General Question

Courtybean's avatar

Can anyone tell me why I bruise so easily?

Asked by Courtybean (514points) November 16th, 2009

At any point in time, I’m covered in bruises – from head to toe! Most of them are quite small, but I’m never without them!

I don’t recall continually bumping into things or injuring myself, so I figure that it really mustn’t take much to bruise my skin.

In the past I’ve spoken to people who have told me not to worry and that it’s natural and others who have said it might be an issues of concern.

Can anyone tell me why I might bruise so easily and if I should be concerned by it?

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19 Answers

live_rose's avatar

low iron diet? that why I bruise so easily

faye's avatar

Get your blood tested. Your doctor can better tell you if its a concern.

Courtybean's avatar

@faye does it need to be a particular type of test or are they needing to look for specific things in the blood (please excuse my ignorance on this topic) because I have had blood tests recently.

jenandcolin's avatar

Sometimes can happen b/c a person does not have an adequate layer of fat, sometimes due to a more serious problem:
http://www.wisegeek.com/why-do-i-bruise-easily.htm

knitfroggy's avatar

You probably need to take some iron pills. If you are too concerned about it you should check with your doctor.

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tedibear's avatar

Are you taking any medication that might cause this?

Courtybean's avatar

@tedibear39 no I’m not, well- i say this because nothing has changed recently to make the bruising start.

tedibear's avatar

Hmmm. Then I would agree with the others – get thee to a doctor! (And even if you were taking something, I’d still say it!)

MagsRags's avatar

Anemia aka low iron is not cause but effect. If you see your PCP, they’ll probably doa hemogram or CBC to see if you’ve been brusing enough to become anemic and if you have a normal platelet count – platelets are one of your clotting factors and if they’re lower than they should be, prolonged blood seepage after a bump can lead to excessive bruising. They might also test other clotting factors, but it’s a more expensive test, so often they’ll start with the easy test and work their way along.

JLeslie's avatar

Do you take aspirin? Aspirin thins your blood and you would bleed more than usualy when bumping into things.

You could have your doctor test your platelet count and running time, and some other things that affect clotting. You might want to try to take in more vitamin K found in green leafy veggies.

faye's avatar

@Courtybean so it’s the next day! If you recently had blood tests they probably did a CBC, complete blood count, so your doctor would have told you if something was wrong. But any new medical symptom should be checked.

SpatzieLover's avatar

You may be low on Vitamin K.

The_Compassionate_Heretic's avatar

Eat more bananas. When I was playing hockey I got bruised a lot. Bananas help in bruise recovery and to an extent, prevention.

SpatzieLover's avatar

@The_Compassionate_Heretic You can wear a banana to reduce the bruising quicker, too.

seriously, I wouldn’t leave the house w/it on, though ;D

Courtybean's avatar

@SpatzieLover…. where exactly do you wear it? Do you tie yours round your neck? lol

SpatzieLover's avatar

@Courtybean on the bruise…you can duct tape as needed ;)

Courtybean's avatar

@SpatzieLover – Lurve for your fantastic suggestion. Fortunately, I had some bananas in the fruit bowl and now have strapped them to myself! I’ve currenlty got 12 of them on but will buy a bunch later just in case! Thanks!

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