Bleeding disorder: Treatment, Cost and Side Effects

A bleeding disorder is when your blood doesn’t coagulate properly. It can cause internal and external problems as in there could be internal haemorrhaging or due to some open wound on the surface of your skin you could be uncontrollably bleeding since the blood refuses to coagulate. This can lead to excessive loss of blood. Since clotting is in the purview of platelets, it is when the count drops that this disorder occurs. Other causes are low red blood cell levels or a dearth of vitamin K in the body. A lot of the times bleeding disorders come up because they are usually passed down through generations. They can also occur quite suddenly if not inherited, these are called acquired disorders.

The two major kinds of bleeding disorders are haemophilia A and B, which is a rare condition but it leads to heavy bleeding into the joints and can pose as a huge risk to your life. The other kind is a commonly inherited disorder called Von Willebrand’s disease where the blood is low on the Von Willebrand factor which is what helps the blood to clot.

The symptoms include very heavy menstrual bleeding, heavy bleeding from cuts or small external injuries and easy unexplainable bruising, often experiencing nosebleeds and bleeding into your joints. Although fair warning, there are medicines which can also affecting your blood’s clotting abilities which are called anticoagulants. So if you are on such medication and your bleeding is abnormal visit a medical professional immediately.

There are a range of treatments that you can and may have to avail depending upon the seriousness of your disorder. Iron supplements may be required if there is excessive bleeding as the loss of blood can also contribute to iron deficiency anaemia which in turn makes one feel dizzy and exhausted. Other such small level treatments include nasal sprays and topical medicine which can help control the bleeding also effective in the rare case of haemophilia. If these do not work then you may have to move to blood transfusion.

Blood transfusion is when your lost blood quantity is supplemented with donor blood and it has to match your blood group to sidestep excess complications. This only needs to be done if the situation is dire and cannot be fixed with smaller treatments. Be sure to get it done with professional medical help in a clean environment. For inherited disorders or otherwise, there is an option for injecting your bloodstream with the clotting factors V and VIII which can be procured from frozen plasma transfusions. Factors V and VIII are the ones that help speed up the clotting process to the transfusion will replenish your supplies and you may have to periodically go back to get the transfusions.

Those who are experiencing weakness, and uncontrollable bleeding, or have blood seeping into their joints.

People who are healthy and any injury that occurs heals without any complications such as not coagulating blood.

Some of the medication that you are given as a part of the treatment can cause a few side effects like a flushed pallor and mild headaches along with nausea, exhaustion, feeling sleepy and sometimes even abdominal pains. You may also experience some loose motion.

There are a few post treatment guidelines that you have to follow, because the treatment has a lot of side effects. The weakness and dizziness will have to be fixed with lots of bed rest and keeping yourself hydrated. The excess amount of white blood cells from the donor blood can also contribute to a mild to high fever but it isn’t of much concern and over the counter medication can easily manage it.

Sometimes the blood transfusions can end up accumulating iron in your bloodstream causing an overload in which case iron chelation will be required. For allergic symptoms depending on the seriousness of the allergies it can be treated with over the counter medication or with professional medical help. Dryness of nose can be fixed with the application of lubricants or estrogen creams for a little while.

The weakness is a part of the ongoing treatment which will need to be periodically administered and it takes about 2 weeks to recover from each bout of treatment.

A unit of blood costs rs 10 and the average human adult requires 1000 to 1500 units of blood. That can build up to a hefty amount where only two doses of transfusion would send you back by 20,000 to 30,000 and you will require multiple dosages. The fact that blood banks are often short on supply may raise the cost of blood further.

Not quite as the treatments need to be done periodically over a stretch of time and need to be gotten back to as soon as the symptoms start to show

Alternative treatments include acupuncture and massages, wheatgrass shots which help remove toxins from the body and pomegranate juices that help strengthen heart health. You can also opt for aromatherapy and yoga to strengthen the connection between the mind and the heart for lowering blood pressure and allowing the body to heal itself.

• Safety: Medium
• Effectiveness: High
• Timeliness: High
• Relative risk: High
• Side Effects: Medium
• Time for Recovery: Medium
• Price Range: Rs 30,000 - Rs 50,000