Does anyone else have these? I’ve had them on my lower leg (just above the ankle) to some degree or other since I’ve had PsA and never thought a great deal about them, but today I got out of the shower and saw there were was a significantly larger amount than usual on both legs (although one more than the other).
Because of the biologics, I went up the GP to make sure - resulting in frenzied blood tests, urine tests and blood pressure tests. It never rains but it pours. The theory we are working with at the moment is that I have been doing a lot of writing and research the last week and so my legs have been down more than up, and that extra pressure has resulted in these clusters of tiny broken blood vessels. It makes sense to a certain degree, especially as my ankle swells.
But the blood tests are to make sure my platelets are not low - but they were fine just six days ago in the previous blood test, so I’m assuming this is unlikely, although the biologic can affect them, but it doesn’t make sense to me that it would do so drastically in a single week some three months after starting them. The urine test didn’t show any abnormalities either - which the doc says is a good sign from the point of view of platelets. Blood pressure wasn’t great, with the bottom number being higher than it should be, but she said not to worry much about that as it’s always been fine before, and to get it checked again in a couple of weeks.
So, yet more worries!
Has anyone else got these pesky little red spots win general with their arthritis? The pic isn’t me, but similar to the thing I’m talking about - but I confess mine are really very small, and haven’t clustered to form larger ones as in the picture.
When I had these on my shoulder they send me to a specialist hemostasis (blood clotting) lab to get several tests done… (it turned out to be my new bag, the straps where too skinny and the bag too heavy )
If it’s just your legs and not other places where you bumped or “scratched” something I can’t imagine it being a clotting problem though…
I don’t know totally what they are doing, but it’s not a rubbing or scraping. I have had them there before and I have always put it down to strain through swelling with PSA. There’s just a lot more this time.
My son had autoimmune ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) when he was 5. Basically he had no platelets (5K), his only symptom was peticiae and bruising. He was perfectly healthy otherwise and the ITP resolved after 9 months. Anyhow, at the time we learned a lot about low platelets… in his case his bone marrow was producing them, but his body was destroying them. We were told other causes include temporary suppression of the bone marrow after the flu or other virus (that actually happened to my daughter - she had petichiae and her count was at 50k after the flu… it only lasted a few weeks). We were also told that platelet counts can vary day to day in healthy individuals. Good luck to you… hopefully it’s nothing major and will resolve quickly.
Apologies, I thought I had updated the topic. I’m pleased to say that the blood tests came back absolutely fine - including WBC going back to normal (which was out the week before). Platelets were 220,000. The petechiae remain, for the moment, a bit of a conundrum, as does the slight swelling in my lower leg. I’m not sure if they are linked or not. I am going to see how things go over the next couple of weeks. The swelling might well be down to me sitting at the computer for long periods with my legs down for the first time in several years. I have a GP appt again on March 9th, to see how things are going!
Does anyone get these on their palate? I get them very regularly in the mouth - purpura rather than individual petechiae. Blood tests show nothing unusual. Have more than usual just now, but there never seems an explanation. The ones on the soft palate go within a few days, but those that verge on the hard palate often take weeks.
Anyone else?
I keep wonderibg if it is linked to the blocked nose/nasal drip I get with the biologics?
I’ve heard that quite a few people get this especially with Benepali. As yet I don’t thankfully (having had sinus issues whilst a lot younger) and I’m just curious as to why so many do? I know of one girl whose sinus issues got so severe, she had to stop Benepali.
I’m on Erelzi, a biosimilar to Etanercept, and I have really bad sinus problems and post nasal drip, plus nasal sores which may be related or may be Methotrexate related. I’ve always had a susceptibility to sinus problems so perhaps that’s why I suffer when others may not.
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