13th Jan 2022, My Doctor texted me to say my "Platelet Count" has Plummeted to 39 which is dangerously low and she is talking to my haematologist on course of action.
I woke up this morning humming "O Bloody O Baldaa", dont ask me why
- "O Bloody O Bladaa Life Goes on Duh" until You kick the Bucket I thought
Blood is the fluid of life, transporting oxygen from the lungs to body tissue and carbon dioxide from body tissue to the lungs.
Blood is the fluid of growth, transporting nourishment from digestion and hormones from glands throughout the body. ...
Because it contains living cells, blood is alive.
Here is the song for those of you who don't remember it
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, bra
La-la, how the life goes on
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, bra
La-la, how the life goes on
Now How did I get to this situation ????
No Doubt I was born a sickly child. suffered from cold and cough all the time. was extremely allergic to fine & pungent powders like Chilly powder and soap nut powder. My Mother persisted with the weekly oil bath for all children and believe it or not I'd start sneezing and my sisters will start counting and often it reached 100 in just one sneezing bout. There were no shampoos then in 1950. One Doctor told my mother off and asked "don't you think you should stop giving him oil baths?"
Moved to Madras from Andamans in 1955 at age 9 and I picked up a cough that lasted six long months that almost had me killed. I used to cough like a Dog non stop especially early in the mornings. My Dad was my Family doctor but was in Port Blair and he did not even know I was ill as we had to communicate by snail mail that took six weeks to get to him by ship.
TB or Tuberculosis was rampant in Madras then so I was Taken to a TB specialist who just heard me cough and Prescribed Streptomycin Sulphate injections twice a day and I took it for six long months.
Two Injections for six months
= 2x6x30 = 360 injections in total
Six moths later my mother took me to see another Respiratory specialist who diagnosed my Condition as Whooping cough and One Bottle of Mixture he made cured my cough in 2 weeks.
Do I blame the doctor for wrong diagnoisis, or my mother or my Karma ?
What ever it is the Damage is done. What these injections did to my blood and my body no one knows. Not even God
In 1998 my Platelet count was slightly elevated and at 400. My GP who was also my friend said "Nothing serious Ram, I have patients with platelet count of 650 walking around happy as ever"
Platelets are tiny blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. If one of your blood vessels gets damaged, it sends out signals to the platelets. The platelets then rush to the site of damage and form a plug (clot) to fix the damage.
I was in pretty good health until my stroke in March 2000 caused by a Vertebral Artery Dissection. How did this happen is the question?
in 1996 I had a Bad Rear ender ( I know it sounds funny). What I mean is a Big Truck rammed my Mazda 626 Station wagon from behind. Bang and I had a severe whip lash; but got up and walked away like a hero telling cops I am fine. One Policeman told me best you go and report this to your GP and have him check you out. I did and my GP said I was fine.
But I started experiencing Neck and shoulder pain, more so on the right side. So I went to a Chiropractor cum osteopath who would massage my neck and shoulder and always finished off the treatment cracking the neck and it gave relief to the aching muscles but got sore after a few days.
Looking back in 2022, I can tell what happened and why ?
My whip lash squashed my right vertebral artery causing the inner wall to crack longitudinally meaning the crack was along the length of the artery and blood started to flow into the crack between the inner and outer walls of the vertebral artery in the neck.
The Brain sensed this damaged artery in the neck and a possible rupture that could result in profuse internal bleeding and the autoimmune system started to produce more platelets to form a clot to stop the bleed. I had also been diagnosed with Ulcers of the Oesophagus and stomach in 1998 and who knows I had gastrointestinal bleeding too.
Perhaps the auto immune system over reacted and pushed the Platelet count to 890 which is extremely high suggesting the Brain sensed an emergency
Yes it helped blood to clot in my damaged artery but blocked blood flow totally causing a Brain stem stroke and Paralysis of the right side of the face and left side of the entire body. This was the result of lack of blood supply to the right PICA also known as Inchemic Stroke, which resulted in an Infarct in the brain in areas supplied by the right PICA.
Life goes on, bra
La-la, how the life goes on
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Life goes on, bra
La-la, how the life goes on
Now How did I get to this situation ????
No Doubt I was born a sickly child. suffered from cold and cough all the time. was extremely allergic to fine & pungent powders like Chilly powder and soap nut powder. My Mother persisted with the weekly oil bath for all children and believe it or not I'd start sneezing and my sisters will start counting and often it reached 100 in just one sneezing bout. There were no shampoos then in 1950. One Doctor told my mother off and asked "don't you think you should stop giving him oil baths?"
Moved to Madras from Andamans in 1955 at age 9 and I picked up a cough that lasted six long months that almost had me killed. I used to cough like a Dog non stop especially early in the mornings. My Dad was my Family doctor but was in Port Blair and he did not even know I was ill as we had to communicate by snail mail that took six weeks to get to him by ship.
