How Long Would It Take to Count to a Billion
What Does a Low Platelet Count Mean?
Thrombocytopenia is the official diagnosis when your blood count platelets are low. Although the official name sounds big and a little scary, it's actually a condition with plenty of treatment and management options to keep you healthy.
What Is a Blood Platelet Count?
Blood platelets form in the bone marrow and help your blood to clot when you receive an injury. The platelets clump up to help form a plug and stop external and internal bleeding. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that the average person has between 150,000 to 450,000 blood platelets. A number below 150,000 is called thrombocytopenia. If your numbers drop below 20,000 platelets, serious bleeding can occur either internally or externally.
Symptoms of Low Blood Platelets
Mild cases of thrombocytopenia usually don't have any symptoms and may only be discovered when you're having regular blood work done. More advanced cases result in frequent bruising or bleeding. A condition called petechia, which is small red and purple dots on the skin, is a sign that there is internal bleeding. Frequent bruising, when you don't remember an injury to the area, is another sign of internal bleeding from possible low platelets. More serious symptoms of internal bleeding include blood in your urine or during bowel movements.
External symptoms of low blood platelets include cuts that won't stop bleeding after a considerable amount of time, frequent nosebleeds, bleeding gums and heavy menstrual cycles for women. If you notice any of these symptoms combined with a feeling of tiredness, you may want to have your doctor check your blood platelet count.
Reasons for Low Platelet Count
Your doctor will probably conduct different tests to determine the source of your low platelet count. There are three main reasons that you have a low platelet count:
- Your bone marrow isn't making enough platelets.
- Your body is using up your platelets or causing the platelets destruction.
- Your spleen is enlarged and not releasing enough platelets into the blood.
If your bone marrow isn't making enough platelets it could be due to the blood cancer leukemia. Anemia is another reason platelets decrease. Certain infections and a high alcohol intake can also contribute to blood count platelets being low.
The destruction of blood platelets happens for a variety of reasons, and you can take comfort in the fact that some of these reasons cause only temporary destruction and then the platelets rebuild. Mild thrombocytopenia often happens later in pregnancy and improves after delivery. Autoimmune diseases, bacteria in the blood and some medications can all cause blood platelets to be used up prematurely by the body.
The spleen stores many of your body's platelets. When the spleen enlarges due to cancer or liver disease, the platelets collect in the spleen and aren't pushed out to circulate in the blood.
Treatment for Low Platelets
Treatment for low platelets is pretty straightforward and can help you manage it. The severity of your thrombocytopenia determines the course of treatment. Medications that help increase blood platelet production or slow down destruction help many people. Blood or platelet transfusions are another form of treatment, especially those who are at high risk of bleeding. In severe cases, or for people who aren't responding to other treatments, removal of the spleen is a last resort treatment.
Foods to Increase Platelet Count
Vitamins and minerals found in certain foods are beneficial for helping platelets form. Spinach, beans, lentils and peas are great foods for low platelets because of the amount of folate in these foods. Organ meats and legumes, along with spinach and nuts, provide the iron needed to help rebuild platelets. Vitamins C, D and B-12 are important in your diet, so include foods like fish, broccoli, citrus fruits and eggs to help supply your body with the necessary vitamins to help build up platelets.
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