Petechiae and MS

[maxthecat43]

I have hundreds of tiny pin dots of of reddish brown blood (petechiae) all over my arms, legs, and trunk.  They may be elsewhere too, but I can only see the areas mentioned.  As I've been doing my research, occassionally I will see something about MS patients and petechiae.  I know I've only had them for a few years.  My research is inconclusive though.  It may be just another thing we deal with, because of MS- but it could also me MRI's or steroids, or a side effect of some other drug.  

I haven't heard that this is anything to really be worried about.  For me it's just a curiosity thing.

What have you heard?  Have you looked into this phenomenon yourself?

[Azlemed]

I am in limbo land but I have had those spotty things too, I just thought they were part of having really fair skin

[CheyTag]

I had these petechiae in 2010/2011.. Wound up being DX with HSP, which then progressed to IgA Nephropathy... You may want to see a dermatologist to have them biopsied... It can be a form of vasculitis. Mine was. Just a thought... To cover your bases.  

[Renee1358]

www.multiplesclerosistherapy.net/vascular.html

This is what I found on the little red dots

[dogmum]

Thanks for the reminder.... I was sitting here at my desk trying to remember what I wanted to do here and wasn't coming up with anything.  :)

I had a look at that chapter again and with closer attention, realized that they don't have much of use to say about it.  It's a two page chapter that basically says it hasn't been clinically proven to help MS.  Here is a condensed version:  

The first study was in 1983 and included 17 PwMS. 12 showed improvement and 5 showed lasting improvement.  In animals, hyperbaric oxygen protects against experiemental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) (the experiemental form of MS).

However, the book says that 7 studies done since didn't demonstrate any consistent therapeutic effect for hyperbaric oxygen.  In a few studies, a mild improvement in bladder problems was noted.  

A test in 2004 concluded that it did not produce consistent evidence for a therapeutic effect, should not be used on a routine basis, and should not be investigated further in MS.  

Possible side effects listed are mild and reversible visual changes, and rarely, seizures, pressure injury to the ear, cataracts, and collapsed lungs.  

It lists the sources for their conclusions if you're interested.  There are some therapies that are not strongly supported in this book that have helped people that I know personally, so I'd take everything with a grain of salt, but it does seem to be pretty strongly against the use of hyperbaric oxygen in PwMS.  Hope this is helpful.  

Hugs,
Laura

[maxthecat43]

Let us know what you find out, okay?

[dogmum]

I just saw mention of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in book I was flipping through yesterday "complementary and alternative medicine and multiple sclerosis".  I left the book at my desk in my husband's office and will pick it up later and see what it says about it.  

I'd be very interested to know more about how these petechiae may be related to lesions. It would blow my theory of blood pressure out of the water, but I have to admit that I always get them around heavy neuro symptoms.  

[maxthecat43]

I've just been entering "hyperbaric oxygen therapy" and "multiple sclerosis" into a search engine.  However, after looking into it a bit more deeply- not only can I not afford it (at least where I live, it's pretty expensive), I'm not sure it does anything for progression at all.  It seems like it may help with symptom management though.  

[msmomx2]

I am truly interested in where you are finding info on MS and hyperbaric medicine....can you please share??

[maxthecat43]

I'm good with folks that have suspected ms voting too.  I'm really just trying to get an idea of whether or not this is common.  I read something earlier today that suggested that the micro-bleeds under our skin may be related to the lesions we get in our brains.  This was on a website about hyperbaric oxygen therapy though--- I'm looking into that too, as a potential treatment for ms.  

[dogmum]

I've had these for the past couple years.  They tend to come and go in batches, and I always assumed they were related to my BP being higher than it previously had thanks to steroid treatment, etc.  Not sure if that's a valid possibility or not and didn't even know what they were called to look into it until now.  I didn't vote in the poll though since I'm not dx'd with anything yet.

[sllowe]

Hi there,

I had it once during an allergic reaction to medicine :(
Once I stopped the med, they faded, and I've not seen them since.

During that time, I thought perhaps I had them from blood level changes from rebif, and then the allergic reaction just all collided at once (that was my own theory thought, lol). Nothing confirmed out of my theory, hahah

-shell

[wendya432]

I have them, too, but I'm still undiagnosed so far.  Sometimes they are just tiny pinpricks, sometimes as big as a pencil eraser (I think they are called purpura when they are big).

[maxthecat43]

Some of them are larger and brighter red, but the vast majority are tiny.  They look like pin dots of old blood.  I don't think it's serious, but I've read that a lot of people with MS have them.

[LilMinnie]

Hi,  I don't think you should delete the thread.

I have had these pinpoint spots in the same areas you described for a few months now. Sometimes they are more obvious than others. I had no idea they had a name. I went to my gp about them back in the summer and he said it looked like I am allergic to something. I knew I hadn't used any new detergent or anything like that, so I just chalked it up as a weird symptom along with the rest of them.

Maybe I need to look at this further. The pictures I saw online are more extreme than mine. Mine really are like pinpricjs,  with no itching like a traditional rash.

Thank you for posting this.

Hugs,
Minnie

[maxthecat43]

Well, so much for my poll, lol!!!  I had the impression from reading different articles, that this was a common thing among PwMS.  Not sure about the platelets though.  

Too bad I can't simply delete this thread.

[karajo]

Have they checked your platlets?  This could also be a sign of another antoimmune disease like thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.  (TTP)