[Debra]

My Dad's case is very unusual. Back in 2004, he was diagnosed with vasculitis. It is believed to have been caused by medication, Lescol XL, which he was taking for moderately high cholestrol. He became very ill, and it tooks months before he was diagnosed. He was very sick, could barely walk, eat, and he lost massive muscle mass. It took several months before we obtained a diagnosis, and I took him down to Parkland Hospital emergency after he spent 2 weeks in another hospital with no diagnosis. Once diagnosed, he was treated with heavy doses of steroids. It took 2 years for him to regain about 3/4 of his strength, and he was in remission.
In June of 2007, he had a reoccurance of vasculitis. This time, his rheumatologist decided to treat him with Cytoxan, and he consulted with Dr. Neil Young of the NIH regarding this treatment, and he concurred. Unfortunately, Dad had another severe and extremely rare reaction to the Cytoxan - resulting in severe aplastic anemia.
So, yes - he has another autoimmune disease along with the SAA. However, in his case, both the vasculitis and the SAA are the result of severe and rare adverse reactions to medications. His rheumatologist at Southwestern could not believe such a thing could happen! He checked with Dr. Young at the NIH, and there is no other case like my father's that they know of!
Now his hemotologist wants to try NPlate for his low platelets, and I'm petrified about potential side effects! Making these decisions is absolutely frightening!