You all know, I hate to write posts that are doom and gloom. However, although confronting it is important to address the elephant in the room. Can someone die from Immune Thrombocytopenia (ITP)? Now whilst, nobody likes to create unnecessary panic and the mortality rate is low the reality is yes, you can die from ITP.
If you have ITP, I hope this does not kick your anxiety into overdrive. I know personally I get in freak mode just thinking about this. Like literally my stomach starts turning, my breathing becomes faster and although my husband will tell me to relax in my head I am screaming at him “RELAX, HOW CAN I RELAX”. Like literally my stomach feels like it falls out my arse. You know that full blown sinking feeling. I look around my body and ask myself are their bruises (yes, but not too many), is there any petechiae spots (No), do I have a headache (no, well I don’t know maybe) and I honestly start thinking worst case scenario I’m dying, this is it, this is the end. But, the reality is I am not dying and a few hours later I begin to calm myself down.
For those of you who do not know much about ITP - it is an autoimmune disease. An attack from within you could say, where your immune system see’s your platelets (those little cells in your blood that stick together when you cut yourself) and pretty much gobbles them up. When your body’s platelets are reduced, you become at risk of uncontrolled bleeding. This does not necessarily have to be caused by an accident. Therefore, you pretty much can bleed to death because there are not enough platelets to slow down/stop the bleeding.
Many people without ITP will read a few google search health websites and shrug off the thought that there is any potential risk to an ITP patient. Knowing that there are treatment methods for this condition makes people believe that you are sick, you go get treatment, and then you are sick no more. But, in actual fact, the treatment methods for ITP are Band-Aid solutions to help either increase the platelets or suppress the immune system. Often I personally find they are just a reactive solution to help regain balance. For many ITP patients they are not a cure! They are temporary quick fix to get an ITP patient into what we like to call a safe zone (where the platelets may still be low but not low enough to cause a bleed without trauma).
Nevertheless, ITP patients know all too well this is just a balancing act and not one that is easily monitored. Often many ITP patients have no idea what level there platelet levels are at.
Not to mention a twenty-year study completed in Denmark highlights the increased mortality rate among patients with ITP vs the general public.
For those still not convinced that ITP can result in death below are some warriors who unfortunately lost their fight with ITP.
Now to end with a positive!
Yes, you can die from ITP
Yes, an ITP patient’s mortality rate is higher than the general public
Yes, others have died from ITP
Yes, there is no cure
Well that is not sounding very positive. Nevertheless, one thing remains and that is the fact that the mortality rate is low and each day there are people working behind the scenes creating products that can help ease the burden of this terrible condition.
For any of those suffering from ITP like me, please be sure to know your warning symptoms, make sure you attend your regular checkups and try to remain positive (I understand this blog post can be a little scary to read however a lot of people with ITP are able to manage their condition just fine with help and guidance from their hematologist).