Bruises from blood thinners???

Have a family member who is on blood thinners for more than a year...recently several nurses caring for him in the hospital questioned the discoloration on his forearms, I assumned bruising from thinning skin combined with blood thinners = bruising. One of the nurses showed me what a blood thinner bruise looks like on his arm and said the "other" was not caused by med's....said something about his skin and lack of circulation..the discoloration resembles brusing but with a darker purple/black color..both sides of his lower forearms are covered. Does anyone out there have an idea what might be the culprit? He is 78yrs old with COPD, CHF, Dysphagia, circulatory problems as well as occasional elevated B.P., has had two strokes and is currently in ICU from coding (complications from pnemonia)...on respirator and beginning dialysis.

Bruises from blood thinners???
Older folks have very fragile thin skin and frequent skin tears from falls, etc...add to this the decreased circulation due to heart conditions or partial blockage of blood vessels (cholesterol over the years built up), bluish skin tone from heart or lung problems where oxygen doesn't get to the peripheral tissues ... and bruising from blood thinners and they can get a lot of discoloration on their periphery (arms and legs)...it doesn't clear up easily (if at all)...I don't know that you can easily distinguish where one thing ends and the blood thinners begin...it is just a degree of a LOT purple/black color that doesn't clear up in a timely fashion...vs a small bruise that clears up eventually...
Reply:My husband takes blood thinners and has bruising all the time. He bruises really easy too. The harder the blow the worse the bruise is. I would talk to his doctors, not the nurses. They know alot but they don't know what the doctor does about his medical history. The doctor lowered my husbands blood thinner and he doesn't bruise as bad as he use too. Just express your concerns to his doctor, I feel like with all the different problems he has that there's not going to be alot they can do. All the medications are probably amplifying the problem. Hope he gets better, God Bless.

baby jade