Bruising on legs

[Betty333]

Big dark colored bruises,almost black, appear on my legs, mostly behind my knees or on the left or side of my calve close to the side of my knees.  They can be the size of my whole hand palm and fingers included.  I do not bump them.  Sometimes I will be standing and I will feel and sharp sting like someone stung me with a rubber band and lump will appear and instant black color and it will get large.  Sometimes I will wake up and my leg will have a black and blue one it. I told my doctor and I even showed him 2 different bruises I had 1 on both of my legs.  He told me don't worry about it; its NORMAL.  Is this NORMAL? Others(not doctors) don't seem to believe this is normal.  Please help.

[peper4]

I  dont  agree  with  the  docter  and  im  not  sure  what  to  do  try  seeing  a  diffrent  Doc.  but  in  your  sleep  you could"ave  hit  yourself  in  your  sleep.

[jefelex]

how much do you weigh, and how much exercise do you get?  The reason I'm asking is because your veinous tissue in your legs may be weak, and if you don't exercise much, the blood can tend to leak out of the veinous tissue into the surrounding flesh, causing the bruise.  The leg veins have valves in them, that as you walk, the blood gets pumped back up to the heart by the action of the leg muscles, and there are small valves in the veins to ensure that he blood doesn't flow back down and stay in the leg.  once the blood has returned to the heart, it can begin all again.  it can be normal unfortunately, if you have weak muscles in your leg, and/or weak vein walls, this is a problem that has no solution - you could try leg exercises to bolster the muscles in your legs