The Bleeding Disorder Hemophilia

Approximately 17,000 Americans are affected by the bleeding disorder, hemophilia. Hemophilia is a genetic disorder of the blood and affects clotting.

Did you know that in order to successfully clot your blood needs over 50 substances?

If just one of those 50 substances is missing, or if all the substances are there but just one of them is low, the result will be a bleeding disorder. If the blood cannot clot, the individual will bleed excessively when trauma occurs to the individual’s blood vessels.

Did you know that there are different types of hemophilia?

There is more than one hemophilia, there are many different factors involved in blood clotting and hemophilia deals with all forms mild, moderate and severe. There is treatment for hemophilia, which can give the patient with hemophilia hope for a full and functional life.

Two thirds of the hemophilia cases are inherited with one third being because of spontaneous changes in a gene. The X chromosome carries the gene for hemophilia A and B. Chromosome 4, carries the gene for hemophilia C. Typically only the boy babies are born with hemophilia and girl babies are carriers of the gene.

How do you know when someone has hemophilia?

The symptoms of hemophilia are spontaneous bleeding. Bleeding occurs even when there has not been a trauma. The bleeding can be in any of the body parts but usually it occurs in the ankles, elbows, knees and shoulders.

When bleeding occurs in the joints, it can occur when the child walks. As the bleeding begins the child will feel warmth, and then a tingling. As the bleeding continues the joint will begin to feel stiff and then there will be pain.

The treatment can vary depending on the severity of the disorder and the age of the patient. Prophylactic treatment is often scheduled for children with the purpose of preventing bleeding problems.

How hemophilia affects the female:

Females have two X-chromosomes at birth. One X chromosome comes from the father and one from the mother. If the father has hemophilia the girl baby will be a carrier of hemophilia but will not have the disease hemophilia. The girl baby can when she matures pass the hemophilia gene on to her offspring. one of the female’s X chromosomes is normal and the normal gene always offsets the abnormal gene. However the female can have a normal gene that is "switched off", in which case, she would experience some problems such as excessive bleeding when having dental work done, or when she is menstruating, gives birth or has surgery of any kind. It is important that she tell anyone treating her medically that she has hemophilia. Most medical personnel are used to boys having hemophilia but girls are not as common, so it is important that she have her medical records marked accordingly. 

Tags: hemophilia, blood disorder

Hemophilia Basics

There are several different types of blood disorders that people have—from anemia to hemophilia. Some of these disorders are more severe than others. One type of blood disorder that can be quite severe is hemophilia. While a person can certainly live a normal life with this condition, it is important that hemophiliacs undergo regular medical treatments and checks ups for their entire life.

Those that suffer from hemophilia are prone bleeding easily. One small injury can result in excessive bleeding and can lead to serious problems. In most cases, hemophilia is inherited. It is more common for boys to inherit this condition from a father or a grandfather. Here is a closer look at the basics of hemophilia.

What exactly is hemophilia? To fully understand why hemophilia can cause so many medical problems, it is important to understand what causes this medical condition. This common blood disorder causes abnormal bleeding—or to put it another way—excessive bleeding, or the absences of clotting. The blood plasma does not have enough protein substance to help the blood clot normally. When the blood cannot clot how it is supposed to, then bleeding out can be a big problem—even under normal circumstances such as minor bumps and bruises.

Types of hemophilia: There are two different types of hemophilia—type A and type B. Hemophilia A is also known as “classic” hemophilia and it occurs in approximately 85 percent of people with this medical condition. Hemophilia B is also commonly known as “Christmas” disease. This is the less common type of hemophilia and occurs in about 15 percent of the hemophilia patients.

The differences between the two: What is the difference between the two types of hemophilia? When you think about the different types of hemophilia, it is important to remember that they are caused by different reasons. Type A is causes by too little plasma protein, which is also called factor VIII. This is what helps the blood clot. In general, a patient can suffer from mild, moderate or severe hemophilia depending on the amount of deficiency he or she has. With type B hemophilia, it is caused by too little protein in the plasma from factor IX. Just as type A, it also is rated as mild, moderate and severe.

Most people know whether or not they will have a child that will suffer from this medical condition. This is because hemophilia is hereditary. If a couple has a child and also has a history of hemophilia, then there is a good chance the child will suffer from it as well. An unborn baby can be tested for hemophilia by a doctor taking an umbilical cord sample and testing it. It is important to remember that if there is no family history of hemophilia, this is not something that a child is normally tested for.

If a person suffers from hemophilia, they will have several symptoms. Heavy bleeding, excessive bruising and bruised and swollen joints and frequent falls are all associated with hemophilia.

Tags: hemophilia, blood disorder