My daughters itch...

[EDHDZ05]

Hi Doctor. My daughter got diagnosed with Leukemia when she was 4 years old (November 2006). Well the first 6 months were the hardest (hair loss, fatigue, etc, etc). First year she was hospilitized 3 times because of fevers. Now she is doing great !!! Her ANC counts never go below 1,000. It did once in the past 3months, but its always generally 1,000-3,000. She is chubby and eats and plays. Her last month of treatment is actually next month (hoooray). She is doing so well that her doctor increased her 6mp Mercaptopurine pill. It use to be one a night 7 days a week. Now its one pill one night and the next night a pill and a half and so on. She takes Methotrexate once a week (6 pills at once). Since she is healthy they increased it to 7 pills one day a week. She is also on bactrim and Dexamethasone. The only side effect is that the dexamethasone makes her body itch, but we give her benadryl and it helps our greatly. Well all has been well, but 4 months ago she started having anal itch. I took her to the "ER" and they treated her for pinworms. It did not help. Well her doctor said it could be a tiny rupture because one of Bactrim side effect is that it makes you strain and it could cause rupture. Well the itch was still bad. I had to put her in hot water and give her benadryl. Well it works at times, but not all the time. Cortizone 10 kinda of helps. This is something that comes and goes and I am puzzled. One night she woke up and said her vagina itch. I am a single dad and it freaked me out. Well she pulled little clear strands out of her privates. It was clear like mucus with a little red (like blood). I put it in a piece of paper and it looked like someone blew their nose. Well I freaked and took her to the "ER". I showed the doctor and she didn't seem worried. She said it could be because of the Bactrim. She has been taking bactrim for 2 1/2 years why would it cause this now? she takes one pill 3 days a week. She is only 6 years old. Doctor at the "ER" said not to worry so I was at ease. Well it still comes out every now and then. sometimes  2-3 strands at a time. Her mom said this happend to her when she was 8. Well I told her regular hematologist doctor and she was like "what". She was surprised and inspected her and she said their no infection. Nothing visibily wrong with her vagianl area. Well nothing came out at the doctors office. Well when we got home my daughter said look daddy after she use the restroom and needless to say more came out. Her anal itch and this has me up at nights and I am scared something more seriously be wrong, but I am not getting any response from her doctors. Could this be medecine related? I called the Hemotologist on duty at the hospital and said its nothing to panick about because it could be medicine related, but different doctors tell me different things. One more question she bruises easily, but her counts are normally high, but what makes her bruise easily? thank you and God Bless

[Mother of bailey]

My son was 4 when he was dignosed with ALL also he is 7 now and has 4 more months of cemo left(boys have to have longer tretments then girls) he also gets ichey in the anal area i find what helps him the most is to put gold bond medcaited powder down ther a cupple times a day..he says it works beter then anything..our dr also said this was medical related..you said she had one month left so by now she should be down with treatment, how is that goning? god bless

[Dnmh]

The bruising is generally caused by platelet deficiencies. The discharge could be a side effect of medications. She is rather young, but maybe a consult with a gynocologist to help determine the cause? As for the itching, have you tried hemoriod creams?

Cooler water is better for the itch than hot... hot can irritate the nerves a little more and may not help.

Wish I could be of more help! Hopefully someone with experience living with leukemia posts something more.

Thinking of you and your daughter!