Bruising On Arms From Blood Thinners

Bruising is common in patients taking blood thinners. Most of the time, bruising is not an emergency situation and can be treated at home by following these steps: Rest and protect the bruised area Ice will reduce pain and swelling. Apply ice or cold packs immediately to prevent or minimize swelling. Apply the ice or cold pack for 10 to

To find the cause of your bruising, your doctor might check your blood platelet levels or do tests that measure the time it takes your blood to clot. Other serious causes of bruising include domestic violence or abuse.

A person should seek medical attention any time they have the following symptoms or issues associated with bruising: a suspected broken bone. loss of function of a joint, limb or muscle. increasing pain. an area is affected by a bruise that returns. there is no identifiable cause of the bruising.

Allow the ice packs or cold compress to soothe the bruises for 20 to 30 minutes or until the skin feels numb. Cold compress slows down the blood flow around the injury reducing the severity of bruises. If the pain is too severe to bear, then taking anti-inflammatory pain relievers may be helpful.

When taking blood thinners or anticoagulants, make sure you stay alert and keep a watchful eye out for these symptoms of internal bleeding problems: Black or tarry-appearing stools. Orange, pink, or smoke-colored urine. Abnormal and sometimes profuse bleeding. Excessive bruising. Blood shot eyes. Stomach pain. Muscle aches. Intense headaches.

If you have petechiae or bruising on the legs or calves that won’t heal, it could be due to a shortage of platelets . Some conditions that can cause this are: Certain medications can also affect platelet counts, such as:

Bruising without an injury can be a sign of diseases of the kidney, liver and blood such as hemophilia, leukemia, Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, scurvy and thrombocytopenia. Women who experience heavy periods while bruising should consult a gynecologist to rule out conditions affecting the reproductive organs.

See a doctor if you have: Significant pain and swelling. … A bruise that lasts longer than two weeks without changing. … Small blood spots accompanied by fever, chills, weight loss or any other systemic symptoms that are new. Recurrent bruises without any clear causes.

Most bruising is benign, and is very common. But here’s when you should perhaps worry about bruising and when you should see your doctor: If they persist for prolonged periods of time (not healing) If you have more and more bruises through time. If you experience bruising more frequently than your prior baseline.

Bruises typically take 2 to 4 weeks to heal. As a bruise heals blood is reabsorbed into the body. Healing is accompanied by a change to various colors ranging from purplish black to reddish blue and yellowish green as the WebMD website says.

Bruises generally heal by themselves, if they do not disappear in a couple of weeks then that is when to worry about a bruise. Here are a few tips to ease the pain and speed up the healing process: Rest: If you get a bruise give that area some rest. This will stop the bruise from progression.

When the bruise appears, apply fennel, helichrysum or hyssop essential oils to the skin. Arnica gel, a homeopathic remedy, is said to be one of the best ways to get rid of a bruise.

Easy bruising can be a sign of underlying problems with platelet function or number or the clotting cascade. Your primary care physician should be able to run some blood work or refer a patient to a blood specialist to help determine the etiology of easy bruising.

When the blood is pooling under the skin instead of flowing through the body, bruises will appear more often and all over the body, which is a sign of thinning of the blood. One of the more severe signs of thinning blood is having blood present in your urine.

Having blood that is "too thin" means you are at a greater risk of internal bleeding. You should report any falls or accidents, as well as signs or symptoms of bleeding or unusual bruising to your healthcare provider. The most serious internal bleeding can happen in your stomach or head.

Other signs of thin blood include nosebleeds and abnormally heavy menstrual flow. Thin blood can also cause bruises to appear under the skin. A minor bump can cause the tiny blood vessels under the skin to bleed. This can result in purpura, which are small purple, red, or brown bruises.

Warfarin (Coumadin): Coumadin is one of the most well recognized medications used to thin the blood. It is an anti coagulant that is also used in some cases to prevent heart disease.