Anyone Know about Platelet Count?

[Jenne]

I had to stop googling because I was worrying myself...but I still want to know...my platelet count came back at 390 which is way outside the labs normal reference range. I have MTHFR and take a baby aspirin a day...which I'm looking to stop around 36/37 weeks maybe but I'm a little freaked out. I'm having trouble finding a normal pregnancy reference range for platelets. Does anyone know??? Everything I'm reading is talking about thrombocytosis...leukemia and other awfulness! Yikes!

I see my midwife on Wednesday and am going to take her a copy of the labs but Wednesday is far away!

Thanks!!!
Jenne

[citymagnolia]

I had a scare with this pre-pregnancy. I had some lab work done for something else and my doctor's office called me 3 times and left frantic messages that I needed to call them right away. It turned out that my platelet count was less than half of what it should be. I read all the same sites you did, about leukemia and everything else, totally freaked out. A visit and more lab work with a hematologist showed that, while my platelets are very low, they work as efficiently as if I had a "normal" level, so there's nothing to worry about. They think that it's just my natural level. If you are not having other symptoms, I would say not to worry about it until you have more evidence to warrant the worrying!

On a side note, I did bleed heavily after both of my births. Last time the hospital kept me for 3 days because they thought I would need a blood transfusion.  DP and I wonder if it may have been related to the low platelets. Although, like I said, the clotting tests were all normal, it's definitely something I am keeping in mind with this birth, especially as I decide between a hb or hospital birth.

[Jenne]

citymagnolia- Thank you for the reply! I have high platlets (I guess) but my clotting tests all came back normal. So, maybe like you it is my normal. What I find really interesting is that a different lab's reference range is up to 450 is normal and in September I was at 429. So I don't know. I'll talk to the midwife on Wednesday I guess!

Jenne

[dejagerw]

My husband always has "low" platelet levels.  He has for the last 5 + years that I know of.  He's not sick or anything, I guess his body's just different from the "normal" range.  I would try not to worry.  I know it's hard, but worrying won't do anything.  Talk to your doctor about it.  If she's not worried, then, I would follow her lead. 

[AllyRae]

Your platelets sound well within the range of normal.  I have something called Essential Thrombocythemia (also known as Primary Thrombocytosis), and my platelets are 1.5 *million*.  I don't have leukemia or anything like that, but it's a bone marrow neoplasm.  I've had my blood drawn 6-8 times a year for it for the past 5 years, and every lab sheet shows that the upper range of normal is 450k, so if yours are 390k, then they're fine.  In the 2nd and 3rd trimester, platelets tend to go down a little...if they're in the normal range, they won't go down much.   Mine went down to 600k, so a huge drop, but I started way higher than most people.  For some people that are on the lower or middle of the range, their platelets can tend to go up a bit.

ETA:

Oh, and also, I took a baby aspirin a day during my pregnancy, and then stopped a week before my c-section.  It was all good, but I did have to take lovenox for a few days after my c-section to prevent clotting.  :)