ET and raised platelet count after covid vaccinations

Living with and after blood cancer
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I have been thinking (not always a wise thing to do)

I have had a raised platelet count for 8 months, so my hydroxycarbamide dose has been increased, as the letter actually says they are raised, with “no effective symptoms”.

But I am wondering, if an “effective symptom” might actually be my body doing the right thing, and mounting a response to the vaccines. I have had 4 Pfizer,
and the first raised count was after my 1st vaccination

I have had the NHS antibody test, and am positive for antibodies, so I am mounting some response.

I know platelets counts can go up by themselves, with ET, and it could be a coincidence (after many years with it, they have increased over time).

I was wondering, if there are any others out there, who have seen the same thing, after vaccination
not a scientific study, I know.

I have a consultant review in a coupe of weeks, so it’s a question now, on my list

But I’m also wondering if upping my hydroxycarbamide dose was the right thing to do, if my platelet response is a good thing, and not something that should be suppressed.

Has anyone else seen the same thing, or am I just overthinking this?

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Very interesting cogitations there @heatherthomas. I am certainly not medically trained but what I do think is that we are very complex beings.
I await the thoughts of others.

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Hello @heatherthomas, being curious is great and you are quite right to ask your Consultant this question during you next review. My opinion to consider is that usually the inflammatory response after a vaccine can be quite short in time and would include the white blood cells in particular. Can you recall if they were raised too? It is fantastic to hear that you have antibodies to COVID, that must be very reassuring. I suspect that the conclusion will be in further monitoring your blood counts now you are up to date with all the vaccinations and of course you should mention to your Doctor the concern you have in suppressing your blood counts with Hydroxcarbomide and then they can relay their thought. Take care Gemma

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I haven’t actually had the readouts from my blood tests, as it’s all done on the phone now (They used to give me a copy of the paper printout, when it was face-to-face), they just let me know the platelet count. I will ask about the white blood cells,

I have been searching the internet, in preparation, and have found

an extract…
The study included 80 (55 AZ and 55 mRNA) vaccinated individuals and 55 non-vaccinated age- and gender matched healthy controls. The main findings where that both vaccines enhanced inflammation and platelet activation, though AZ vaccination induced a more pronounced increase in several inflammatory and platelet activation markers compared to mRNA vaccination and that post-vaccination thrombin generation was higher following AZ vaccination compared to mRNA vaccination. No difference in neither the PF4 antibody level nor the proportion of individuals with positive PF4 antibodies were observed between the vaccine groups. This is the first study to report enhanced inflammation, platelet activation and thrombin generation following AZ vaccination compared to mRNA vaccination in a head-to-head comparison. We speculate that specific components of the AZ adenovirus vector may serve as initial trigger(s) of (hyper)inflammation, platelet activation and thrombin generation, potentially lowering the threshold for a cascade of events that both trigger complications related to excessive inflammation, platelet and coagulation activation as observed in epidemiological studies and promote development of VITT when combined with high-titer functionally active PF4 antibodies.
…
I have had 4 Pfizer , no AZ or JJ
I think Pfizer is an mRNA

I’ll update once I have discussed it with my consultant

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My consulatnt hadn’t heard of the study, and didn’t think the raised platelets were due to the response to the vaccine, but said she could not be sure.
My platelet count is down to 327 - which is about the lowest it’s been, they are keeping me on the increased dose of hydroxycarbamide
White blood cells are normal

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