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Forum Name: Hematology Topics

Question: Unexplained Bruising

shannonashley - Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:48 pm

Hi, I'm a 28yr old fairly healthy woman. No children, don't excersize, but not overweight, 5'9, 137lbs. No known diseases or conditions that would cause them. They are always on my legs or thighs, most recently the ones that really have me worried are on both of my legs right around the calf area, actually moreso on the sides of both calves so the bruises face each other. It seems weird that I would have identical bruising on both legs in the same spots. I'm admittedly a bit of a hypochondriac, not to mention I just lost a very dear friend to AIDS, and I know that bruising is a symptom of AIDS, but I don't want to work my self up unneccesarily. I tried to locate pics online of what AIDS caused bruising/splotches look like to compare, but couldn't find any. I was never intimate with my friend who passed from AIDS or anything, but seeing him deterioate up close has really gotten me paranoid. I also took the rapid HIV test, which tests for the antibodies in your saliva, about two months ago and it was negative, so why do I keep getting these bruises on my legs? My grandmother suffered from Diabetes and high blood pressure, she had to take Insulin shots, and she passed at 57. Also, I have been wearing high heels since I was a teen ager, not sure if maybe I've put too much strain on my legs. I used to smoke cigg's, but quit a few years ago, not taking any birth control, but I do take a daily multi vitamin. I know that it's not from bumping into anything, because it would be kind of hard to bump the inside of the calf on both legs. I was recently taking amoxicillin for a UTI. That's about all the pertinent info I can think of, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dr. Tamer Fouad - Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:27 pm

Hello, You need to visit your doctor as soon as possible. You didn't mention how long these bruises have been there or whether or not they tend to clear by themselves. You need to run a few blood tests to exclude bleeding disorders. Those would include a Complete blood count and coagulation profile. Sometimes it turns out to be nothing but only after you exclude all the other causes. Best regards,

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