6 Blood Clotting Disorders You Should Know About

Hemophilia

6 Blood Clotting Disorders

Of all the blood clotting disorders hemophilia is the most common. Here the blood does not clot in the normal space of time but for much longer. The primary reason is the lack or low levels of blood clotting factor VIII or clotting factor IX. It is an inherited and genetic disorder but in really rare cased it can be acquired. This means that you could develop it during your lifetime.

Deep vein thrombosis or DVT

The most familiar of all blood clotting disorders would be deep vein thrombosis. This condition is common occurrence on long distance flights. What happens here is that a blood clot will form in the body inside a vein. This will thicken the blood and clump up together. As the vein gets blocked there can be pain in the area. Deep vein thrombosis is common in the lower leg or thigh.

The condition can get even more complicated if part of the blood clot breaks off and travels through the bloodstream.

This loose blood clot floating in the bloodstream is known as an embolus.

Pulmonary embolism

In case an embolus finds its way through the bloodstream into the lungs it can cause pulmonary embolism. This is amongst the most dangerous blood clotting disorders as it can incapacitate the lungs and damage them permanently.

This will happen if the lung tissue is unable to get proper blood supply due to the blockage caused by the travelling blood clot.

Thrombocytopenia

In this disease the blood has a low platelet count. Platelets are made in the bone marrow by the body. The platelets are what stick together to cause blood to clot. If there are not enough platelets in the blood clotting gets impaired. This means that an external cut or wound will bleed excessively and in case of deep wounds could also be fatal. Also internal bleeding can become a major issue if blood does not clot.

Von Willebrand Disease or VWD

This is amongst the most commonly inherited bleeding disorders. It is more common than hemophilia and also milder in nature. In VWD the blood has trouble clotting because of a protein that is deficient.

The protein is called the von Willebrand factor and it is needed to help your blood clot. There are three types of VWD blood clotting disorders. In type 1 VWD people have low levels of the von Willebrand factor. In type 2 VWD the von Willebrand factor does not work well due to genetic mutations. While in type 3 VWD the patient produces no von Willebrand factor. Treatment of the patient will depend on the type of VWD he is suffering from.

Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome or APS

Last of the blood clotting disorders in our top six is APS, an autoimmune disease. The body’s immune system produces antibodies to help it fight against the infections which may attack the body. In this disorder the body’s antibodies attack the phospholipids in error.

These are a type of fat which lines the blood cells and blood vessel linings. As these get destroyed by the antibodies that attack them the host cells get damaged. This makes the blood clot internally leading to other problems.