Symptoms of Blood Clotting Disorders and Ways to Treat?

Blood clotting disorders are conditions where there is an increased risk of clotting of blood in the artery and the veins of a person. It can be an isolated instance in a person’s life or it can be repeated event. Developing a blood clot in medical language is called thrombosis. In normal circumstances blood clotting or coagulation of blood is an important mechanism in the body to prevent excess loss of blood, when a blood vessel in injured.

 Platelets and the plasma protein which are the constituents of blood, act together in forming a clot over the injury and stop bleeding. However, it is not desired for the blood to form a clot when it is flowing in the artery or a vein and if it does so, the repercussions to health of an individual are disastrous. This is what happens in blood clotting disorders.

Blood Clotting Disorder Symptoms

The symptoms of blood clotting disorders depend on the location of the clot and the organ affected due to it. The early sign is similar to that of a single blood clot.

If the clot is in the vein; it does not allow the blood from the affected vein to flow to the heart.

The symptoms are mostly observed in legs and hands. They include swelling of arm or a leg with redness and rise of temperature in the affected extremity. There may be associated pain and itching.

If the clotting takes place in artery it can affect vital organs such as heart, lungs, brain, abdomen etc.

Extremities: pale extremities, numbness, non healing ulcer, gangrene etc.

Heart: chest pain, sweating, breathlessness.

Brain: disturbances in vision, seizures, difficulty in speaking, stroke.

Lungs: breathlessness, cough.

Abdomen: severe pain in abdomen.

Therefore it is necessary to detect blood clotting disorder as early as possible.

Blood clotting disorder list: the disorder that forms blood clots easily in the blood vessels can be due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors. They can be acquired or inherited.

Factor V Leiden mutation is a inherited genetic disorder, and it is one of the most common form of clotting disorders. The mutation is commonly observed in Caucasian population; at least five percent of populations are at a risk of forming deep vein thrombosis or clots in the vein. Patients suffering from factor V mutation are has greater risk of complication in pregnancy.

Prothormbin mutation can also cause deep vein thrombosis.

Homocysteinemia: mutation in genes can lead to this condition, and the risk in this persons increases with smoking. However it can be treated with vitamin supplementation, where as other conditions need medicines.

Protein C and protein S deficiency, antithrombin III deficiency, plasminogen deficiency and heparin cofactor II deficiency are other blood clotting disorders.

Blood Clotting Disorder Treatment

The treatment depends on the location and the extent of the damage caused due to a clot. However it has to be treated aggressively. In the first place, if you are suspecting blood clotting symptoms, immediately consult your physician. With ongoing research, and advanced antithrombotic medicines an improvement is seen in treatment of blood clotting disorders. Treatment includes anti coagulants and clot busters which decreases the ability of the blood to clot and keep it thin. It also prevents further formation of clots. Catheter directed administration of clot dissolving medications etc.

Avoid smoking, alcohol, obesity, etc which can enhance already diseased state. Turmeric, garlic, ginger, onion are blood thinning agents that are helpful in preventing a thrombotic episode if consumed daily.