Severe Bruising

For the past couple of weeks, I have had bruises just show up on my body. My left arm is covered in them, I have some on my chest and both legs have bruises.

I am currently on Lithium 900mg, and Lexapro 30mg. I have been having some major side effects on the lithium: nausea, dirrahea (sp). It has been making me very sick. I emailed my old T since I had been on 1200mg of lithium and he dropped me down to the 900 but it hasn't helped.

I went to the ER Thursday night and had my levels checked - they were fine. They gave me an IV for fluids because of going to the bathroom so much. They took my blood pressure and right after they removed the cuff, I started getting a bruise.

They found nothing wrong with me after 4 1/2 hours at the hospital. Today I have a brand new bruise on my foot. I have no clue why this is happening to me. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Mary Alice

I don't know if that's specifically a side effect of your meds, as I don't know much about them. I do know that I had a period of intensive bruising, as well as some blood clotting problems when I started with Effexor, so it is possible that it's a med's side effect. My problem cleared up after I had been on the med for a while and my body got used to it. if you've had a complete blood work up done, and all your tests are normal, then I'd definitely talk to your prescribing Dr. or pharmacist to find out if it is a meds side effect and if it is, perhaps you can explore other meds.

Thanks Split.........I looked online under side effects for the lithium and nothing about bruising. I've been on that med over 2 months now, but the bruises just started coming within the last couple of weeks.

And yes, all the tests came back fine. I know when I see my new T I have to get off the lithium, the side effects are disturbing my life way too much.

Mary Alice

I've been to the ER a few over the years. I've always been given discharge instructions from the ER staff. Usually, they tell you to see your primary physician, or a specialist.
Hope this helps.

I recently had a similar thing happen with me. In my case, taking Lithium cased my thyroid to go a bit crazy and I have a minor version of hypothyroidism. My doctor wouldn't even have noticed anything was different until I came in saying I kept bruising very easily.

I wouldn't knock anything or run into anything, I wouldn't be jabbed with anything, etc but I would get horrible bruises. It actually became a regular thing to check my entire body after showers to see if there were new ones.

My CBC showed only a slight decrease but it was enough that I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Could it be a possibility? I'd say get another blood test and tell them to look specifically for any kind of thyroid abnormality, big or small.

My options were to basically come off Lithium, see if it corrects itself, or to stay on Lithium and take Levothyroxine.

I'm not a doctor but that's my own experience, sounds very similar to yours and might be worth asking about.

Thanks girl.......my h keeps telling me it is the lithium causing the bruises. And that's what I do - check every day for new ones. I don't think they checked my thyroid, so that's a good idea.

I see my new T tomorrow and I'm going off the lithium. Plus I'm going to call my gp and see what she says.

Mary Alice

Wow, weird they cannot find a reason for it. Its normal for a clutz like me to get bruises, but bruises for nothing? Somethings up, and you are a good judge at that.

Thanks Balish. Like I mentioned to my old T in an email, I look like someone beat me up. He did tell me it probably wasn't a good idea for me to be on the lithium.

Mary Alice