Bruises Easily...anyone Else?

[Cat5]

I have just recently been diagnosed with Celiac disease but have always had a problem with bruising easily. You can just touch me and it seems I will have a bruise there. I am just wondering if this is also part of Celiac disease and goes along with the anemia and related problems ?

Anyone else have this?

Thanks

[burdee]

I have the same problem. Even after abstaining from gluten and my other 4 allergens for a few years, I still bruised easily. However after taking several courses of high dose probiotics, my frequent bruising disappeared. Then I learned that our 'good' bacteria, which probiotics supply, produce at least half of the Vitamin K which we need for blood clotting (and preventing bruising). You might consider getting more vitamin K from food you eat or by taking high dose probiotics (with viable LIVE organisms) which are either freeze dried or refrigerated.

BURDEE

[blueeyedmanda]

I have been gluten free for years now and still bruise easily. I have had bloodwork done for anemia and such and all my levels are fine.

[trents]

Cat5,

Are you on aspirin therapy by any chance? And, have you had your platelets checked? Even when platelets counts are fine there are other clotting factors that, if they are deficient, can prevent the platelets from adhering like they should to each other. Also, you didn't mention your age. As we get up in years we tend to bruise easier because the cell walls in our tissues become more fragile.

Steve

[sparkles]

Check B12 levels! and the other B complex vitamin levels.... Sometimes the low normal range still indicates a problem.

[hathor]

If you search the celiac.com forum for "bruise," you will find that this has come up several times. So you aren't alone. For instance, here is one thread:

Open Original Shared Link

Folks have been linking this to low levels of certain vitamins due to malabsorption. From my own research, I've seen Vitamin K and Vitamin C deficiencies being linked to easy bruising. With luck, the diet will help with this problem.

To this, I need to stop being such a klutz Maybe that happened more when I'd been glutened ... nice excuse, anyway

But still, I get plenty of vitamins now, have been gluten-free since the beginning of the year, and I still bruise easily, things that shouldn't bruise me. I wonder if having limited subcutaneous fat has something to do with it? I know I had to stop trying to do this yoga move called the crane where you balance on your hands with your lower legs resting on your upper arms. I finally realized this is why I was getting these huge bruises below my knees. And it wasn't as if I could hold the position more than a few seconds.

Do you also notice that your bruises seem to linger longer than they do for other people? I get bruised and it can hang on for weeks.

[stargazer]

Count me in too. I bruise easily, and they last a long time. Maybe my vitamin levels are low. I will have to check it out. If anyone has any other ideas please speak up. Thanks. Oh, by the way, welcome to the board.

[loraleena]

Get your platelets checked. Under 150,000 is low. I have the same problem and found out I have Idiopathic Thrombocytic Purpura. An autoimmune illness that causes the spleen to attack the platelets. My levels have only dropped to 84,000 but are back up to 121,000. It can be dangerous if the levels go below 30,000.

[SillyBoo]

Before I was diagnosed with Celiac 10 months ago, I bruised very easily and also had frequent nosebleeds (real gushers). After going gluten-free, the bruising got better and the nosebleeds stopped. It took 4-6 months. I have been supplementing with probiotics, fish oil, B12 and a stress-B everyday. I really think it helps a lot.

Not only do I bruise less and heal faster, but I have less "opportunity" to bruise. My klutziness was definitely related to the Celiac. The neurological symptoms are taking longer to heal than the bruising/bleeding, but have definitely gotten better over time.

[kevsmom]

Before I was diagnosed with Celiac, I also was getting nosebleeds and bruised all over my body - in places I don't remember injuring.

Bloodwork showed that my platelets and vitamin K levels were very low. Since I have been gluten free, that problem has gone away.

[hathor]

Not only do I bruise less and heal faster, but I have less "opportunity" to bruise. My klutziness was definitely related to the Celiac. The neurological symptoms are taking longer to heal than the bruising/bleeding, but have definitely gotten better over time.

Then there is hope for me? Good to know

[ElenaDragon]

I do bruise easily, but I am taking a weak blood thinner for another condition, which might explain it. Random bruises will show up on my legs or arms when I don't even remember bumping in to anything. I don't consider myself klutzy either.

[SillyBoo]

One thing I forgot to mention about the bruising and nosebleeds: I had no idea that these problems were related to Celiac until they got better over time once I went gluten-free. I was astounded to discover how many seemingly unrelated symptoms were all a part of Celiac.

Cat5, I hope that as you start to heal over the next several months, you too will experience improvements that you never imagined!

[blueeyedmanda]

I am klutzy, always have been...but I get bruises in areas that you could not imagine how or what you would have bumped. Currently the the front of my leg, right above the foot. Sore and black and blue...no accidents or anything. And sometimes I get marks on my thighs..too high to hit the coffee table or filing cabinets.

I might get another blood count down at my upcoming appointment.

[sickchick]

GOD I didn't think of my nosebleeds either I get them out of nowhere! Bruise like crazy too

[CMCM]

I've always been prone to terrible looking bruises....sometimes by the time I see them I have no memory of even bumping into something. And if I bang my thigh or something on an object with any force at all, I know I will have a horrible bruise. I never realized until the last year or so that this was connected with gluten. I think being gluten free I don't bruise quite as easily, but the problem is still there.

[dally099]

hey me to i get pretty nasty ones as well, im pretty skinny so i allways thought that was the problem, but who knows?

[Guest Happynwgal2]

I do bruise easily, but I am taking a weak blood thinner for another condition, which might explain it. Random bruises will show up on my legs or arms when I don't even remember bumping in to anything. I don't consider myself klutzy either.

Hi ElenaDragon,

It irritates me no end when I find a bruise and cannot for the life of me remember when or where or how I got it!!! :wacko:

I am also very fair, with lots of freckles; the bruises, if in the "right" places (arms especially), show up like big blue spots... I probably am more bothered by them than other people are, so I have just gotten used to it... Sometimes my freckles cover my bruises up, too... Thank goodness.

And I am not a klutz either... Just bruise when others don't...

[pixiegirl]

Well this is an interesting topic for me... I've been away from the forum for a while and every time I come back I learn something new! I am also lean but I'm not sure that has anything to do with my bruising. The bruises on my legs are often so dark purple and large that my doctor tested me for every disease that could cause this condition (some really awful ones too) and thank god I don't have any of them. I've had my blood tested a million times and its always fine, but I'm not sure if a regular blood test would test for vit. k or c (I doubt it).

Burdee said in a post above that she takes probioitcs... and its helped with the bruising, what do you take?? I'd love to make this less of an issue I'm always sporting huge bruises on my legs and I never know what I did to get them.

Susan