Splinter hemorrhage's, very afraid!

[mrsboston3122]

Hey there everyone, a couple months a go I found that I had a few of these splinter hemorrhages at the tips of my finger nails. I went to the doctor and they ran blood cultures and I had an echo done, they said they were checking to see if I had an infection of my hear valves but all checked out just fine. They went away but this past week I have gotten several more, lower down on my mails, pretty long ones and more then one on each nail that they are on. So far I have them on both thumbs, middle finger of my left hand, index finger of right hand and middle finger of right hand. I have also noticed in the past 2 months that my nails have become very rigid, they use to be smooth. The only other thing I notice with my hands is that for the past 2 months they have been going numb while I am asleep, mostly the right hand but the left has a few times.. Every single time I wake up my right hand is so numb that I cant feel a thing. I am not sleeping on it or holding it strange or anything so I am unsure why this is happening. I wonder if I have them on my toes too? I keep my ties painted so I guess I need to take the paint off and check them out. At any rate I am very scared. I have health anxiety so it makes it even worse. I almost want to run to the ER and ask them to look at them but I would feel like an idiot. Can I still have an infection in my heart even though my test last month were negative? What else could this be? I have also been getting petechia here and there but they ran blood work and said it all checked out good. I have not been banging my hands or anything so I know it is not from trauma. The only other time that I have ever had these is when I have gotten my nails done, for some reason every time I get fake nails on a few days later they appear and I can see them through the acrylic though I never knew what they were and didn't think much about them.

Does anyone have any idea's? I am so scared of what this can be. Have any of you had these before? More then a few? I have been having so many strange things going on with me if the past 2 years I don't know what to think anymore or where to turn. Thank you...

[skydnsr]

A splinter hemorrhage is a long vertical black line under the nail.  It runs in the same direction that the nail grows.  It is produced by a small bleed under the nail.  As the nail grows out, dried blood is pushed along in a straight line.  Yes, as the part of the nail that has the blood stuck to it grows out past the end of your finger, you can scrape off dried blood from the underside of the nail.  

I've had splinter hemorrhages for many years.  I do have valve disease, so the splinter hemorrhages are probably not a coincidence, but I have never had one doctor pay the slightest bit of attention to them, be interested in them when I pointed them out, or consider them to be a sign of anything.  I have never had endocarditis.  

There is no diagnosis that can be made on the basis of splinter hemorrhages.  If you have other symptoms, that is what a cardiologist will be interested in.  The presence of splinter hemorrhages probably does mean something, but we just don't know exactly what it means.  For me, they seem to be of no practical consequence.  

[Smiley2000]

Hi there,

Please read my post a bit earlier, above also :)

Apart from the black lines on your nails, do you have any other symptoms that made you think you have Endocarditis?

Endocarditis makes you feel very sick and although you have black lines under nails and red spots on feet/hands the first symptoms of Endocarditis is the intermittent fevers and night sweats and the feeling of being unwell.

Please keep us updated and all the best,

[Ali_365]

I recently have been worried that I might have endocarditis today I went to the doc to have cultures drawn I was wonder that if I did in fact have splinter hemorages Wld the black lines be easily scraped off by a fingernail file?

[ChatterAlly]

Just beaks my heart that you are dealing with so much!
I miss you too girl. Email me!  Love, Ally

[mrsboston3122]

Hi chatterally:) yeah I am having some crazy things going on.. I dont want to get into detail about it on here but I will email you to fill you in... How are you doing??? I hope all is well.. Miss talking to you:)

[curmudgen]

check this out for future reference....http://www.humanhand.com/fingernails.html

[ChatterAlly]

Hey there Tonya.  I've been wondering about you. So sorry to hear you are going through a rough time again.  Good that all your tests were good.  Try to stay calm and enjoy the fact they are not finding anything.  Take care, Ally

[mrsboston3122]

Thank you so much for your reply, as I told Curmudgen I have not had my nails done in years... however I am having problems with my nails so maybe thats why the splinter things have came... My nails all of a sudden have become very rigid and brittle. I seen the dermatologist and he gave me some stuff to put on my nails and told me to watch them to see if they keep popping up. They can be caused by so many things and most of them are pretty serious but I am trying not to worry about them..

Thanks

[mrsboston3122]

I have not been to the nail salon in about 2 years so I know its not from that this time... I was just saying that I have gotten them before when I had gotten fake nails put on and that's the only other time that I have ever gotten them besides now.

[Smiley2000]

Hello there.  I have a bit of a hystory with mitral valve incompetence and had infective endocarditis in 2007 and ended up having my heart valve fixed in 2008.

The last symptom that I got with the endocarditis was the "spots" on my hand and feet.  That was after I had endocarditis for 3 months +.  But I had high fevers and night sweating and body ahces and pains and very irregular heart rhythms and eventually when I had ESR and CRP and Full blood count done (routine bloodtests that they would have done with you to) all the bloods very abnormal and ESR and CRP high!

So what I am trying to tell you:  even though splinter hemorrages can be a sign of endocarditis - you do not have endocarditis if you are feeling well otherwise.  It is spiking fevers and severe night sweats and terrible "unwell feeling" that leads you to the Doctors eventually.

The splinter hemorrages are not something you should worry about.  It sounds to me that you have soft nails and the filing and work they do during the manicure can bend your nails a bit and cause the splinters.  If it is fungul infection the nail will become yellow/red and then you should stop for a while.

Hope it helps and calms your fears.

[curmudgen]

You mentioned that it you get them after you get your nails done/fake nails...infection due to manicurist procedure.... stop gong there and let your nails grow without any polish for about a month...probably have a nail bed infection.

[jrbon]

Have you handling pesticides recently? Or have your area been treated with pesticides?

It could be a poisoning by arsenic, it  will not show in your blood test unless that they look specifically for it.

Jesus