[tytd]

Hello Leon,
Thanks for the link to the article. I've been suspicious about a link between ITP and MDS in some patients but had not seen that article. I had what I thought was ITP for greater than 20 years until I finally got a bone marrow biopsy a few years back and was diagnosed with MDS just on basis of dysplasia in the megakaryocytes and a macrocytic anemia. However I will tell you that one pathologist disagreed and did not read a lot of dysplasia so there can certainly be different interpretations of what is considered dysplasia or not. I did not respond to Prednisone taken about 3 years ago for a very brief period.
I would be very wary of the diagnosis of MDS in your case due to the significant fluctuations in your counts. Are you sure that you have not been given any drugs that might affect your platelet counts?? If the diagnosis still seems in question after you taper down off the Prednisone, I would definitely get a pathologist or MDS specialist who has seen a lot of MDS bone marrows to review your bone marrow slides and give you a second opinion.
Also many people can do fine for years without bleeding (with certain preventive cautionary measures) with rather low platelet counts. Of course you would need a higher platelet count if you were undergoing surgery for your kidney stones. Good luck and please let us know how you get on with the Prednisone. Tytd