What I Learned from My ITP in 2025

I was diagnosed with ITP (Immune Thrombocytopenia) in December 2024/January 2025. I asked my doctor what caused it. He shrugged and blamed it on “bad luck” or my spleen. I have been on Doptelet-Doptelet is lifesaving, but it doesn’t address the root cause, and I have a strong conviction that there is one.

Throughout this year, I’ve been collecting all the clues and have discovered so much about platelets.

Someone from the ITP Facebook group suggested I check for H. pylori (thank you!). I tested positive and, after treatment, my platelets started to recover, slowly. That’s when I learned that gut bacteria play a role in platelet destruction.

Another person in the group shared a detailed timeline of how long it took from treating H. pylori to fully curing her ITP (yes, I believe there is a cure, not just a remission). Thank you!! It set realistic expectations and let me know this is a slow process, but it can be done.

In November 2025, my platelets suddenly dropped by half (from 100k to 50k) despite being stable for months. I looked it up and discovered that viruses like influenza can bind to platelets too. I then realized my daughter was also having flu symptoms from school, so I might have caught it from her despite no symptoms. Within 2 weeks, my platelet count did a V-shaped recovery!! It also reminded me in 2024 that my period was passing heavy clots when I caught Covid. I must have low platelets then, which caused excessive bleeding. Viruses also play a role in ITP.

So my current understanding is this: when platelets bind to pathogens (bacteria or viruses), it’s part of a normal protective immune response. My spleen is not my enemy, but tries to clear out pathogen-bound platelets. If this reaction is excessive or misdirected, it can contribute to diseases like ITP or, on the other extreme, dangerous clotting.

I’m not a medical doctor, but I find all of this fascinating. We should give our bodies some grace—they may be trying to do the right thing. Maybe we just haven’t been living the way we were designed to.

For me, I had been eating poorly for years and took my gut health for granted. My gut was probably full of bad bacteria and lacking the good ones. I’ve been working hard on a clean diet and healthy lifestyle ever since. With everything I’ve learned and applied, I’ve successfully gradually reduced my Doptelet dosage (see Healing ITP). It may take a long time to fully heal—that’s God’s plan, not mine.

Don’t give up. With all the clues and tools, research and learn.