Bad bruises on dd's legs - come and calm me down

[wurriedmum]

Dd is 17. I would say she's always bruised relatively easily but the bruises have definitely got quite dramatic over the last few months. She can always account for them - where she banged her leg etc -and they heal completely which I know is good but I have to be honest with myself and say the bruises are worse than they should be iyswim. So now my imagination is running riot.

Things to note - the bruises are all on legs, nowhere else. She is naturally quite a pale skin and she's no paler than usual. No marks anywhere that I've seen except for the bruises. She complains quite a bit about being tired but she works extremely hard at school. She's been bruising like this since before the holidays and she certainly wasn't complaining of fatigue when not at school. Even though she is tired it's not out of proportion, she gets up without difficulty etc. Diet wise she doesn't eat red meat except occasional burger or mince dish. She has some salmon, some chicken but no eggs, no cereals, not very much bread. She eats lots of lettuce, melon, satsumas, grapes, pasta. Some potato, some squash, sweet potato. She hasn't lost weight and is not in pain. She has a cold last week and it progressed totally normally and she's over it now. No other infections recently. Periods - she says they are quite heavy and often painful but regular. I don't bruise particularly but my husband does and my mil definitely bruises quite dramatically.

So I'm thinking maybe anaemic? Maybe something with clotting. Just as long as it's nothing worse I'm going to ring GP tomorrow and am kicking myself for not doing so the first time she showed me a bad bruise - but I just thought it was a particularly bad bash of the leg. I need to get her to the GP without scaring her so am working hard to be blasé but inside I'm terrified that this is a symptom of something very serious. I know she needs a blood test. Please, please calm me down.

Low platelets or other clotting problems can cause bruising; anaemia itself wouldn't, although it can go hand-in-hand with the other issues. May be something quite minor - or nothing at all, some people are just 'easy bruisers' - but definitely worth checking out ASAP. The fact that she's well otherwise is reassuring. Best of luck.

I bruised big style at that age. I got them at gigs, and could account for them too. I loved them. Was also pale, veggie etc.

My best friend had leukemia, and her bruises were an entirely different kettle of fish. Completely different looking. Obviously something wrong. That wasn't how she was diagnosed though - that was pure good luck.

Basically, I think normal splendid bruises look very different to leukemic bruises, and it's extremely unlikely that your daughter is anything but fearless in getting bashed. Defs go to the doctor and rule out anaemia and so on, given the diet and tiredness, but do try not to worry.

Sorry, your son. Projecting too much about own lovely bruises!

I've always bruised easily and about ten years ago was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. It is usually associated with excess weight, but being easily bruised, thin brittle hair and tiredness are also symptoms.

Please don't worry too much, you are doing the right thing taking her to the doctor's and if she's unwell they will find out.

They do look like normal bad bruises and they change colour like normal bruises and ultimately heal. It is leukaemia that is scaring me stupid of course. I stupidly googled leukaemia bruises and some looked nothing like dd but some did. That was really stupid of me I know. If it was leukaemia though she wouldn't just go on like this for months and months and months without getting worse would she? And she wouldn't get over a cold in perfectly normal timescale either?
I know nobody can actually answer those questions btw.

This is interesting; I've always bruised easily and so does my DS. Our bruises are normally on legs but sometimes elsewhere too. I really would not get too alarmed. I have asked about it, from time to time, and been told it is down to pale skin - I'm not convinced!

However, both DS and myself have at various times have had full blood counts, testing for anaemia and thyroid, clotting tests and really nothing shows. He had a full panel of tests as he is often tired - again all tests were normal. I am not aware that any of my family bruise like me.

If it was something sinister, would n't they be showing elsewhere too?

I think they would be elsewhere wouldn't they? Instead of just being on her legs where she's bashed it. Mil trained as a nurse and she's seen them, she didn't say anything about them looking anything other than like normal bruises.

I bruise easily because I have EDS. Is she hypermobile at all? Stretchy skin? It's a collagen defect and can cause easy bruising. My skin is like a peach, it only takes someone to poke my arm to bring up a bruise. If your DH and MIL bruise easily too it's a definite possibility; EDS is hereditary.

