When something isn’t quite right with your blood count, it can be concerning. After all, the blood plays numerous crucial roles in keeping us alive and healthy. When something is off, you can’t help but worry about it.
Finding out that you have a high platelet count can be particularly frightening. Knowing what platelets do and why your count might be higher than average can help alleviate your fears and give you a better understanding of what a high count might mean to your health. Keep reading to learn more about the possible causes of high platelet counts and why this number matters so much.
What’s Considered a High Platelet Count?
Platelets are cell fragments in the blood that help with clotting. When you sustain an injury, like a cut, platelets rush to the affected area and clump together to help stop the bleeding. They’re also part of the immune system. They can help fight off infections. Those are only a few of their roles in the body. Normal platelet counts generally fall between 150,000 and 450,000 per microliter of blood. Anything above 450,000 is considered high.
What Causes High Platelet Counts?
High platelet counts, also known as thrombocytosis, can happen for several reasons. There are two main types of thrombocytosis: reactive and essential. Reactive, or secondary, thrombocytosis is more common. It occurs when the body increases higher volumes of platelets in response to another condition.
Causes of Reactive Thrombocytosis
Reactive thrombocytosis is often the result of viral, bacterial, or fungal infections. When the immune system detects invading cells, it prompts the bone marrow to produce more platelets to help get rid of them. Once the infection has been neutralized, platelet counts return to normal. If you’ve recently been injured or had surgery, your platelet count is bound to be high while your body recovers as well.
Chronic inflammation that occurs with conditions like IBD, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis can cause high platelet counts too. In cases like these, the body’s response to inflammation stimulates platelet production. Because of that, levels are consistently higher than normal.
People who’ve had their spleen removed often live with high platelet counts because the spleen helps with filtering and storing platelets. Without it, more platelets stay in the bloodstream. Iron deficiencies can lead to high platelet counts because they can cause the bone marrow to produce more platelets than usual. Certain medications, including steroids and some cancer treatments, can temporarily raise platelet counts as well.
Causes of Essential Thrombocytosis
Essential, or primary, thrombocytosis is less common. With this condition, the bone marrow produces too many platelets without a secondary cause at work. This can happen because of unusual changes in stem cells in the bone marrow. This condition is a type of bone marrow disorder, and it causes ongoing high platelet counts rather than intermittent ones.
When to Seek Medical Attention
If a blood test reveals that you have a high platelet count, it’s not necessarily a reason to worry. It could simply be your body reacting to an infection or injury. Other times, it’s a chronic issue that’s caused by underlying medical conditions.
Ongoing high platelet counts can cause complications, like unexplained bruising, changes in your vision, headaches, numbness, and dizziness. Continually having high levels of platelets may also lead to blood clots in your veins and arteries, which can cause stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism, and many other dangerous problems. High platelet counts that don’t return to normal fairly quickly warrant more extensive testing and medical care.
