Taking Medicine For Back Pain, Thyroid Problem, Food Poisoning. Any Effect On Platelet Count?

Posted on Mon, 17 Dec 2012

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 Answered on

Mon, 7 Jan 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi, I have been told that my platelet count is 125. It was 140 3 months ago. I had food poisoning 2 weeks ago. I also have hyperthyrodism and take 5mg methimazole 4x's per week. I have been on the meds for 4 years. I also was taking Methocarbamol for back pain (last does was 2 days before my blood work). I know that the medication I take for my thyroid can affect my platelets over time. I have an appointment with my primary for a follow up, but was just curious if it could be related to the recent meds and food poisoning. Thanks!

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (1 hour later)

Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Low platelets level can be caused by many factors. It can decreased by methamazole intake as well as by any infection. So the answer is yes, it can be related to the recent medicines and food poisoning. But it doesnt have to. There can be other reason of such low platelets count. But this needs many blood tests (and bone narrow in some cases) so it will be hard to find the reason from here.
I suggest you to have your blood work repeated and if the platelets level keeps falling down, you should visit a hematologist.

Hope this will help. Feel free to ask further questions.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar