Dd has had blood tests and i dont understand the results....

[Helenemjay]

The Dr called me in yesterday about dd who is 5 months, he said her platelet count was 2.5 times the normal - i did ask him what that meant but he explained lots of different things about blood but never specified what this meant! - can anyone help me understand what this means? TIA x

a quick google of high platelet count suggests it may have a number of causes - one being a problem with the spleen.

I would guess it means further investigation to pinpoint the problem.

Can i help?
platelets are produced by the immune system, they are part of the bodies responce to infection, they clump around the invading bacteria and help to destoy it.
a raised platlet count is usually an indicator of infection.

platelets is to do with clotting so too many may mean a problem with clotting too much? not 100% certain on that, i would give your gp a call and ask to explain in laymans terms exactly waht that means for you dd. did they mention any treatment that she might need?

I don't have any advice specifically Helen but just googled "high platelet count" and got this:

"What is thrombocytosis?

Thrombocytosis is a medical term used to describe a high number of circulating platelets in the blood.

Platelets (also called thrombocytes) are small fragments of cells which, following blood vessel injury stick to the damaged vessel wall and to each other forming a major component of the blood clot. T

he platelet count in the blood is normally maintained between 150 and 400 million per ml of blood volume. Many factors can influence an individual's platelet count including exercise and racial origin. In thrombocytosis the platelet count is elevated above 400 million per ml and rarely can reach 5000 million per ml.

What causes thrombocytosis?

A high platelet count can occur in many different medical situations but the two basic processes involved include either an increased rate of platelet production (by the cells within the bone marrow) or by reduced removal of platelets from the blood - which is one of the functions of the spleen.

Most situations that cause thrombocytosis do so by increasing platelet production, whereas reduced platelet removal occurs following surgical removal of the spleen (splenectomy)."

Does that ring any bells with what the GP said?

Has he said what (if anything) will happen next?

Hiya miaou!, how is going??

helenmjay, were the rest of her blood normal? yes a raised platlet count can indicate some serious things but really the most common cause is infection...

oops yes, forgot about straightforward infection, hope I didn't put the fear of God into you Helen.

chapsmum - I'm fine!!! Did you get my email? (pretty sure I sent one ... [slightly dim emoticon])

Ta, am replying as we speak....

what are her other symptoms ? What prompted the blood test in the first place ?

Well the reason she had the blood tests were because i noticed she was lokking rather yellow, and i didnt really thing too much of it as my dad is Maltese and my sister and i have quite olive skin, so i guessed it might be that, but more and more people starting saying how she looked yellow so i thought it would be wise to mention it to the Dr, he said it may be that she has picked up grandads colouring, but lets just be sure, so we went ahead with the blood test which she had yesterday morning, i didnt expect to hear anything until today but the local gp surgery called me at 3pm yesterday and said could i go in ASAP - which obviously terified me, when i got there the GP who is lovely said he needed to feel her tummy for a spleena and feel her liver, - both of which he said felt fine, the white part of her eyes are not yellow at all which he said was important, the only other thing he was looking for was a platlet disorder where the platlets are a funny shape but hers were fine other than her platlet count everything else was just fine!! but he said her platlet count was 1016 which he said was ALOT and they wanted to repeat the blood tests in 4 weeks - im trying not to worry but it is worrying me a little, we have no blood disorders in the family at all either, im hoping its just nothing.

sounds like they are wondering about liver problems (the yellow may be jaundice). If her liver and spleen did not feel abnormally large then that sounds like a good sign.

I guess you just have to be patient and wait for the next set of blood tests - to see if the levels are still high. If they are then be very insistant that you get to see specialists fro a proper diagnosis.

If the yellow was due to jaudice, (caused by liver probs) then it would have been picked up by a liver function blood test. Also if the white part of the eye is till white it means the the levels fo billirubin (that causes the yellow colour in jaundice) is not high.

That is quite a high platlet count, was she particularly strssed by the blood test?

Has she been well recently?

She seems well to me, she eats well and she sleeps well (although she isnt overly sleepy - infact she is awake most of the day and only sleeps at night really) She REALLY didnt like the blood test, they put some cream on her and left it for 40 minutes to work but she got allergic to it so her little arms went all red and sore and so she wasnt pleased about that! they couldnt find a very good vein and so the only one they got just 'dripped' so it took about 15 minutes just to get a little amount of blood - she was so upset it broke my heart to watch her yelling, i hate to think we have to do that again in 4 weeks! the only other thing that worries me is that she eats alot and doesnt seem to be gaining much weight i weighed her 2 weeks ago and she weighed 14lb 5 oz and then i had her weighed on tuesday and she weighed 14lb 10oz! she doesnt gain much weight although she isnt small or thin by any means!

The blood testitself could have been the cause of an exaggerated platelet count.
stress and allergy are to things that can increase your platelet count.
She could have perhaps had a raised platelet count which has been exaggerated by a huge stress responce to the blood test.
5onz in two week is not a particularly poor weight gain, at least she is gaining weight.

If you have any worries do not e#hessitate to go back to the dr. And remeber that although googling is useful it can sometimes scare you more than it can help. If you are unsure or feel she needs further invistigations speak to your dr and make sure you understand why he's doing what he is.

Thats what they are there for after all
I hope the next blood test is ok. My ds had a blood test done at 6 month by a phleb without cream, he cried but he was ok, dont think it would have made much difference to have had it on...
hope this helps

to help them get a good vein make sure she is warm and has plenty to drink before you go the next time.

hi ds had this when he was in hospital, they said it can happen when they have an infection, but will test again when hes over it, and yes it did go back to normal, has your dd been ill?

Thanks chapsmum i will try that

She hasnt been ill trace2 although she has had a couple of chest infections a couple of months ago and seems to be a little prone to them - much like her older brother who has been plagued by re-occurent chest infections since he was born!

that could be the problem them, ds wasin hospital, they thought he had menigitis, ,but anyway, the child doc says this happens alot with illness, , and they usally go back to normal, with them doing again in 4 weeks sounds good to me so dont worry, i did and it made me ill thinking about it.

so i asked to see someone eles at the hospital, and they again said it happens in children when there ill, hope shes ok keep us imformed

chapsmum

As someone who has essential thrombocythemia (a condition where I have a permanently high platelet count) I wondered where you got the information that stress and allergy caused it - I wish that it was this easy. However, I digress . . .

Helenemjay - babies can sometimes have high platelet counts for no particular reason at all. It can be caused by inflammation somewhere in the body and that is why when you search on google it comes up with cancer. Just to scare you sh*tless. Your baby probably hasn't got cancer, but has a high count because she has had an infection and it takes a while for the reaction to subside. Yes, 1016 is high but babies are different to adults and they react differently.

I really, really, really, wouldn't worry about it. Babies have big reactions to little things - think of the rashes that they get - they look awful, but the baby's fine. I am sure that when they test her again, her count will have decreased. She probably has secondary thrombocytosis, which means that her platelet count is a reaction to something else - probably a chest infection.

jennypog, certainly I have a hon degree in path physiology. and an understanding of the bodys immune responces to stress and allergy based on clinical information from studying.
I was relating to the bodys allergy histamine responces and hormonal responces to stress. If a vein has been 'milked' and taken from a site of an allergic reaction by from a baby who has been very upset for 40 mins it is very possible that it will not give a true refelction of wbc componants, as I'm sure you'll agree.

However if you re-read my post I never claimed that this had cause it. I said it was one of the things that could have caused it
I agree that it is very easy to google things and scare yourself silly and was trying to provide an alternate explanation.

My appologies if that was consider a definative cause, it was not intended to be that.