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...

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.

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