Recently I noticed a red rash on my arm. Slightly raised. It did not itch. At the same time I had petchiae appear all over my body.

I had the petechiae appear two times before, maybe a year apart.

I know that the petechiae appeared in January 2005 (almost 2 years ago).

They were more extensive this time. I think in all cases they appeared within a few days of air travel if that's relevant. Also, I just got over a bad cold that lasted about 3 weeks.

The petechiea and rash are almost gone after 3 days...

I had blood tests done this time while the petchiae and rash were still present. The physician said the tests looked normal and that I probably had an allergic reaction to something. He gave me prednisone.

However, some of the results were out of range...

Absolute Lymph Count 0.8K/cmm ref. range (1.5-4.0)
Neutrophil 75.4% ref. range (40-74)
Lymph 15.3% ref. range (19.6-52.7)


My question is that while the rash is indicative of an allergic
reaction, what about the petechiae...and what about the 2 previous times i got the petechiae without any rash.

Also what about the results of the CBC that are outside of
normal ranges.

Could this be indicative of some immune system problem???

What should I do? More tests? Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks very much.

Otherwise I feel very healthy. I'm in good shape, I'm a 38
year old male. 6'3" tall. ~200 lbs.

What was your platelet count? Sometimes an allergic reaction can temporarily lower your platelets, leaving you susceptible to peteichaie and bad bruising. I have ITP, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes my body to produce antibodies to my platelets and tags them for destruction. I go in and out of remission, and I try to find a cause for the trigger that causes my antibodies to start destroying my platelets. When my platelets are low, I get bruises very easy plus nosebleeds and headaches and I have serious fatigue and muscle and joint pain. They usually treat me with a combo of Prednisone and Immune Gammaglobulin (IVIG). It's annoying, but I still live a very normal active life.

If your platelet count was normal, I would continue to follow it, but I wouldn't be overly concerned, but I would try to figure out what triggers the allergic reaction and fix it.

Best,
Jill

What was your platelet count? Sometimes an allergic reaction can temporarily lower your platelets, leaving you susceptible to peteichaie and bad bruising. I have ITP, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes my body to produce antibodies to my platelets and tags them for destruction. I go in and out of remission, and I try to find a cause for the trigger that causes my antibodies to start destroying my platelets. When my platelets are low, I get bruises very easy plus nosebleeds and headaches and I have serious fatigue and muscle and joint pain. They usually treat me with a combo of Prednisone and Immune Gammaglobulin (IVIG). It's annoying, but I still live a very normal active life.

If your platelet count was normal, I would continue to follow it, but I wouldn't be overly concerned, but I would try to figure out what triggers the allergic reaction and fix it.

Best,
Jill

platelets were 215K/cmm (ref range 140-440)
they also did a prothrombin time test
result 14.4 seconds (range 12.4-14.7)

so those were normal.

also, the previous two times i had petechiae there was no rash ... just the
petechiae....

thanks for the help.

:)



What was your platelet count? Sometimes an allergic reaction can temporarily lower your platelets, leaving you susceptible to peteichaie and bad bruising. I have ITP, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes my body to produce antibodies to my platelets and tags them for destruction. I go in and out of remission, and I try to find a cause for the trigger that causes my antibodies to start destroying my platelets. When my platelets are low, I get bruises very easy plus nosebleeds and headaches and I have serious fatigue and muscle and joint pain. They usually treat me with a combo of Prednisone and Immune Gammaglobulin (IVIG). It's annoying, but I still live a very normal active life.

If your platelet count was normal, I would continue to follow it, but I wouldn't be overly concerned, but I would try to figure out what triggers the allergic reaction and fix it.

Best,
Jill

just had HIV test. results were negative. woohoo!

:D