I just turned 70 but was diagnosed with ET when I was 68 a year and a half ago. But I found out the hard way. I have always been very active and in what I thought was good health until I had the stroke. A large clot had formed in my carotid artery which required surgery to remove. My platelets at the time were around 800, but between the time of my stroke and the results of my blood work and bone marrow biopsy, they continued to rise to nearly 900. I have been taking Hydroxyurea for the past year and a half, and have had very little side effects from the drug. I was lucky that the stroke did not leave me with any lasting impairments, but I do not want to chance having another….hence the drug plus a blood thinner (apixaban…Eloquis) to keep my platelets down and my blood flowing smoothly. Just to let you know, I had no symptoms that anything was amiss prior to the stroke.