I have always bruised easily. But lately I have had a huge number of odd and unexplained bruises...on the inside of my legs...my abdomen...my breasts...
I currently have several dozen distinct bruises all over my body.
This pic is just one example of the areas of bruises I have...
Has anyone else experienced this? Does it have a cause or indicate a problem...
My doctor just shrugged when I asked about this.
And as I noticed other posts about this I AM NOT currently on steroids or any other prescriptions...I have been mostly symptom free...other than the weird bruises...
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jakenney
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I have always bruised easily as well. Could be your platelets have dropped for some reason so I suggest getting a FBC done and speak to your consultant. Don't want to alarm you but one day a huge amount of bruises started coming up over my legs, they were a lot more aggressive then yours in the photo, so I went to my consultant who done my bloods and had a phone call back the same day. Unfortunatly for me I was diagnosed with leukaemia and am now in remission. As I said I don't want you to be alarmed, but any new symptoms you should have checked out. I can't believe your GP just shrugged you off. I just think your bloods are maybe a bit in the air! Have you started any new medication recently? Hope everything is ok? X
Hello for the past week I have had random bruises appear over night on both my thighs they literally look like I’ve been beaten up.
I have spoke to my doctor and they have sent me for a FBC and a clotting screen., but I’m worried as I’m already under the haematologists as for the past 6-7 months I’ve had a low white cell count.
Hi, I have been like this most of my life and no one seemed to be bothered. It was a doctor at the hospital 30 years ago that noticed them - he asked me if I was married and did my husband treat me well. I had no idea what he meant as I had never heard then of wife beating thank goodness. Turned out my Platelet count was very low and they said that was the problem. However I am covered with them at the moment and went for a blood test to check how low it had dropped again and it was OK. I have then all at the back on my knees and above from just sitting on a hard chair and my arms from who knows where. Now they are saying "It's my age" aaaaaahhhhhhh. Which brings me back to when I was little and people said I was Clumsy ! In other words "they" have no idea. I would mention it to your doctor, as mine when bad DO leave a Brown 'stain'. which does not look good but does not hurt. Good luck.xx
You can ask your GP to do a 'full blood count' which will include a platelet count. Platelets should be 150/300 per unit of blood, they send you to the hospital if its less than 80, I live happily with between 15 & 20 platelets per unit of blood so I get lots of bruises on my legs etc. I just wear a medic alert bracelet that says I'm a bleeding disorder!
Have your platelet levels been checked I wonder. They are often chronically low in lupus but when they get too low for safety the cause can be (autoimmune) THROMBOCYTOPENIA. Sorry about the caps. Thrombocytes are platelets and penia means "lack of". It's called ITP for short , used to be 'idiosyncratic' meaning reason unknown and now the I is for 'immune' and the last P refers to the 'purpura' which is bruises and sometimes 'petechiae' too which are small red pinprick like marks. There may be bleeding from orifices too like nose or earbleeds, or heavy periods.
ITP can be found along with lupus as another autoimmune condition, but there are several other causes, such as infections and other blood disorders. Sometimes but rarely the antimalarials can cause ITP, just for general info. It seems that Pred bruising looks different from ITP but don't ask me how. So, unexplained bruising always needs checking out.
I was diagnosed with ITP last year after almost 40 years post lupus diagnosis. I had no symptoms at first but a routine 6 monthly check showed very serious shortage. The risk is unstoppable bleeding internally or externally, if you cut yourself or have an accident for example.
I'm glad to hear you're doing well and hope the bruising turns out to be just one of those things. Maybe you can choose which GP you see and maybe you can call to ask what your last levels were, if you had blood tests recently.
I agree with everyone here - it could be an indication of low platelet count which is often found with SLE. Steroids are the first step in addressing this, it appears. Mycophenolate mofetil has been found to improve the level of platelets and resolve the thrombocytopenia even where not caused by SLE - see this article ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....
Bottom line - I'd go do a blood test and see a rheumatologist, it might indicate active SLE. Addressing the activity is likely to resolve the thrombocytopenia.
As I have said before I bruise but they are dark plumb colour a women thought I was in my 70's because she saw my hands covered in the marks I was 49 at the time.
The problem I have is I have been tested for lupus and I think Doctors think nothing has come back on the bloods so they don't know what it is so they put it down to steroids but I was like this before I took steroids and I have a lot more symptoms with my marks painful joints, poor balance, flu like symptom and if I cut myself I will bleed for hours and my breathing is worse when I get this red rash on my forehead and under my eyes
Thanks for the input! I'm trying to get a new GP, my current one is just bad....I have to tell her what to check if I want anything done which is why I posted.
Needed suggestions to make. A blood workup is probably a good idea. I'm chronically anemic so a blood platelet problem seems a likely scenario.
hi yes i get them all the time and some are enormous, got a large one on top of my thigh and lots of little ones all over, iam on azathrioprine and that can be a side effect, but my drs never seemed to be bothered either about them, once they did alot of other blood tests but all came back negative, sorry i know this not much help but just keep telling your doctors, and the nxt time i go to my consultant iam going to ask her how wot n why, and make sure i get some kind of answer, wish you well...
Hi there, this may just be a shot in the dark but I wonder if you could ask your GP to test you for Von Willebrands disease, similar in many ways to haemophilia, though not life threatening. I was diagnosed with it years ago after bruising looking very much like yours. Normally it is treated whine needed with a drug called Desmopresin DDAVP which is a synthetic alternative to human blood based Factor VIII. Unfortunately I wasn't able to cope with DDAVP (had an anaphylactic reaction). I do think would be worth mentioning to your GP even if it is just to rule it out.
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