TB or Tuberculosis was rampant in Madras then so I was Taken to a TB specialist who just heard me cough and Prescribed Streptomycin Sulphate injections twice a day and I took it for six long months.
Two Injections for six months
= 2x6x30 = 360 injections in total
Six moths later my mother took me to see another Respiratory specialist who diagnosed my Condition as Whooping cough and One Bottle of Mixture he made cured my cough in 2 weeks.
Do I blame the doctor for wrong diagnoisis, or my mother or my Karma ?
What ever it is the Damage is done. What these injections did to my blood and my body no one knows. Not even God
In 1998 my Platelet count was slightly elevated and at 400. My GP who was also my friend said "Nothing serious Ram, I have patients with platelet count of 650 walking around happy as ever"
Platelets are tiny blood cells that help your body form clots to stop bleeding. If one of your blood vessels gets damaged, it sends out signals to the platelets. The platelets then rush to the site of damage and form a plug (clot) to fix the damage.
I was in pretty good health until my stroke in March 2000 caused by a Vertebral Artery Dissection. How did this happen is the question?
in 1996 I had a Bad Rear ender ( I know it sounds funny). What I mean is a Big Truck rammed my Mazda 626 Station wagon from behind. Bang and I had a severe whip lash; but got up and walked away like a hero telling cops I am fine. One Policeman told me best you go and report this to your GP and have him check you out. I did and my GP said I was fine.
But I started experiencing Neck and shoulder pain, more so on the right side. So I went to a Chiropractor cum osteopath who would massage my neck and shoulder and always finished off the treatment cracking the neck and it gave relief to the aching muscles but got sore after a few days.
Looking back in 2022, I can tell what happened and why ?
My whip lash squashed my right vertebral artery causing the inner wall to crack longitudinally meaning the crack was along the length of the artery and blood started to flow into the crack between the inner and outer walls of the vertebral artery in the neck.
The Brain sensed this damaged artery in the neck and a possible rupture that could result in profuse internal bleeding and the autoimmune system started to produce more platelets to form a clot to stop the bleed. I had also been diagnosed with Ulcers of the Oesophagus and stomach in 1998 and who knows I had gastrointestinal bleeding too.
Perhaps the auto immune system over reacted and pushed the Platelet count to 890 which is extremely high suggesting the Brain sensed an emergency
Yes it helped blood to clot in my damaged artery but blocked blood flow totally causing a Brain stem stroke and Paralysis of the right side of the face and left side of the entire body. This was the result of lack of blood supply to the right PICA also known as Inchemic Stroke, which resulted in an Infarct in the brain in areas supplied by the right PICA.
Fortunately Heparin thinned the Blood and I started to receive Retrograde flow from the dominant Left Vertebral artery up the Basilar and down the right vertebral into the right AICA and right PICA. The Mouth of the PICA was 50% Blocked by blood clot and the right vertebral artery was fully occluded from the mouth of the PICA to the Subclavian artery in the neck.
In 2022 I can also remember my mother and my aunt (my mothers elder sister) both suffered similar strokes to mine and died eventually. At the time of their stroke there were no MRIs or MRAs and angio was seldom done for stroke patients.
What does this tell me ?
It tells me that there is a Congenital Family defect of a very thin and weak Right Vertebral artery and all three of us paid the penalty not knowing we had a problem of a defective vertebral artery in the neck. When I had my stroke I did not even know I had two vertebral artery in my neck.
Post Stroke Medical Treatments:
Was given heparin drip when hospitalised and then switched to Warfarin to thin the Blood. When I was triggering severe TIAs every time I turned my neck Plavix was added.
I recovered 95% and was over the moon.
Platelet Count of 890 was seen as Dangerously high level and diagnosed as ET or Essential Thrombocytosis and Prescribed max dose of HydroxyUrea 1000mg x 3 times a Day. Platelet count refused to come down as perhaps the Brain feared more Bleeding as I was on Warfarin and Plavix. After four years on Hydroxy Urea I developed an ankle bone ulcer that would not heal and was diagnosed as Bone Cancer. Later as a Patient I had to establish that it was caused by Hydroxy urea. I stopped Hydroxyurea that very day in 2004 and all was well but my Platelet Count refused to come down and was hovering around 600 to 700.
In Jan 2009 I got Dengue Fever and my Platelet count Plummeted overnight from 550 to 200. Big drop but I did not require blood transfusion as Platelet count was safe at 200.
2009 to 2016 I was fine and then started shortness of breath and fatigue. Jan 2018 was Diagnosed with Bradicardia Stage Three despite my seeing the same cardiologist for 12 years and him doing the same echo with stress test on a tread mill and ECG and telling me I had exercise induced asthma (BS). My heart is in bad shape now due to medical negligence.
