CancerCompass message board discussion started by cln714 on 1/12/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,19671,0.htm Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ I was diagnosed with ET a couple of months ago.  I am 36 yo and they found out I had this because at the beginning of the year I had my thyroid removed (totally unrelated) and since then they've had to test my blood frequently.  Even before my surgery my platelets were elevated and my Drs were slightly concerned but since then they have gone up and up and when they reached over a million I had to have my bone marrow biopsied.  My Dr told me I had ET and had to start taking hydrea.  I am curious by nature and did alot of research on the drug and am very concerned about starting that at this point in my life since I have a long time (hopefully) to deal with this disease.  On a side note, I have never had children and have not quite given up hope.  I know what the drug does to unborn children and I feel that it would be somewhat irresponsible for me to start this treatment when I know in my heart I would want to get pregnant.  At this point my Dr is thinking I am being unreasonable but also said I would probably do ok with just an asperin a day until I am a little bit older and treatment will become necessary.  I don't know if I am in denial but because I have had no symptoms I am more afraid of the treatment than I am of the disease.  This is definitely not cut and dry and because I am having to make choices about my health I feel like I need some support from people that really understand!!!   Please help me make, what could be, the most important decision of my life.As it appears that people don't keep up with this message board to often, pls feel free to just email me so we could chat more 1 on 1. My address is --Message edited by CancerCompass staff. For personal protection, email address removed. Consider private reply. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html-- I would appreciate all the help I can get.Thank you for reading!! cln714 Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hello,I was diagnosed with ET 12 years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter.  I had syptoms such as chest pain, headache, and bleeding.  Then, my count was over 2.5 millions; now, I am also controlling it with hydrea as well.  You might think that you can control your diseas process by taking aspirin, but your count will go up like mine.  I recommend that you discuss your options with your DRs.  There are more options such as taking medications called Anagrelide or interferon; these medications are do not interfere with pregnancy.  I hope this help.  Remember prevention is the key to your health.  Try to work with your DRs.  Koreana Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thank you for responding to my message.  I actually started the Hydrea.  It hasn't been that great.  It's brought my count down to around 600 which is good for me... but I feel that I am having some side effects.  I have some dark patches of skin on my face (of all places).  My Dr doesn't believe that it's from the hydrea.  He said those have probably been there for awhile, but my friends and family have commented on it so I know it's something that just popped up and it's not just in my head.  Also, I am extremely tired.  I recently went to Vegas and shortly after arriving I went to take a nap and ended up sleeping for 20 hours!!!!   Again my Dr says it's not from the Hydrea.  He seems to think that as long as my count is down everything is fine... But I am 36 yo... I should not be sleeping for 20 hours at a time!  I keep cancelling plans because I am too tired.  I guess I should switch Drs but it's so hard to find a good one and the one I go to has a great reputation. Does anyone know of a good specialist in the Chicagoland area???  cln714 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT