Bleeding from nose--low platelets

Came home a couple of weeks ago to my 9-year old white Persian bleeding from her nose.  Scared me to death; vet did all sorts of tests; very low platelet level and gave her an injection (often used with cat cancer patients) plus prescription for prednisone (spelling?).  Two weeks later, while no nose bleeds, platelets back down to very low level; another injection, more prednisone and now Atopica.  Does anyone have experience with this med....she's now really lethargic and is not eating very well.  I don't like any of my cats (we have 8) to be on steroids and there seems to be no real reason why the bleeding started and/or how to permanently stop it.  Or could be there is no solution, but the meds are mega expensive. 

If anyone has any information, sure would appreciate it.

Gosh, Atopica is normally used for skin disorders...itching, lesions, that type of thing.  I'm not sure why it's being used for low platelet count, but then again, I'm not a Vet.  Lots of medications are used for things other than their normal usage.

I did read the Pred can help platelets increase, so understand why she is on that one.  So...your Vet has run tests to try to figure out what is wrong and cannot find any issues?  Auto immune issues?  Ticks?  FeLv?   I read that Ticks are the most common cause of this, even on indoor cats.

Maybe something in this thread will be helpful:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/126959/low-platelets

Thank you.  I think auto immune issues.  And he also thought perhaps some kind of tumor in the back of her nose, but has since gone away from that thought.  It's just so frustrating when you have an animal for 9 years w no issues, then one day this crops up.  I'm just trying to get a reasonable  understanding so I can evaluate in my own mind her on going care and treatment.

There are many threads here about auto immune issues.  Here are a few:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/242378/auto-immune-disease-and-bleeding-from-the-mouth

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/272100/cats-with-auto-immune-diseases

And THIS one, where the autoimmune info starts on post #13

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/272203/kitty-with-severe-allergies-any-help-is-appreciated