Stay Calm they say, stay calm I tell myself, internally the little voice inside my head says PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE WORST!
What is the worst? UMMMMM. World War Z and I am Legend comes to mind. In which case, I am screwed, as I am not a good runner nor do I know how to hunt for food. My best hope is that if there is a zombie outbreak that those zombies are like The Walking Dead. You and I both know there is a difference!
I have told you before that I am a catastrophic thinker and I am a big Netflix watcher. It seems I have been preparing for this, yet, I am not prepared.
Now realistically, the movie Contagion is probably more on trend to what is happening in the world. However, again still more extreme then what is actually going on.
Understandably, panic only creates stress and produces chaos and what does stress do to the body? It affects the body’s immune system response.
Now whilst for “healthy” people stress usually reduces the immune systems repose and therefore leaves them acceptable to catching viruses, alternatively for an ITP patient stress can trigger an ITP episode
Another issue that can also trigger an ITP episode is catching a virus *insert concerned face
Yes, ITP patients are not invincible from catching COVID-19
As per case report “Coronavirus is not a well-known cause of immune thrombocytopenia even though it may possibly cause severe ITP”
Furthermore, what conventional treatment methods do they usually use to treat ITP? – IMMUNE SUPRESSANTS!
For those that do not understand what an immune suppressant is –basically it is a treatment that lowers the immune system response.
The world for an ITP patient that was already feeling small just got a little smaller.
If you are new to ITP, you are probably asking yourself. If my condition is an overactive immune system then shouldn’t my body be more resilient against catching viruses such as COVID-19?
If there is one thing that I have learned over the past few years with ITP, it is that my immune system is not my superpower against catching viruses. Now whilst I do not get sick often, when I do get sick my immune system goes into overload. So rather than just attacking the invaders (e.g. the virus), it lets off bombs inside my body where the casualties include my platelets.
Therefore, catching a virus becomes complicated in regards to treatment.
They say catching COVID-19 and having ITP “is little to no risk but your ITP may worsen” not a very reassuring statement I must say.
Nonetheless, we need to keep in perspective that the Doctor’s already know how to treat ITP patients who have influenza; therefore, they do have systems/procedures in place to know what to do if ITP patients are found to have contracted COVID-19.
We need to listen to the Health Authorities in regards to taking responsibility for our own health in relation to common sense hygiene. We also, need to practice social distancing and look out for our warning signs.
Stay Safe!
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