Bruising

[Motida]

I noticed someone mentioned bruising. I have hurt my right thump two weeks back cutting up veg. The whole of the thumb pad is dark mauve The pharmacist said it was a circulation problem and I bought a tube of Hirudoid cream 5 mg to put on 4 times a day. This is the first day.

He knew I was on Pred for PMR but did not mention that as a connection or cause. . He said I should see the GP if the bruise does not fade. Loathe to do that as it does not hurt and it seems trivial. What would a GP prescribe I asked, but he shrugged and said anti biotics? Really, you are joking!

On reflection the bruise from the flu injection took nearly a month to fade, so wonder if that was also due to PMR or is it Pred?

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I took your advice and raised the Pred from 7.5 to 11 mg. for this month as I am having a cataract operation on 23 January and feel a whole lot better . Once over that I will try and go back to 7.5 and see if the symptoms are less of a nuisance. Your comments about dry eyes were also of interest as I cannot see much in the distance or make out people's features. Which drops did you find the best and are they over the counter? I only ask as the consultant told me that the new lens will not cure the blurred long sight.

Thanks for all the information and support - it is so positive.

[SnazzyD]

Did it start with an ouch, even a small one, when you were cutting the veg? Pred makes blood vessels more fragile, hence bruising. From time to time I had blood vessels in my fingers bursting after some heavy wear like carrying a bag, pulling a ring-pull or gripping something. It usually started with a sting and then it would go pink then purple. The extent of the colouring I presume was down to the size of the blood vessel. Occasionally my finger would go purple and a bit swollen. It was worse pre-diagnosis and when on Pred. Yours might not be this but can you say a bit more about how it developed?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

How did you hurt it chopping veg? Could it be Achenbacher syndrome?

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl....

That isn't a circulation problem - and ANTIBIOTICS????? Plonker!!!!

[Motida in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you very much for this information. I was just cutting up a carrot and the main pressure came on the pad of my thumb. It hurt quite a lot as I thought the blade had cut my thumb, but it hadn't, so I put some liquid propolis oil on it. Pain went away and the bruise started to come up and has remained. I thought I had damaged a blood vessel and it was old blood collected. I am pretty ignorant on how things work.

Looking at the pictures on the Achenbacher site my thumb does look like one of the fingers. Anyway I will just hope my thumb will turn pink again and put the issue aside. So glad I did not even try for a GP appointment - it would have been so humiliating! Was going to include a snap, but all kinds of other windows and questions came up so abandoned the idea!

Thank you again for the speedy response

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Motida]

I get them every so often - they do fade like any other bruise. But they do look rather dramatic!!!

[PMRrunner in reply to Motida]

I get them quite frequently, sometimes I get them after peeling veg like you but often I'm not even aware that I've done anything to cause them until they begin to feel uncomfortable and the bruising appears. Often the next day the finger doesn't feel right but then the bruising fades and the finger returns to normal ....until the next time

[random901]

I'm bruising easily, too. Pred appears to have made things worse. Fingers, thumbs and palm of hands particularly susceptible Painful immediately, but eases after rubbing and massage.

[papadapadoo]

I had purple bruises up and down my arms whenever I bumped, even lightly. They pretty much went away when I got down to 7 mg.