In thinking low platelets and severe nosebleeds are occurring in children who have had covid

[54321nought]

This is something we were noticing a lot in school last year, and now I am seeing it in children in my family and friends families during the summer too.

I have not heard anything about it on the news at all, in fact the recent news story about children not suffering long term affects from covid actually seems to be saying the opposite.

However, mentally adding it up in my head, I have now come across around 14 young teens and preteens who have started having very severe nose bleeds, or bleeding excessively from minor cuts - 3 I know have had blood tests and been told they have a low platelet count.

At first I thought the nose bleeds may be related to repeated LFTs, but that does not in any way account for the low platelets, the bleeding from cuts elsewhere on the body, and the occurrence in children who had not taken any LFTs

Has anyone else noticed this?

More importantly, does anyone know of a child who had this after covid but eventually got better and it stopped? (In at least one of my students who has this problem, the actual covid was 11 months ago)

YABU - you are paranoid / worrying about nothing/ putting 2 and 2 together and making 77

YANBU - this might be happening around me too.

Hmm, maybe, but stress is an experience, and if someone claims they are not experiencing it, they are probably right! And I think people underestimate just how stressful normal school can be for many students, and what a relief it was to them not to have to come in.

Nope not heard anyone with this. Not another scare mongering thread is it?

I have four teens and they have lots of friends and the vast majority have had covid with just a little sniffle, if that.

ITP is an autoimmune disease - acute cases (very low - below 50) is more usual in the young & can be a (over) response to infection, Fortunately, in most cases, it tends to be short term. If the number drops to very low they may need steroids or other drugs (sometimes Intravenous drugs) Chronic ITP is usually found in adults (usually as side result of testing for other things!) predominately female the levels are above 50 - at this level there are very little symptoms (perhaps a general feeling of malaise) it doesn't at that level usual cause any problems -except if the person has major abdominal or heart surgery than they need medical intervention prior to the surgery

I should say its very rare condition

I have chronic ITP and am a regular at the haematology dept at my hospital for checkups and the like.

As PP said, it can be a brief immune response which clears up after a short while. I believe that's mostly common in children/young people, chronic ITP is more common in adults and is rare.

@LuckyHarold do you mind if I ask what your range is? I assume its fairly low? Dh doesn't have regular tests as he is measures range of 60 to 80 (ish)

not is has forget measures

I HAD chronic ITP from 4-16. My count ranged from 2-4 for the last 4-5 years. Didn’t know it could be from a viral infection, that’s very interesting!

I don't know, but it's interesting because my DD had periodic nosebleeds as a toddler and she did have a very bad virus when she was 2. It stopped after a while.

There has been an apparent marked increase in dc developing type 1 diabetes (Imperial are doing a study on this at present) who have had covid
This would also make sense as this is also an autoimmune condition

Others have not been investigated yet, but are suffering from excessive bleeding, and platelets role is to clot blood, so low platelets causes excessive bleeding

There are A LOT of things that have role in clotting so you can’t conclude all the children with excessive nose bleeds have low platelets.
That’s not to say it may not end being the case in the post-COVID scenario you have described.

@mumwon

There has been an apparent marked increase in dc developing type 1 diabetes (Imperial are doing a study on this at present) who have had covid This would also make sense as this is also an autoimmune condition

interesting - I have heard of that too, but not personally come across it. One child maybe, but not unusual for the occasional child in a school to develop type one diabetes

To me, there's no point in speculating about whether covid causes nosebleeds or low platelets to a greater degree than other viral illnesses, based on observations of a small group of children. You'd need a proper sample, control groups, etc.
Both my children has nosebleeds between ages 2 and 5. Big ones, frequently. They were also frequently ill with the normal viruses that kids have and loved a bit of nose hoking. If it had been covid times I might have presumed that it was linked to covid, but it clearly wasn't.

I am aware of this as my friend’s son has it as part of his long covid. He’s 15. It’s quite a well known symptom and is widely discussed on long covid groups.

@54321nought and others, just because someone hasn’t heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen or doesn’t exist, not everyone is aware of everything in healthcare. Not everyone will know someone with diabetes and that’s fairly common.
This has happened to my DH, just under investigation at the moment.

Dh had Covid, Ds never tested positive but may well have had it asymptomatically. He has had 2-3 spontaneous nosebleeds a week this summer. Interesting idea.

