's just one of those unlucky things that can sometimes happen to people.