Some people suffer from bleeding in the gums or some red spots in the hand or foot. This may indicate that you have a lack of platelets. What is this disease?
Some may suffer from a condition called platelet insufficiency, which prevents blood clotting, so do not stop bleeding, what are the causes of this condition, and possible treatments?
If you have thrombocytopenia, you have a platelet number below the normal range of 15,000 to 40,000 platelets.
Causes of platelet insufficiency
There are many reasons that lead to a lack of your platelet count including:
• Immune thrombocytopenia, which occurs when your immune system does not function properly, as antibodies that attack infection accidentally destroy platelets.
• Immune thrombocytopenia can occur genetically, but can also be obtained from many medical conditions.
• Viral infections, include chickenpox, HCV, Epstein Barr, and HIV.
• Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
• Immune thrombocytopenia.
• Sepsis is a severe bacterial infection in your blood.
• Hormone pylori, a bacteria that can live in your digestive system.
• Bone marrow problems, such as the toxicity of drinking too much alcohol.
• Rare disorders such as urinary hemolysis syndrome and thrombocytopenia (TTP), which use many platelets to form small blood clots throughout the body.
Symptoms of platelet insufficiency
There are some symptoms that can be observed when the lack of platelets, including:
1. Blood bleeding from the gums or nose, and women suffer particularly from bleeding more powerful, in addition to the possibility of bleeding in the course of the urine.
2. Flat red patches on your skin, especially in your legs and feet, may appear as lumps.
3. The appearance of spots and bruises, where you have large areas of bleeding under the skin are like bruises that make you hit or fall, can be blue or purple and change to yellow or green.
4. Acute thrombocytopenia can cause a lot of bleeding after injury or fall.
Possible treatment methods
There are many treatment options for platelet deficiency, you will need to work with your doctor to assess the pros and cons of each and find a treatment that is right for you.
When you need treatment, the goal is to get the number of platelets to a high enough level to prevent serious bleeding in the gut or brain. Here are the most important treatments possible:
1- Pharmaceutical treatments
Your doctor may prescribe the following medicines to treat platelet deficiency:
• Dexamethasone or prednisone to increase the number of platelets, and once the platelet number becomes normal, you will not need more doses of this drug.
• Venous immunoglobulin, if you can not get the platelet count with prednisone, your doctor may suggest this medicine.
• Retoximab, a type of treatment known as biotherapy, which attacks B cells, a type of white blood cell that can destroy platelets.
• Stimulants and receptors, these drugs are also called platelet growth factors.
• Immunosuppressants, such as azathioprine, cyclosporine, and mutate suppress, act by maintaining your immune system.
• The drug TPO, which is used in the event of exposure of people with a shortage of platelets to severe bleeding.
2. Surgery
If the medication has not increased your platelet level enough, you may benefit from the removal of the spleen, the organ that destroys the platelets, so taking it out may give a boost to treatment.
Discharge of the spleen may have difficulty in controlling infection, especially in the first 3 months after surgery.
3-Change lifestyle
You can still do a lot of things to prevent bleeding that increases the lack of platelets, such as avoiding injury or falls caused by sports such as football and skiing on the slopes.
4 – eating a healthy diet
Try to concentrate on lots of fruits and vegetables, especially leafy vegetables, to give your body the nutrients it needs.
Try to avoid many foods that cause lack of platelets such as, bitter lemon, watermelon and some soft drinks and sugar-free foods.
