Immune Thrombocytopenia is more commonly known as ITP is a disease like haemophilia however the patient will have platelets, which can change over a short period of time. The ITP comes from Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura which stands for
Idiopathic - Unknown cause
Thrombocytopenic - A decrease in the blood cells known as platelets which are responsible for clotting of blood.
Pupura - Literally meaning Purple or on your body, bruising.
In short, ITP causes your body to think that your platelets aren't supposed to be there, and starts killing them. There is no known cause for this.
The common symptoms of ITP are as follows:
- Easy or excessive bruising (purpura) — your skin naturally bruises and bleeds more easily as you age, but this shouldn't be confused with ITP
- Superficial bleeding into your skin that appears as a rash of pinpoint-sized reddish-purple spots (petechiae), usually on your lower legs
- Prolonged bleeding from cuts
- Spontaneous bleeding from nose
- Bleeding gums, especially after dental work
- Blood in urine or stools
- Unusually heavy menstrual flow
- Fatigue (this isn't reconogised by most doctors)
Normal platelet counts are between 150,000–450,000 per microlitre (μl) of blood for most healthy individuals. Under this amount would be considered Thrombocytopenia.
