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Bruises and their treatment

Posted , 7 users are following.

angela_o..o
angela_o..o

I have been taking a baby aspirin every day and having venesections about once every two month since the spring.  I have had a few small bruises from the usual knocks and bumps and noticed that they take a long time to disappear.

Two days ago however I bashed my ankle bone against a chair leg and a really big lump came up straight away. It looked as if I had half a golf ball shoved into my sock. It was a bruise. I put an eleastic bandage on it and some arnica cream and have kept it like that since then. It has gone down a bit but is still painful to touch.

Does anyone know of a better treatment for serious bruises?

Many thanks.

0 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

  • paul250360
    paul250360 angela_o..o

    Posted

    Hi Angela

    l would suggest icing the area for 10-15 minutes at a time for 2 to 3 hours for serious bruises, similar to what a contact injury to a sportsman/women would do.

    This should reduce the swelling considerably

    cheers

    Paul

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o paul250360

      Posted

      Thank you for that. The irony is that I did it because I was rushing to get to an appointment with my consultant......cry

    • Orseblue
      Orseblue angela_o..o

      Posted

      Yes hearing you Angela.

      I bump myself and get bruised, looks like a major thing but funny enough does not really hurt.

      I fell last year (ice skating, yes bad person I am) and my arm was so swollen and bruised for weeks, but I could move it like normal, no real pain.

      Will not attempt such thing again.

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o Orseblue

      Posted

      Respect!

      I wouldn't try ice skating even if I didn't take the aspirin. No sense of balance!

      Do you treat your bumps with anything? I don't mind looking at a bruise but a blue bobble gives me the heebie jeebies. 

       

    • Orseblue
      Orseblue angela_o..o

      Posted

      I get a bruise/bump for slightest bump, I put a cold pack on and off for as long as I can put up with it and moisturize.

      I agree with others, be careful as clots can develop.

      I'm not to worried as I'm on warfarin.

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o Orseblue

      Posted

      Thanks for your reply. As I have just written to harrishill, my consultant wasn't interested in it when I told him that I had just done it. I thought that either it wasn't important or he thought it served me right for not following his advice regarding taking hydroxyurea. So far no clots, except me of course.biggrin

  • ellen68007
    ellen68007 angela_o..o

    Posted

    Hello Angela. I also have noticed that I bruise very easy. It takes a long time for the bruise to go away. I really don't have an answer as to why we bruise so easily. I have never asked my Doctor this question. Hopefully on this forum someone can explain this. 

    Have a good day

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o ellen68007

      Posted

      Yes, it's a bore, going around looking as if you have been beaten up and people pointing them out to you, as if you didn't know....

      I was just wondering if anyone had found a magic mixture to make them fade more quickly. Arnica used to do it. Hirudinoid cream used to but I don't know if it's still OK to use that.

  • harrishill1
    harrishill1 angela_o..o

    Posted

    Hi Angela. I know I am late to say this, but any bump shd be taken seriously. We are in danger of getting blood clots.( Those of us who have Polycythemia Vera.) You shd have seen a doctor. Hope it has gone away, and wasn't a blood clot.

    Best wishes.

    harrishill

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o harrishill1

      Posted

      Thanks for that. Yes, I wondered about the potential to form a clot but when I mentioned the bump, only two hours old and still rising, to my consultant he didn't seem interested in it. Mind you, since I refused his offer of hydroxyurea he has put me on the naughty step and marked me down as a Stubborn Old So-and-so.confused

  • peter98873
    peter98873 angela_o..o

    Posted

    Angela, I have read your postings on this site and particularly notice your latest one.  You may be  considered an old so-and-so when it comes to taking hydroxycarbamide (formerly urea) but rightly I would suggest.  I was prescribed this drug in the early days of my PV treatment and it seemed to be very beneficial in controlling my blood counts.  However, I needed increasing doses of this probably as I became more used to its use.  Occaionally I came off it and was treated by another drug for a short period, and then back on the Hydroxycarbamide again.  Eventually I was prescribed the maximum dosage of this as the control it gave became less.  I suffered severe ulceration on my feet and was taken off again ang given a new drug to use, which seems to have been very beneficial to me.  I also suffered skin cancer on the scalp which has been treated and now returned again.  My very recent advice from a hospital consultant was that the ulceration and cancer I suffered were  known side effects of Hydroxycarbamide.  Prior to this I had also been given this advice by other hospital consultants I had cause to visit.  I did suggest at the times that this seemed unlikely but the advice I was given was unequivocal and  coming from such eminent doctors, who was I to question them?  I am now awaiting a visit to the plastic surgery to be re-treated for the skin cancer.  These are facts, not something I have conjured up.  I respect all the doctors I have visited over the years and  always taken their advice and acted upon it as prescribed.  I consider they have always acted in my best unterests at all times.  

