Do "bruise creams" or arnica work for bruising?

I had posted this on the DS forum & someone suggested this would be a better forum for this answer . . . this person also suggested arnica, which I've never heard of - what is it?  A supplement?  A cream?

Quick background - I had labs in Sep, I know that I'm low on K (symptom is easy bruising) because my prothrombin time was high, but dr didn't test for K directly OR ferriton/ iron.  I'm guessing I'm probably low on both because I'm positively a mass of bruises.  I have my lab work scheduled for next week Thurs. 

Sooooo

There's a ton of bruise creams on the market.  Do those things really work?  It says you rub them on the bruise & it significantly increases healing time.  Is it worth the $$?  Anyone try them?

I've been studying jiu jitsu (super cool), but I'm the only female in the class.  So, yes, I am doing something in which it's normal to have bruises, but NOBODY has bruises like I do, not even close.  I don't think that's a gender thing (opinions welcomed, though) - I would think that cellular tissue that gets struck, pinched, gripped hard enough to bruise is the same no matter what your gender is.  I counted a couple of days ago & if I count every little spot, I have OVER 100 bruises, some of them are BIG & DARK. 

They seem to heal at a normal pace, but a bruise is a bruise - they hurt!  Think that cream might work???  Any other suggestions on healing bruises?

Thank you everyone!!!

You might try Bromelain and Arnica Montana. They are both supposed to help with bruising and promote healing  too. 

Good luck!

Jessica

Arnica for the bruising and Bromelain for the swelling. I've tried them both and they do help... they don't work miracles, but they do help reduce your discomfort and healing time. They really aren't even that expensive. You can get arnica in a lotion or dissolvable tablets, bromelain as either a caplet or a liquid supplement.

Most of the time simply alternating ice and hot packs on a new bruise/injury can greatly reduce the swelling and subsequent bruising. Next time you get back from the dojo, ice down the worst of your knocks and that should help with the pain.

Lots of deficiencies result in easy bruising. Tell your doc and make sure he tests for them all.

But one thing to also consider is that you don't have as much padding as your body was once used to, so you'll bruise easier until you "toughen up" a bit. I used to get bruises just from my knees and hips being bonier when I first started losing my weight, but that's all resolved now.

And, yes, for some reason women in general do seem to be more prone to bruising than men. I don't have any idea why, maybe it's an estrogen vs. testosterone thing. But, yes, a guy will get some sort of a bruise, but gal always seems to get a really horrible bruise from the same activity/injury.

I did a little informal study on Vitamin K cream after my Breast Augmentation. I had 2 significant bruises that were side by side. I used the cream on one and not the other. The creamed one faded much more quickly than the other (but that might have happened anyway).

Martha

If you end up trying the Arnica, they sell in a cream or lotion at one of my favorite webstores.
The lotion is on sale this week.  http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/organic_moisturizing_lotio ns.htm

Bromelian and Arnica Montana work great for me at reducing bruising (I've had VERY little to no bruising with ALL of my procedures).

The Arnica also has helped me in the past with swelling.

I use arnica oil (in the pure extract form) from the heatlh & holistic store (supersup.com) and apply the oil directly on the bruise. It seems to help them go away faster.

Thanks for all of your help everyone!!!  I will try these things.  I've got my lab work scheduled for tomorrow.

I was really low in iron, couldn't take the supplement...hurt my stomach. I did start taking pre-natal pills and my labs were excellent this time. Also, I am having some plastics done on 1/29 and I will be using Bromelain.