Anyone Get Leaching in Fingers?

My husband occasionally gets leaching in his fingers which is literally blood leaking out of the blood vessels. All of a sudden, he will feel a stinging sensation, one of his fingers will swell, turn black and blue and feel sort of numb. It takes a couple of days for it to resolve itself. His now-retired hema said that it is rare. He has gotten it once on the sole of his foot. He is going through a leaching episode right now with one of his index fingers. We were wondering if anyone else had experienced this. I googled for information on it and did not come up with anything.

I have never heard of the term "leaching" associated with ITP. I see from another post your husbands platelets are between 18 and 30. Does he have any other symptoms of bleeding? nose or gum bleeding? will he be getting a new hematologist? I suspect it would be good having a doctor look at it.
I have had spontaneous bruising, perhaps the same thing? When it happens I sometimes get swelling first and then it becomes a bruise. Yes, as you said the blood is leaking out of the vessel. It is common with ITP to get bruises without being bumped or injured.

I have never gotten bruises on my fingers UNTIL recently I took some turmeric capsules recommended by my neurologist. Turmeric is a blood thinner it seems. I had heard that but had to try it for myself. In 3-4 days after beginning the capsules, I had bruises all over my hands arms- my thumb was all bruised which was very odd. (Omega 3 supplements also cause me to have bruises) But what I find interesting is that even when my platelet count was 1K, I had no bruises like that- only when I've taken these 2 supplements. A medical student explained to me that Omega 3 softens the blood vessels which might make them more permeable. Perhaps turmeric does something similar, I don't know.

Thanks for your reply. To answer your questions, no, he doesn't get bleeding anyplace else but he does bruise easily. I would say it's along the same lines as the spontaneous bruising.

The hema that he had that knew about the leaching retired years ago. He had worked well into his 70's and had seen it all. He was well-respected and left a huge hole in the medical community when he retired. He is sorely missed. The hema that he sees now at a large teaching hospital is excellent also but he has never seen the leaching. Leave it to my husband to have something rare. : /

Yes, tumeric works just like a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and would not be good for someone with ITP. I really watch what I prepare our meals with and am always on guard for anything that is an anti-coagulant.

Hello. I have experienced "leaching". Never knew what it was. I mentioned it to my first doc. He just shrugged it off. It wasn't in my fingers tho. I had it once on my forearm and once on my chest. Odd. My counts have been in a healthy range for a couple of years now, I'm not getting any symptoms of anything anymore! Woo Hoo!

Sorry you have experienced leaching but kinda glad it answered some question for you. It is so rare that many doctors will just shrug their shoulders. When my husband got it in his fingers, we took pictures of it. One time, he went immediately to the dr (who is now retired) and showed it to him in person. He was very interested in it as a good dr should be.

Glad you're in a healthy range now. My husband's counts are usually in the 20's to 30 and has dipped down into the teens. But, he chooses to go untreated (unless he has to have a procedure) and only has blood work done once a year!

my brother is also getting this very same symptom and to be honest, i'm very sorry for everyone who goes through this, but i'm very happy that my brother is not alone with this. he also has some human growth hormone issues but that's another story. would really appreciate how's your husband feeling now? i see you posted that a month ago!

He's feeling fine. Since he is pretty much asymptomatic, even though his platelets are low, it really doesn't bother him. When he gets the leaching, that is a little unpleasant; it takes the finger a couple of days to return to normal. His finger has a numb-like feeling and the trapped blood has to be absorbed by his body. He got diagnaosed in 2000. He hadn't been to a doctor in years. He had a routine dr visit with blood work and that's how they found it. He will not take steroids. The only thing that works for him is IVIG and he only has that just prior to some sort of surgical procedure, no matter how minor. Within a couple of days, his platelets are at rock bottom again.