A few months later Myelofibrosis was diagnosed and treated with Jakavi 15mg x twice a Day. My Platelet count was in the normal range then. Today in Jan 2022 I virtually have no platelets in my blood yo help the blood clot if there is a bleed.
In 2022 I can also remember my mother and my aunt (my mothers elder sister) both suffered similar strokes to mine and died eventually. At the time of their stroke there were no MRIs or MRAs and angio was seldom done for stroke patients.
What does this tell me ?
It tells me that there is a Congenital Family defect of a very thin and weak Right Vertebral artery and all three of us paid the penalty not knowing we had a problem of a defective vertebral artery in the neck. When I had my stroke I did not even know I had two vertebral artery in my neck.
Post Stroke Medical Treatments:
Was given heparin drip when hospitalised and then switched to Warfarin to thin the Blood. When I was triggering severe TIAs every time I turned my neck Plavix was added.
I recovered 95% and was over the moon.
Platelet Count of 890 was seen as Dangerously high level and diagnosed as ET or Essential Thrombocytosis and Prescribed max dose of HydroxyUrea 1000mg x 3 times a Day. Platelet count refused to come down as perhaps the Brain feared more Bleeding as I was on Warfarin and Plavix. After four years on Hydroxy Urea I developed an ankle bone ulcer that would not heal and was diagnosed as Bone Cancer. Later as a Patient I had to establish that it was caused by Hydroxy urea. I stopped Hydroxyurea that very day in 2004 and all was well but my Platelet Count refused to come down and was hovering around 600 to 700.
In Jan 2009 I got Dengue Fever and my Platelet count Plummeted overnight from 550 to 200. Big drop but I did not require blood transfusion as Platelet count was safe at 200.
2009 to 2016 I was fine and then started shortness of breath and fatigue. Jan 2018 was Diagnosed with Bradicardia Stage Three despite my seeing the same cardiologist for 12 years and him doing the same echo with stress test on a tread mill and ECG and telling me I had exercise induced asthma (BS). My heart is in bad shape now due to medical negligence.
A few months later Myelofibrosis was diagnosed and treated with Jakavi 15mg x twice a Day. My Platelet count was in the normal range then. Today in Jan 2022 I virtually have no platelets in my blood yo help the blood clot if there is a bleed.
Understanding the Cause and Effect Theory:
Basically Blood is alive and our Life we are what we Eat and drink as it all ends up in the stomach after digestion and helps the blood maintain supply of Oxygen and sugar to energise the Brain. The Blood is THE Fertiliser for the Brain that controls the Autonomous system helping us Breathe swallow eat and bat our eye lids and keeps our heart ticking.
I bet every one knows everything about this fact that we are what we eat. Best is to eat everything in life in moderation, so we can enjoy the pleasures all our life.
Yet what we do is way different from what we learn. We indulge especially when we become more affluent. We are eating or drinking something or the other every minute we are awake. Potato chips, Biscuits, Fruits, Nuts, Soft Drinks and Ice cream on top of three large meals a day with a lot of fried food.
( If you are going to tell me, No you do not indulge then you are a very Knowledgeable and learned person who practices what is good for you)
Majority think I can eat what I want and if I get sick I will see my Doctor and pop in a Pill and continue my life style of eating and drinking.
This is where the Real Trouble Starts.
All of us for get the following:-
1- That medicines are prescribed based symptoms or some basic blood tests
2- That No medicine has ever cured any one of any disease what so ever
3- Last but not least, every tablet or mixture prescribed by doctors that we swallow ends up in the stomach, gets digested and residue ends up in the blood stream and the blood distributes it to all parts of the human body
4- If Your medicine is a Toxin you and I are deliberately poisoning ourselves blindly because a doctor prescribed it. Do doctors know what the medicine does to their bodies. "No Sir" unless they too are suffering from the same disease.
5- a Doctors job is to evaluate your symptoms, look at their Govt approved almanacs and do the Inky Pinky Ponky Trick and prescribe a PILL and the patient is stuck with the Pill and the Blind hope that the Pill will Fix his problem
6- The Australian medicare system is a Philosophical Dream. In Reality Medicare is abused by the very people who are supposed to protect it. The medicos especially the so called specialists majority of whom become specialists so they can mint money. Australian GPs have their hands tied as there job is to do some basic tests and recommend the patients to specialists. GPs can do Basic blood tests CT scans and give a patient prescriptions only for medicines prescribed by specialists and referrals to see specialists and occassionally prescribe antibiotics. Lucky are patients with Good GPs with high ethics ( I was fortunate with my GP Dr Weinmam who cared for me from 2004 to 2017. he is no more now. I had to see some quacks in between until I found this young Lady doctor a Tamilian born & brought up in OZ who takes extra care as I have too many co morbidities and a tonne of medications
