Thrombocytopenia Causes and Symptoms

I was recently diagnosed with thrombocytopenia. I have been extremely fatigued. I asked my doctor if that was a symptom and he said no. When I looked online I saw that fatigue was one of the most common symptoms. Is this accurate?

Thrombocytopenia is a condition in which a person has a low level of platelets. Platelets are a type of blood cell that help blood to clot anytime bleeding occurs in the body. Platelets are sticky "patches" that are the first line of defense until other components of blood can form a full clot and eventually heal the injury.

A low platelet level can be caused by a number of things including medications, illness or disease. One relatively common condition is called idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP), which I suspect you may have. Idiopathic means that something happened for no identifiable reason, so those with ITP have low platelets without known cause.

Most people with thrombocytopenia have enough platelets to get the job done despite the low level, and thus have no symptoms related to the problem. It is not until the level gets to below one third of the bottom of the normal range that blood clotting becomes compromised. At this point, a person may notice bruising with little or no impact, nosebleeds, bleeding gums, etc.

Fatigue is not a known symptom of thrombocytopenia, so this symptom is probably not directly related. There could be a "unifying" cause, i.e. one problem that causes both low platelets and fatigue, so ask your doctor about that possibility.