Leg cramps and blood not clotting after blood draw

[Brittny27]

Sunday morning I woke up with a very painful charlie horse in my left calf. I've been getting leg cramps almost nightly since the beging of my pregnancy. This one however was very painful and lasted a lot longer then normal. I now have a bruised feeling in my calf when I touch it or if I flex that muscle.

I went in today for my glucose test and two other blood tests. I usually am peeling the cotton ball off as soon as I get to my car and there will be a tiny spec of blood not very noticible on the cotton ball. Today I decided to leave it on and went to the bank and when I got back to my car I went to take it off and noticed there was blood bleeding through the tape. I removed it and I was still bleeding. I grabbed a kleenex and held pressure to it for a few more mintues and it stopped finally. I have never had a problem with clotting before. I don't know if this is a pregnancy related issue or not.

Should I contact my Dr could the leg cramps and the none clotting be related?

[Brittny27]

I'm not worried about a blood clot. Although that is the reason I was told I can't take BC it causes sever leg cramps which Dr said was most likely due to blood clots from the hormones in them.

[waitn838]

my doc told me that a blood clot would be very warm to touch and would look like a bubble in your leg...

blood clots are very scary...i had one burst 2 years ago and not only did i miscarry a baby at 14 weeks i almost lost my own life too....

[jschoch8]

when i did a blood draw the nurse commented about how fast my blood came out and said i must be really hydrated. I actually didnt even drink anything that day yet. so i guess mine is pretty thin too. I also noticed that there is a small bruise where the needle was everytime ive had my blood drawn since ive been pregnant.

if you had a blood clot in your leg it would probably be purple and it wouldnt have just gone away so there is probably nothing to worry about.

[waitn838]

ironically enough i woke up early this am with a charlie horse and it jolted me from my sleep because it hurt soooo bad....im gonna try upping my potassium because my dad who gets them alot was told to eat a lot of bananas and he has been fine since upping his banana intake

as for the blood clotting...i have factor v leiden which is a blood clotting disorder...i currently take heparin for it...heparin thins out my blood and any time i give blood i just apply more pressure to the area to make sure the bleeding stopped....i would think that if it was blood clotting you would not be bleeding that long after giving blood...it may be possible that you moved your arm in a way that allowed more blood to escape....

i take 1200 mg calcium because of the heparin and the long term effects of it....

[Brittny27]

Yes my Dr told me to take calcium supplements when I mentioned the leg cramps early in pregnancy. I also mentioned to him last week that my leg hasn't stopped twitching and the cramps haven't stopped now there worse. I have also made sure I drink lots of water as I know dehydration can cause cramps.

I've been on calcium supplements for a few years. I have bone degeneration in my hips and found this out from a cat scan after a car accident in 04.

  

[Clysta]

I think she actually mentioned in a past post that she's taking calcium for leg twitching problems.

[Ashelen]

oh my gosh thank you for mentioning that Summer! I meant to mention...my calcium levels were low during pregnancy with DD because I suffer from calcium kidney stones so I wasn't allowed to take any sort of calcium supplements and had to monitor my bio-source intake of calcium as well so that's what was "most likely" the cause of my bad charlie horses...and like you they used to leave me bruised and I would literally limp for a few days. I was able to avoid them by discovering movement triggers but calcium supplements were not an option for me but for you I would absolutely recommend asking because from what I hear they can make a huge difference with leg cramps.

[DoulaSummer]

Have you had your calcium levels tested?  

[Ashelen]

I agree that you should ask about the clotting...because with my daughter there was nothing really to indicate something that would be as serious as it turned out to be. I mean I clot fine when I'm not pregnant, and I bled through the cotton ball several times while pregnant with DD but I never thought another thing about it until I had almost bled to death and they were giving me 2 blood transfusions after delivery...so definitely good to have your doctor have a heads-up on any potential problems, and be sure to mention it when you're admitted to L&D at the end of your pregnancy too just in case they want to administer a clotting agent during delivery.

[PrettyKitty1]

Lol I had Charlie horse not too long ago, about two weeks ago. I had it twice in one night. The second one hurt so, so much it left me completely out of breath. The pain lasted for a while there. Ugh…I hate those types of cramps.

And Brittny, contacting your doctor about the blood clots (or lack of it) would not hurt. That didn’t happen to me when I took my glucose test but really…asking would not hurt.

[Brittny27]

I talked to the Dr last week about my leg cramps but I haven't gotten one like this that has left my muscle bruised for a few days afterwards.  I've always clotted fast whenever I've started bleeding. This isn't normal so I will be bringing it up to my Dr. I know one of the tests was a platlet count. I wounder if that will show anything out of the ordinary that could have contributed to this.

[Ashelen]

I would say it's not a bad idea to ask your doctor, but I had THE WORST charlie horses three times during my pregnancy with my daughter until I figured out what movements triggered them...they would leave me sore and limping for a day or two and have me screeching in pain until they eased off...as bad as kidney stones sometimes! I don't clot as well when I'm pregnant either, and when I get my blood drawn while pregnant I tend to bleed through to the tape as well and have had it dripping even through the cotton ball but it always stops with enough pressure...however, I didn't clot properly when I tore with my daughter's delivery even though I don't have any sort of a clotting "condition" persay, and I almost bled to death because of it. So I guess my point is it's good to mention because they'll need to know if you may have possible clotting issues during delivery. Are they related? they may be, and your doctor can tell you for sure...but I would guess it's coincidence.