96000 Per Microliter Of Blood
With the first summer long weekend two days hence I headed off to the Canadian Blood Services to donate my B RH Positive blood anticipating the need from the usual long weekend carnage.While checking in I was flagged to see if I qualify as a platelet donor so agreed to give an extra sample for testing. Due to recent history I was curious to discover my platelet count.
At least two of my three sisters have been diagnosed with chronic low platelet counts along with other issues, thyroid, food allergies, joint and muscle pain and fatigue. Modern medicine has been unable to nail down a cause.Since I share some symptoms with them I always assumed I was also afflicted by the mystery ailment.
In July 2005 I crashed on wet railway tracks and suffered some blunt force trauma from impacting the ground. Jammed vertebrae in my neck, concussion, road rash and a massive hematoma on my hip.
A subsequent physical later that week at the medical clinic and followup bloodwork revealed at that time I possessed low platelets. No real surprise as I knew my sister`s history and guessed that might explain the massive hematoma.Platelets clot blood and if I was low that might explain why the bleed eventually spread across my buttocks and groin and downward across my thigh. The only question that remained was whether the platelets were low before the crash or the result of the crash.
TodayI can confirm that I continue to suffer from low platelets. My test results at the blood donor clinic came back as 96000 per microliter of blood. A normal range is between 150 000 and 450 000 per microliter. In a sense it is good that I am able to participate in such an athletic lifestyle considering my platelet count as fatigue is often a physical symptom while self doubt can be a psychological response.
It also put to rest one of my other theories that the ailment my siblings(and I) suffer from was related to diet. In 2005 I was eating the typical standard American diet as was my sisters. Since then I had switched to Paleo nutrition in 2010 and have totally revamped my way of eating. Needless to say cleaning up my diet has had no impact upon my platelet count. I suffer from lesser bouts of joint and muscle pain and avoiding certain foods since adopting ancestral nutrition have alleviated many of my previous symptoms.Low platelets obviously remain an enigma..
Maybe it is just genetics........or maybe I am a flawed design.
At least two of my three sisters have been diagnosed with chronic low platelet counts along with other issues, thyroid, food allergies, joint and muscle pain and fatigue. Modern medicine has been unable to nail down a cause.Since I share some symptoms with them I always assumed I was also afflicted by the mystery ailment.
In July 2005 I crashed on wet railway tracks and suffered some blunt force trauma from impacting the ground. Jammed vertebrae in my neck, concussion, road rash and a massive hematoma on my hip.
TodayI can confirm that I continue to suffer from low platelets. My test results at the blood donor clinic came back as 96000 per microliter of blood. A normal range is between 150 000 and 450 000 per microliter. In a sense it is good that I am able to participate in such an athletic lifestyle considering my platelet count as fatigue is often a physical symptom while self doubt can be a psychological response.
It also put to rest one of my other theories that the ailment my siblings(and I) suffer from was related to diet. In 2005 I was eating the typical standard American diet as was my sisters. Since then I had switched to Paleo nutrition in 2010 and have totally revamped my way of eating. Needless to say cleaning up my diet has had no impact upon my platelet count. I suffer from lesser bouts of joint and muscle pain and avoiding certain foods since adopting ancestral nutrition have alleviated many of my previous symptoms.Low platelets obviously remain an enigma..
Maybe it is just genetics........or maybe I am a flawed design.
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