The blood disorder ITP: does it hold a vaccine link?

The mystery with which vaccinations trigger certain physical conditions is largely unknown. For those who have suffered vague or disabling symptoms after vaccinations, they are often dismissed as a coincidence, or brushed off by physicians.  Test after test often leaves no other cause for many conditions and brings some doctors to finally scratch their head and just chalk it all up to vaccines when they just can’t find another reason.

Often misunderstood and less frequently recognized for what they vaccine reactions have been linked to a variety of conditions are affecting everything from the muscles and neurologic system to complete alterations in cells of the blood.  Vaccines were developed to alter the immune system—by forcing the body to recognize a foreign object or matter and produce antibodies—or cells to defend the body from infection and fight the invader.  The body must be exposed to a trigger in some form, either by a live form of a virus or an inactivated form, but either type should trigger the complex immune cells that circulate in the blood stream to do their job and result in a protective immunity that can last a lifetime.

But when things go wrong—they can go very wrong.  The primary component of immunity lies in the blood itself. Blood is our lifeline.  It carries nutrients throughout the body and provides oxygen to cells. Without it tissue would die and life would end.  As beneficial and necessary as blood is, it can also change and the very components that keep life going can change and bring about symptoms and problems that can permanently change or take life away. For example, one particular component that is often affected after vaccinations are the blood cells known as platelets.

Platelets look a bit like they sound—flat disc-type cells circulate in the blood and are responsible for clotting.  Platelets are responsible for joining together to keep a simple cut from draining out an entire blood volume. Without them, the blood would run like water and never stop until it was all gone.  Essential to life, platelets can change as the body begins to attack itself, not make enough or the body begins to use up its platelet stores faster than they can be made. In this case, a condition called idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura can develop. Also known as ITP, many people may overlook a sudden case as their physician is unable to link its sudden development to any particular medical condition.

ITP can occur without warning in some people and it primary symptoms include that of bleeding.  Bruising that is found in strange places that don’t normally come into contact with surfaces to cause a bruise, or tiny purple spots called petechiae are all symptoms of bleeding.  Bleeding from the gums, tarry dark stools and throwing up blood are all serious signs of clotting issues that should be evaluated immediately.

Until recently, websites like SANE VAX and others were presenting data pulled from the VAERS (the system used to report adverse reactions from vaccines) to prove that vaccines are in fact linked to sudden onset clotting disorders like ITP.  Some vaccines have been shown to be more likely to trigger blood disorders like ITP—like the cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil.