Leukemia - multiple symptoms

[kirstynic]

Hi,

I have always seemed to get bruises easily but even more so lately. I get random ones, sometimes quite big pop up on my legs, quite often round the back of the leg- which seems an odd place to appear. At the moment o have quite a lot of these random bruises, no explanation and only on my legs.

I have also been getting random mouth/gum bleeding. Sometimes it’s only when I brush my teeth but on more than one occasion I have had it happen all of a sudden on its own. I could just be sitting there and taste blood and have a small amount coming from somewhere in my mouth.

I was mildly concerned about these symptoms, but have been so distracted with things going on in the family at the moment that my anxiety didn’t really kick in... until last night when I noticed that I have what looks like a small area of Petechiae on the top of my right shoulder! Now I am really worried as I do not need to google to know that together these symptoms point to leukemia.

My last blood test was ages ago back in March :(

I will of course be trying to get a drs appointment tomorrow, but am so worried.

[BlueIris]

Nothing to worry about - these are all really easy to explain. The petechiae will be from your bra strap rubbing at you - I get them myself.

[kirstynic]

Its only on one shoulder though :( just wishing I got these other symptoms looked at sooner.

[BlueIris]

Bodies are weird and asymmetrical. You're putting two and two together and coming up with fifty.

[Hijikata]

Lol I remember my first bout of petechiae. They are 99.9% of the time absolutely nothing and completely normal. The first few times I got them I rushed to the doctors and got blood tests which all came back perfect. I get them on my chest mainly and don’t really know why but probably about once a month I’ll notice them. Doesn’t bother me at all anymore. For leukemia to cause petechiae your platelets would have to be incredibly low which would come with it a whole shot of other issues so I really wouldn’t worry about it at all

[bin tenn]

Its only on one shoulder though :( just wishing I got these other symptoms looked at sooner.

I absolutely agree with BlueIris. Just because it's on one shoulder and not the other doesn't mean it wasn't caused by a bra strap or similar. You could intentionally do something that causes petechiae in several places, but not all of them will turn out with petechiae. You could repeat that "test" and it won't respond the same way every time.

[Munchlet]

Hi,

I bruise really easily and for some reason every now and then the Leukemia fear crops up and I convince myself that I'm bruising easier than normal. My husband normally reminds me that as long as we've been together I've bruised easily and that's 19 years so I guess he may have a point. I also remember going to the Dr's as a teenager worried about bruises that were popping up on my legs and he practically laughed my out of the surgery saying when I start bruising dark purple/black bruises the size of the bottom of a mug for no reason then he might be worried. Anyway my point is some of us do bruise easily but what I've also noticed is I seem to go through phases where I'll have multiple bruises on arms/legs and then I can go weeks with none. I've started to think there's a hormonal link with me and it is a well known fact women bruise easier than men which although is a lot to do with muscle and fat distribution it is also believed to be down to hormones. I also find it's worse when I'm not eating well and if I take a multivitamin it seems to help. Is it possible you could be low on something like Vit C/Vit K or B12? They are all known to cause easier bruising/bleeding.

The gum thing is probably more likely to inflammation but again could be vitamin deficiencies. I think the problem is with HA we get these symptoms and add them all up and before you know it we have convinced ourselves it's some terminal illness when the reality is it's far more likely to be something easily treated and explained.

When I was worrying about bruising a few months ago my mum told me how she remembers seeing her dental notes a few years back and written all over them it said "excessive bleeding" during treatment.

She didn't worry and never has even though she bruises like a peach, used to get periods so heavy the doctor actually had to come out to her because she could not physically move due to blood loss but it never worried her. If that was me I would have been convinced it was something sinister because that's what HA does to us but she's never worried about it and I might add has annual blood tests for cholesterol etc, so if it was anything it would have been picked up by now.

So sometimes these things just happen and it can't always be explained. There's normally a genetic tendency as well, do any of your relatives bruise/bleed easily?

Take Care