Period and Petechiae

Hi everyone,

I just got my period a few days ago. It was light one day, medium flow the next, and back to very light again on day 3. I've been on prednisone for 5 weeks, and I just tapered down my dose to 10 mgs per my hematologist's orders. This morning, I noticed a petechial rash beginning to form on my arm. It's really small for now, but I'm concerned. I've been sustaining counts within the 200k's with prednisone for over a month, and now all of a sudden, I get my period and I start getting petechiae on my arm. I'm frustrated because I don't know whether or not my body isn't reacting to the lowered prednisone doses or whether I got this rash because of my menstrual cycle occurring (as others have posted about).

Any insight? Rest assured, I will be contacting my hematologist on Monday as his office is closed for the weekend, but until then, I would like some insight.

Thanks everyone.

-Kristina

Prednisone really changed my periods... Made them more frequent but did not alter the amount of flow, but my platelets did notngonup much with prednisone either so my flow was very heavy... But it can alter your cycle. In terms of the petechiae I think from what I read here it may be associated with counts or may not... So try not to worry too much until Monday! I know for me and it seems at least a few others here that they may appear at higher counts as well as lower... I didn't have them with low counts but after a but the prednisone made me all over itchy and anywhere i scratched, even lightly I got them. I also got them anytime there was pressure (ie after wearing a backpack I had a line of them in a patch all along where the strap was...).

Good to check in Monday and check but try not to worry too much!

Kristina:

Some people have had a bit of petechiae and found that their counts were still high. Try not to worry about it. If it gets worse, get a CBC.

Thanks Sandi and MommaBee.

The petechiae hasn't gotten any worse or spread anywhere else. Just a few little dots on my right forearm. I think I'm going to forego seeing my hematologist on Monday since I have an appointment with him in a week anyways, and this petechial rash isn't spreading. If it does spread, then I will definitely go sooner.

[edit]: I just wanted to edit this for anyone curious, when I did go to my hematologist, we did a CBC, and my counts were still in the 200's. The petechiae went away after a couple of days and hasn't returned.