When Mariah first began experiencing excessive bruising, she brought it up with her doctor, who told her the bruising was likely a result of being on a regular dose of prednisone at the time. Aside from a little bit of visible joint swelling and some weight gain, she says bruises were the most obvious and visible change. Mariah Leach, founder of Mamas Facing Forward - a website and support group for mothers living with chronic illness - says she experienced many changes in her body when she was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 25. Even with very minimal trauma, bruising can occur.” “Often, it’s because there are low platelet counts. “A lot of bruising is medication-driven,” says Dr. Steroids such as prednisone can also reduce your blood’s ability to clot and lead to bruising, per Michigan Medicine. Meanwhile, drugs like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) - used in rheumatoid arthritis treatment - can prevent your bone marrow from creating sufficient platelets, which is called drug-induced nonimmune thrombocytopenia. The most common cause of drug-induced immune thrombocytopenia is heparin, a blood thinner. Drug-induced immune thrombocytopenia occurs when a drug causes your body to produce antibodies that destroy platelets, per the U.S. There are two types of thrombocytopenia when it’s caused by medication: immune and nonimmune. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, you may also experience drug-induced thrombocytopenia, which occurs because of certain medications you’re taking to treat your rheumatoid arthritis or other conditions. “Because rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease, when patients have high levels of inflammation in their body, we do see that some people will develop thrombocytopenia,” says rheumatologist Jiha Lee, MD, a Clinical Assistant Professor at Michigan Medicine. Immune thrombocytopenia can occur in certain autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. Another cause may be immune thrombocytopenia, in which the body’s immune system attacks and destroys platelets by mistake, leading to greater platelet breakdown. This can lead to easy or excessive bruising, per the Mayo Clinic.Ī number of things can cause low platelet count, including viral infections, leukemia and other cancers, heavy alcohol consumption, and taking certain medications. Low platelet count, also known as thrombocytopenia, occurs when you have low levels of platelets, which are colorless blood cells that help your blood clot - in particular, fewer than 150,000 platelets per microliter of blood circulating in your body. There are various factors that can cause bruising if you have rheumatoid arthritis - including low platelet count, medications, atrophic skin, and rheumatoid vasculitis. Causes of Bruising in Rheumatoid Arthritis It was happening other places too.”īecause several factors play a role in the link between bruising and rheumatoid arthritis, it’s important to speak to your doctor if you’re experiencing frequent or easy bruising to determine the cause. “Thought I hit myself somewhere or bruised it while playing a sport. “I remember waking up with a bruise on my right wrist - where I have the most joint destruction - in high school, then it went away,” community member Effie K. Many members of our community report experiencing bruising on their thighs or around trouble spots for their joints. Bruising was one of the skin issues that was more commonly reported by people with RA than controls, though it was connected to the use of steroid medications. Skin abnormalities were reported by 61 percent of people with rheumatoid arthritis compared to just 47 percent of people who had non-inflammatory rheumatic conditions in a study in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. “I have three bruises right now on the inside of my thigh. “I get bruises from time to time and have no idea why,” CreakyJoints community member Stephanie A. Bruising is often a mystery to people with RA who wake up with new bruises without knowing the cause. If you’ve noticed blue, black, and green spots popping up randomly on your legs, you may feel less comfortable in your own skin (and tuck away your favorite pair of shorts). Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and bruising commonly occur in tandem - for a variety of reasons.
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