    What I would say is that if you take Hydroxycarbamide as prescribed for you, then always ensure you are regularly monitored in its use.  Each patient is different so each can be affected differently.  Be very careful and tell your doctor or haematologist of any symptoms that are strange to you, without fail.  It could be important.  I know that my symptoms have caused some interest among the medics in different specialities.

    I will not elaborate further lest it causes a wrong impression elsewhere.

    As far as your bruising is concerned this should not cause any concern unless it is serious such as a heavy knock etc.  Aspirin, like other drugs will thin the blood and eventually raise large red patches under the skin which ure just unsightly really, but without complication.

    Best of luck to you with your treatment.

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o peter98873

      Posted

      Thank you very much for your very full reply.

      I suppose I am so reluctant to go onto the drug treatment is because of what I have read about possible side effects. There are quite a few references to different types of cancer whereas the venesection and aspirin treatment seems to go along the lines of stroke or heart attack. My reasoning behind refusing it is this:- every single one of my relatives has died of cancer (of one type or another) but nobody in my family has ever had a stroke or a heart attack.

      I may be wrong to imagine that I am better off having the venesection and aspirin treatment but that is how it is!

      All the best,

      Stubborn Old So-and-So.

  • peter98873
    peter98873 angela_o..o

    Posted

    Angela, the cancer associated with PV is a long-term aspect.  I am reliably informed that unless cancer cells are located in the blood that is taken when you visit the hospital it will not be diagnosed as cancer.  This only comes about if the PV develops to its ultimate, and then it is not termed as PV but something different.  Cancer does not normally arise unless the PV seriously changes direction and even then it can be very uncertain.  Unfortunately, PV and any possible cancers are all bracketed under the same "myelo proliferative disorders" which can confuse.  PV is as far as we know the result of a defective gene at birth, a gene which is now identified and under some qualified investigation.  It is not inherited and apparently does not manifest to other cancers that we hear of.  So your family illnesses do not seem compatible in this case.  If that helps.  I have been a long-time sufferer from PVR and have been through many different aspects of it.  You can safely live with the disorder and still enjoy a fruitful and long life.  

    Good luck.

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o peter98873

      Posted

      I typed out a long reply and it disappeared into the ether!

      I understand your point about my perhaps spurious link between my family history and my treatment options. But I have been trying to read up about the history of the different treatments and one of the articles I found was this.

      http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/205114-treatment#d9

      I don't know when it was written but there seemed to be a balance going on between HU and venesections with regard to long term outcomes.

      My main"problem" is that I feel fine on a day to day basis. I have no symptoms other than a blue index finger on my left hand when the weather turns cool. My consuktant tries to sell drug treatment to me on the basis of the fact that "most people experience few side efffects". Well, as someone with what feels like perfectly normal health and only an intermittently blue left finger in cool weather, why would I even want to begin to take his pesky pills?

      It's all very confusing. Let's hope that you can see this!

       

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o peter98873

      Posted

      I have replied to you but my reply is being checked by the moderators because it includes a link.
    • peter98873
      peter98873 angela_o..o

      Posted

      Thank you Angela.  The link you supplied is purely medical and I must say, very informative about PV and its offshoots.  it certainly answers many questions on treatments and the future for patients.  I now understand just why my haematologist always seeks as much information from me as possible, notwithstanding the fact that I am an active participant in the drug trialling process.  Your views on the balance between HydroxyCarbamide (Urea) and other treatments seem well justified after browsing the link supplied.

      PV reveals many side effects and I advise you to ensure those you encounter are transmitted to your haematologist.  I will certainly discuss your link and its contents on my next hospital visit.  The side effects of hydroxycarbamide can be severe and most certainly need careful medical appraisal.  However, some people get by without too much hassle so it all comes down to how each patient is affected and the treatment they need.

      Good wishes.  Hope you get things sorted soon.

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o peter98873

      Posted

      Glad you found the link useful. There is a lot of stuff out there on the www if one can muster sufficient brain power to understand it! I have read quite a few reports from different countries and it is interesting to see how treatment preferences vary from place to place. The Indian subcontinent's health systems seem to take a rather philosophical approach, preferring venesection over drug treatment, but that may be because they are rich in workforce numbers but poorer in monetary terms. The sophistication of treatments on offer seems to rise with the relative wealth of the nation. Quite where the interests of the patient fit into it, I am not sure!

      Well, I am in the wars just now. A huge bruise on my ankle the other day has been followed by an accidental sting on the hand by a wasp today. I just hope I can remember where to out the arnica and where to out the antihistamine!

      Have a food evening.

    • angela_o..o
      angela_o..o

      Posted

      That should be have a good evening. But have a food evening if you would prefer.
    • peter98873
      peter98873 angela_o..o

      Posted

      I agree with much of what you say, although I mainly restrict my internet wanderings to the UK and perhaps US where most of the research appears to be conducted.  There are other drugs in the pipe-line but cannot say when they will be available for general use.

      Your comments for the evening are fine, I think I will have both!    A welcome prescription.

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