I've had anaemia pretty much constantly since I was 14, with the exception of a couple of spells (thought to be down to the EDS too), and during those periods where my iron was normal, I haven't noticed any difference in the bruising, so I wouldn't imagine it's anaemia causing bruising, but it's always best to get checked anyway, especially if her periods are heavy.

Definitely get her checked out but some people just bruise easily.

My mum and I both have very pale easily bruised skin. My mums GP saw her bruises and had her checked for something sinister (she was fine).
My friend who is a police lady asked me semi seriously if I needed to tell her anything when she saw the bruises on my chest - my 9 month old was the cause, little brute.

At 17 I had some pretty amazing bruises as I had started drinking and on a night out could get quite clumsy.

I was going to say no, not so I've noted BUT actually my bil has very stretchy skin and all my dds, like their father, can fold their ears in two so maybe yes actually a bit

The test for hypermobility is -

Can she touch the floor without bending her knees?
Can she bend her right elbow backwards?
Can she bend her left elbow backwards?
Can she bend her right knee backwards?
Can she bend her left knee backwards?
Can she touch the inside of her forearm with her thumb on the right side?
Can she touch the inside of her forearm with her thumb on the left side?
Does her right little finger bend backwards 90 degrees?
Does her left little finger bend backwards 90 degrees?

For each one where the answer is 'yes', it's one point. Anything over four points suggests joint hypermobility - some people with EDS just meet four, others (like me unfortunately) meet all nine. There have been others with EDS who only meet two or three, but that's rarer.

Other signs of EDS Type 3 include - 'Marfanoid' stature - tall and thin with long, slender fingers (but this isn't absolute, I'm average height and build), digestive issues (IBS is very common in EDS), dizziness on standing up, clumsiness.

There are other types, but Type 3 (HEDS) is the most common.

It was my first thought when I saw the title of your post, but please don't panic - there's every possibility that it's nothing at all to be concerned about.

I used to suffer from a vit k deficiency and I had lots of bruising (which is what made me see the GP in the first place)

I think take some deep breaths and think about something else. Get the GP to diagnose and ffs get off google. I do that and it invariably gives me about 2 weeks to live. It will make you worry far more. Nobody here can diagnose what is going on, and it seems if she is generally well that it's likely all to be fine. Please don't go on google again. Promise us!!

I've always bruised very easily. Had lots of tests over the years. Turns out it's just one of those things.

Hello, I can understand your worry - no reason not to double check with GP.

I have hypermobility and hypothyroidism and never really realised I do bruise easily; I think it's the collagen thing though. My mum has stretchy skin and no wrinkles like me but terrible varicose veins. Tiredness is a factor with both and I was certainly always very tired growing up, and since! I have to build muscle to help myself be less tired day to day.

My bruising did get out of hand a couple of years ago after I had my baby; I went on to be quite poorly and in the mix low iron was a factor. I took extra vit c when taking the iron and have also since wondered if this was a factor (lack of) (I was breastfeeding but also had some thyroid dosing wobbles).

So I think it's worth checking with the GP as heavy periods could be a factor - it would be worth asking if ferritin levels could be improved as this is the way iron is stored, rather than just hb which is anaemia.

Other thing about hypermobility is you can be terribly clumsy, hence bruises on legs!

My mil who is a nurse mentioned vit k once in relation to bruising but I'm not sure they'd test it?

The only way you will feel better is to check with the GP. My DSIL has leukaemia and her bruises look normal, but are huge and absolutely everywhere, even under her feet and on her hands. If they are just on the legs then it is probably something completely different, but we are (probably) not qualified to diagnose and even if we were we couldn't do so blindly over the internet. Hope all goes well.

Ps, if it is over the last few months even less of a worry as my DSIL had bruises for a matter of weeks before she was in hospital. It took hold very quickly.

Just to update - having calmed down a bit, I booked a non urgent appointment with GP who was very unconcerned (dd sat there looking boundingly healthy I must say) Anyway she suggested bloods just to reassure me us and she had them done at the end of last week. I rang up for results today and quite rightly they insisted on speaking to dd rather than me as she's over 16. Anyway everything looked fine except that her clotting was described as borderline but no further action needed. They did a FBC and LFTs as well as clotting so I'm quite happy with that.

thanks for all the wise counsel