10 Month Post Transplant and Plts DOWN?
 

Hi everyone. I am 10 months post transplant and have minor skin gvh. My liver numbers were high and I was put on 60 mg of prednisone for 3 months. It was then discovered that my liver was not gvh but the toxicity level was high due to two meds. I am on 5mg of prednisone and have been for 2 weeks. My blood tests yesterday showed all my numbers good except my platelets, which are 30,000. Has anyone experienced this? My doc took blood to test for % donor (which has been 100%) and I am on pins and needles now. Doc didn't seem too concerned. I have a bad cold and he said it could be because of that????????????????????????????????

I will appreciate your comments. Thanks! Lori

Lori,

Your situation sounds a lot like mine in the months after my transplant in 1998. My platelets were the last thing to come back. It took about 4 months before I got to 50,000 and another couple of months before I got to 100,000. If your counts are otherwise ok, I wouldn't worry about low platelets for a while. You are pretty safe at 30,000. The switch from 60mg to 5mg of prednisone should help boost your platelet count but it may take a couple of weeks before you see a change. And, a cold could certainly suppress your counts temporarily.

Hope this helps.

Ruth

Thank you for responding Ruth. My platelets have been fine until now. in the 200,000 + range. I have been ill with upper respitory infections and on antibiotics for a few weeks. Don't know if that would influence it..... I probably need to ask my Doc more. My appointment was not very lengthy as he was on the floor Friday as well as seeing patients outpatient. It's just odd that they dropped so low. Lori

Hi Lori.

I can't comment on the platelets but I hear you on the liver toxicity! I had 5 months of daily IVs to try and treat my liver issues, but as soon as I stopped some meds, the problems just faded away... It's frustrating, but better to overtreat and make sure it's not an infection rather than let an unidentified infection fester away for a while and assume it's just the meds!

melissa