@Lifeishitsometimes

To me, there's no point in speculating about whether covid causes nosebleeds or low platelets to a greater degree than other viral illnesses, based on observations of a small group of children. You'd need a proper sample, control groups, etc. Both my children has nosebleeds between ages 2 and 5. Big ones, frequently. They were also frequently ill with the normal viruses that kids have and loved a bit of nose hoking. If it had been covid times I might have presumed that it was linked to covid, but it clearly wasn't.

The thing is, it is not really observations based on a SMALL group of children, there is 1400 children in my school, and I have taught in big schools most of the last 30 years, so on a quick mental tot up, assuming a single cohort lasts 5 years, and I get a new cohort every time I change schools, that's well over 10 000 children....

@KickBishopBrennanUpTheArse

I am aware of this as my friend’s son has it as part of his long covid. He’s 15. It’s quite a well known symptom and is widely discussed on long covid groups.

what, the nose bleeds? That is interesting

[quote WetBench]@54321nought and others, just because someone hasn’t heard of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen or doesn’t exist, not everyone is aware of everything in healthcare. Not everyone will know someone with diabetes and that’s fairly common.
This has happened to my DH, just under investigation at the moment.[/quote]
sorry, what is it that has happened to your DH? I'm sorry to hear he is not well

Not another scare mongering thread is it?

Ding ding, we have a winner!

@54321nought
Your clearly trying to scare people as covid has not been around for 5+ years so your claim to have a sample size of 10000+ students is complete bs at most you have anecdotal evidence of 14 children out of a cohort of 1400 (0.1%) whom are apparently having abnormal nose bleeds with only 3 having confirmed low platelets so hardly a cause for concern when it is a well known fact that ANY/ALL viruses can cause this exact issue, seriously you need to get a grip and stop trying to spread fear.
Oh and just a quick anecdotal memory of mine in 1991 my high school (2000+ students) was hit with a flu epidemic which saw 3/4 of the staff and students catching flu and when they reopened the school about 1/2 of us who had recovered from flu were having repeated nose bleeds for on average 4-8 weeks with a couple lasting for a lot longer

Ds had nosebleeds as a teen until he got his nostrils cauterised. They have been much less frequent in his 20s. His seemed to happen when it was a high pressure weather system.

I have had ITP for roughly 26 years now; triggered by pregnancy. My count of about 32k spikes when I have a virus or a cold, and then resettles.

"The thing is, it is not really observations based on a SMALL group of children, there is 1400 children in my school, and I have taught in big schools most of the last 30 years, so on a quick mental tot up, assuming a single cohort lasts 5 years, and I get a new cohort every time I change schools, that's well over 10 000 children...."

Just to balance your experience though, I work in a school of a similar size, have always been in a relatively high rate of infection area with a lot of positive cases and I haven't observed this at all.

what, the nose bleeds? That is interesting

Yes the very heavy nosebleeds. I’m not sure about platelets etc I don’t know if he’s been tested. He’s also got swollen feet but is otherwise well.

Also the pp who argued you are scaremongering to suggest there might be after effects from a widespread virus and then argued that she observed after effects from a widespread virus is bizarre.

No one’s saying this is the only virus ever to have caused lingering symptoms and a few nosebleeds aren’t that scary or uncommon anyway.

[quote Cabinfever10]@54321nought
Your clearly trying to scare people as covid has not been around for 5+ years so your claim to have a sample size of 10000+ students is complete bs at most you have anecdotal evidence of 14 children out of a cohort of 1400 (0.1%) whom are apparently having abnormal nose bleeds with only 3 having confirmed low platelets so hardly a cause for concern when it is a well known fact that ANY/ALL viruses can cause this exact issue, seriously you need to get a grip and stop trying to spread fear.
Oh and just a quick anecdotal memory of mine in 1991 my high school (2000+ students) was hit with a flu epidemic which saw 3/4 of the staff and students catching flu and when they reopened the school about 1/2 of us who had recovered from flu were having repeated nose bleeds for on average 4-8 weeks with a couple lasting for a lot longer[/quote]
no, I am saying I have taught around 10 000 students over the last 30 years, and the number of nosebleeds I have seen in the last year has been 10x what I would expect, and not only that, many times more blood on each occasion as well.

How is this a scare mongering thread? I am asking if anyone else has noticed this, and as you can see by the replies, not only has it been noticed by several other people, it has also been noticed by a long covid support group.