Bruising

[mjn500]

I was diagnosed ET JAK2+ a couple of months ago and have been on low dose aspirin since just before that.

For the last month I have been bruising ridiculously easily, which I am finding quite distressing. Where before I might get a scratch - I am outdoors a lot - I now get a scratch and then a day or two later one or more bruises around it which worsen over a couple of days and stay for ages - long after the scratch has healed.

I presume this is the aspirin? If my platelets go down - currently 450 and Haemo wants below 400 - am I likely to be able to reduce the aspirin?

I am otherwise pretty much asymptomatic and I don't like this!

Thanks,

Mel.

[mhos61]

Hi Mel, I’m also ET Jak2.

Like you, I bruise very easy too, I always have though. Since being on aspirin the bruising has definitely increased. I have some beauties at times!

Unfortunately, you’ll have to remain on aspirin or some type of blood thinner even when your platelets reduce. Having ET makes your platelets ‘sticky’ and thus more likely to form a clot. As an anticoagulant, aspirin lessens this risk. I see the bruising as a ‘trade in’ for lessening thrombotic risk.

[Hydrox]

Same here, get a knock, get a bruise, better than a clot, par for the course with aspirin.

[WileyFrench]

I have ET - no mutations - and take HU along with low-dose aspirin and clopidogrel. I’ll have to take all for life and the latter two definitely contribute to extremely easy bruising. As mhos61 says, though, it’s the trade-off for keeping our blood flowing and not over-clotting.

[Hidden]

Are you on any other medication for your ET? Aspirin will not decrease the platelet count.

[mjn500 in reply to Hidden]

Hydroxycarbamide 500mg x 5 / 1000mg x 2 per week.

[Lifam]

Bruising is one of the common side effects of any blood thinners, if you read about their side effects, it also say while on blood thinners, we have to be careful not to cut ourself as well as try to avoid accident like falling etc just in case. Yes, blood thinners do not reduce platelets, they only help avoiding platelets stick together easily. And our bone marrow will keeps on over producing platelets, so I am afraid we have to take blood thinners for life.

[ccsial]

Hi Mel,

I’ve been on hydrea for 15 years with ET when I was 60. I now have MF and am on Jakafi and hydrea reduced dose. Also take a baby aspirin. I have bruised easily for the last 5 or 6 years. It gets worse every year. Since I am still very active cutting fire wood and working around the farm my lower arms look terrible. The funny thing is the rest of me does not bruise near as easily. I think the arms are the worst due to many years of sun exposure. Since I started hydrea 15 years ago I have been very careful and wear long sleeve shirts and a wide brimmed hat. My skin on my arms is also paper thin. The slightest scrape and I am bleeding.

Al

[Anag]

Dear MJN, I am a bit unorthodox and adjust my aspirin as needed. But, I have gotten to know my body very well. Firstly, I found a solution to reduce my aspirin intake by adding 3x60mg of Ginkgo in tablet form, 3x/day. At 600 thrombos, I also add 3-4 50mg tablets of aspirin a week. This is all in agreement with my hematologist, of course. I prefer natural treatments to chemical ones. The Ginkgo is already out of my body wishing 9-12 hours, aspirin hangs around for about a week. If you are taking 100mg daily for your relatively low thrombos, and you are bruising so much, it may be too much. Please discuss with your Hemo!!

My test for thinness of blood is to purposely injure my gums with floss and see how long they bleed. If they hardly bleed, I take a bit more aspirin. Once they bled for 10 minutes! Too thin. And I was bruising. I reduced aspirin a bit. I’ve had 5 TIAs (like strokes). They can be caused by clotting or easy bleeding, just the same.

Don’t forget if you are bruising so easily and have an accident, it may be very difficult to control the blood loss. I’m ET CALR. My mutation is also prone to bleeding. Can be life threatening. As my doctor put me up to 50mg aspirin every day, I woke up with a nose bleed that took 1’20” to stop, I was like a faucet. Too much blood thinners and my thrombos were down. By the way, my grandmother died from a nose bleed in her sleep at 57. I’m 54 and was terrified. Stopping the Ginkgo and aspirin immediately took every danger away, since all the Ginkgo came out of my body by evening and my blood had time to recover it’s viscosity. I restarted my old dosages 36 hours later, after speaking to my hemo.

The important thing about me is that my thrombos fluctuate quite a bit. It is necessary to listen to my body, check symptoms of thicker or thinner blood and adjust the thinners. If I’m light headed, my skin becomes sensitive and my toes often red, my blood is too thin. If my ears have tinnitus, fingers become numb or swollen or hurt, or there is brain fog, blood is too thick. Getting to the point of hurting happened once shortly after my diagnosis, when we were trying out meds amounts. I take Anagrelid, otherwise I am at 1,000.

Hope to have helped.

[azaelea]

I'm ET Jak2+

and bruise at the drop of a hat! Arms mostly, just have to brush past a wall or something and immediately a purple/red mark which gets bigger and bigger. Lasts about a week or more. I've been on Prednisolone for many years for Polymyalgia so skin is like paper. I'm on 75mg Aspirin and Hydroxy 500 mg daily. It's more peace of mind taking these medications rather than worrying about stroke/heart attack.