Causes, Risks and Symptoms of Hemophilia

Hemophilia is a rare blood disorder wherein the blood does not clot normally. The symptoms of hemophilia indicate that a person suffering from this bleeding disorder would bleed for a longer time from an injury than a normal person. This happens because of the genetic makeup of the blood and not because of the extent of injury.

Hemophilia

Even a small cut can be dangerous as the coagulation of the blood is delayed and deficient. What can be truly risky is the fact that a patient of hemophilia can bleed internally and this can cause damage to organs and tissues which could also be fatal.

What causes hemophilia

As the symptoms of hemophilia involve the inability of the blood to clot the primary cause is a deficiency of a coagulation factor.

This coagulant factor which was initially called anti-hemophilic globulin is different in different forms of the disease. This is an inherited or genetic disorder. There are two types of hemophilia – A and B.

Hemophilia A is also called classic hemophilia or Factor VIII deficiency based on the number of the coagulation factor that is deficient.

Hemophilia B is also known as Factor IX deficiency or Christmas disease. It was named Christmas disease by researchers in Oxford who were studying the disease in a ten year old boy called Stephen Christmas in 1952. The boy did not have the typical case of classic hemophilia and the variation to the disease was called Christmas disease. The disorder is mostly prevalent in males while females are carriers of the gene. There are cases where a female may also be affected but this is truly rare.

What are the risks of the typical symptoms of hemophilia

The scary symptoms of hemophilia include excessive bleeding, bleeding in the joints and bleeding in the brain. The diagnosis of hemophilia in children is usually provoked due to observation of excessive bleeding by the parents. There can be nosebleeds for no apparent reason, massive bleeding from a knife cut, major bleeding in the mouth following the loss of a tooth or anything else which may trigger this bleeding.

There can be symptoms of hemophilia which related to the internal bleeding in the patient as well. The parent may notice blood in the urine which could come from internal bleeding of the kidneys or bladder. If there is blood in the stool it could indicate internal bleeding in the intestines or stomach. If you find large colorful bruises on parts of the child’s body it may be caused due to internal bleeding into the large muscles of the body.

The least visible and most dangerous can be bleeding in the brain. Symptoms of this could include convulsions, double vision, sleeplessness, weakness and painful headaches. Parents who see more than one sign of this external and internal bleeding must get the child thoroughly checked by a doctor to see that treatment of the symptoms is not required. It is better to be on one’s guard rather than regret taking your child to the doctor at a later stage.