Our body is capable of amazing things. Things that we often are unable to notice, simply because of how good it is at doing whatever amazing feat it does. One particularly notable capability of the human body is to be able to apply a natural band-aid to minor cuts. And heck, even help deep cuts in recovering faster. The blood platelets in the body are in charge of clotting open wounds and thus prevent further loss of precious blood. Yes, it’s one of those things that we tend to under-appreciate, yet start to feel extremely lacking once the said ability fails to function normally.
A low blood platelet count – thrombocytopenia – is a condition where a person’s blood platelet is too low to clot wounds. A single drop of blood is expected to have at least a hundred and fifty thousand blood platelets to be considered normal levels. It’s a pretty generous range considering that the topmost number for blood platelet normal levels is in the range of 450,000. The inability to patch up cuts is just one aspect of it. Other symptoms of bruising and bleeding gums can be just as troublesome as an open wound. It’s also worth mentioning that symptoms such as blood in one’s stool can cause panic.
Some symptoms are considered cosmetic but are still worrisome nonetheless. Constant bruising and tiny red specks of blood under the skin are innocent enough on their own. But if a person keeps getting bruises every single time, their friends might think that the person’s partner is physically abusing them; an awkward situation for sure, but totally plausible.
Fortunately, it isn’t impossible to keep blood platelet levels near the lower normal levels. However, discipline and consistency is necessary. One of the most important things to do when having a low blood platelet count is to keep exercise a habit. More and more people forego the importance of exercising. And with the constant technological improvements that lead to modern day conveniences, more physical activities are removed from a person’s daily routine. Heck, even walking towards the switch to turn the light off is becoming primitive.
One thing to remember when sticking to an exercise routine, however, is to make sure that the activities don’t have a high risk for injury. Obviously, cuts are something to be avoided for a person who has the inability to clot wounds. Walking seems to be the safe spot. But one can get slightly more benefits with not much injury risk in cycling and swimming. The key is to be mindful and, of course, careful.
Another lifestyle change that persons with thrombocytopenia should consider is to eat healthy food. It may sound cliche and overused, but improving your low platelet count with healthy food has the biggest impact on improving the condition, more so than medications, in fact. Since a healthy choice of food, particularly those that are rich in Vitamin K, has a longer lasting effect even if they’re not as potent as medications. Long-term improvement is better than emergency patching up, after all.