To be worried about cancer

[User527272]

I’ve got small Petechiae spots on my body which I know can be a sign of blood cancer. I also have a pain in my wrist which again can also be a sign. Anyone else has similar symptoms and had a minor health condition?

I get petechiae after vomiting and certain exercises. I also get it if I get sunburnt.

I have joint hypermobility syndrome so I am prone to joint pain. My GP also thinks this is why I get petechiae so easily

I had cancer - not blood cancer and don't know anything about your symptoms. Worst case scenario - you have cancer. Worrying about it won't change it so just see a doctor and see what happens.

I know these nothing I can do if I do have it but it doesn’t stop me from worrying.

Genuine question... do you suffer with health anxiety? No judgement here as I do.

You seem to be linking obscure symptoms to cancer especially wrist pain .

A pain in the wrist can be caused by literally anything, you could have slept in a funny position or picked something up awkwardly.....it's very unlikely to be cancer!

As for the rash I get these all the time as does my son and it's caused by clothes labels rubbing us. It can be a sign yes but not usually one that appears on its own.

Please don't google or worry too much but see a gp if your concerned.

@Twigletfairy that's interesting, I have loads of petechiae dots and am a bit hypermobile. Did your GP say why they might be related?

Thank you. No I don’t suffer from health anxiety. I know the wrist pain could be anything but when it’s linked to the spots as a symptoms of cancer it’s hard not to. I’ve seen the gp my blood results were meant to be back Thursday but have been delayed so won’t know anything till Tuesday.

EnterFunnyNameHere hypermobility is caused by faulty collagen, essentially it's not as strong as healthy collagen. So anything in the body that contains collagen can be affected. Blood vessels have collagen, so they can be more prone to damage. So general bruising can be more common in hypermobility too, but of course everyone has different symptoms.

Op when we're your bloods taken and did it include a full blood count? If so full blood counts are generally tested within 24 hours. Its the time between authorising the results and posting the results to the GP to then be reviewed that adds on all the extra time. If there was any indication of blood cancer your results would have been fast tracked.

How old are you and where on your body are the spots?

My DH and one of my DD get petechiae if they strain or have something rub too hard on their skin. My DD scratched her neck too hard earlier this week and has some. I checked with a GP when we visited for something unrelated and she said it was nothing to worry about.
I’m interested to know how you’re linking petechiae and wrist pain and getting cancer? That’s a genuine question not a snarky one. Wrist pain could be anything, carpel tunnel syndrome for example.

OP I'm not a haematologist but I do work in that field. The symptoms you describe are not the most common signs of a blood cancer. If you have those but not the more common ones, I'd think it would be incredibly unlikely that that is what you have. You're hearing hoofbeats and thinking zebra instead if horse. There's nothing to be gained from second guessing your bloods now, try to put it aside until Tuesday (I know that's not easy)

How long have you had the petechia and are they definitely those and not Campbell de Morgan spots if they’re on your body? (Harmless little red mole like lesions) patient.info/doctor/campbell-de-morgan-spot

I worry all the time but make sure you drink 4 pints of water and take some vitamin tablets, plenty of exercise, check again in a week and see if anything has changed.

Thanks @Twigletfairy - I also bruise like a peach, so I'm seeing a lot of common ground haha

A few months now they appear and then fade over a period of about a week. I’m in my early 31’s. I’m linking the two as bone/joint pain are both symptoms of leukaemia. I had the bloods on Wednesday.

I asked the nurse what blood tests they were doing. She mentioned kidney function. Then said one that checks for infection signs and iron stores. I’m worried that I may not have had a full blood count which is what I think I need.

You've done the right thing, which was to go to the doctor and have tests. It's hard waiting. Good luck on Tuesday; until then be kind to yourself; lots of chocolate and trashy films.

Sounds like the 'infection signs and iron stores' test might be a fbc - if you've got leukaemia you would be neutropaenic, possibly pancytopaenic, and it would certainly show so don't worry too much about what bloods they took. I know it's easy for me to say but cancer isn't the most likely diagnosis and even if it was, your results will be what they are on tuesday whether you worry about them or not.

would they have come back quicker if they thought I had a serious condition?

If your bloods were bad they’d phone you. They phoned my mum to tell her to get an ambulance and come to hospital right away.

The other test results seem to get prioritised, potentially dodgy ones get the GPS attention first and the rest following due course.

Then said one that checks for infection signs and iron stores

I'm guessing they mean ferritin. They called me when mine was low, had three months worth of iron tablets and felt much better.

Yes if your bloods showed an acute leukaemia they'd have contacted you asap. I've known patients have their GP turn up on their doorstep at 10pm, or an ambulance called to bring them to hospital which arrives before the GP rings!

As people have said yes they contact ASAP. I got a doctors call at 7pm asking me to go to haematology straight away (my neutrophil count was 0.3 which is pretty low)

The receptionist said they didn’t have them though so the gp wouldn’t know if they needed to contact yet? I’m assuming people mean that that the lab that tested them would have arranged for them to be sent back to the gp quicker?

@User527272 the lab rang the GP who rang me