Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
My daughter was tested for the factor that causes blood clots in some people and she has it. My brother does too and was told it came from both our parents. My doctor said I would be on mine the rest of my life and she wasn't going to take me off them for a few days so I can be tested to see if I have it.
I have been on mine for 18 years. I wear special pressure hose on my left leg where I have had blood clots before.
My daughter is 47 years old and has been told she will be on them the rest of her life too. Since she has been on them she doesn't have headaches anymore. Don't know if that has anything to do with the blood thinners or not. She asked her doctor if there was such a thing as having blood that was too thick and he said yes.
I have been on mine for 18 years. I wear special pressure hose on my left leg where I have had blood clots before.
My daughter is 47 years old and has been told she will be on them the rest of her life too. Since she has been on them she doesn't have headaches anymore. Don't know if that has anything to do with the blood thinners or not. She asked her doctor if there was such a thing as having blood that was too thick and he said yes.
Factor V is a protein that helps form blood clots, a plug that help stop bleeding. With factor V Leiden a childs body cannot turn off factor V. As a result too much blood clotting can happen.
For children with one affected gene the chance of getting a blood clot increases 10 times. This means that for children with factor V Leiden, 1 out of 5,000-10,000 will get a blood clot. Children who are healthy and do not have factor V Leiden will get a blood clot in 1 out of 50,000-100,000 children. In the rare case that both genes are affected, their chance of getting a blood clot is 100-fold higher than someone without factor V Leiden. This means that 1 out of 500-1,000 children with two affected genes will get a blood clot.
Anyone who has had a blood clot needs to be tested for this. I didn't even know about it until recently.
Most children with factor V Leiden will never get a blood clot in their childhood or young adult life. A childs risk of getting a clot increases when they have a serious medical condition, a central line, an undiagnosed autoimmune disease or is on birth control (also known as oral conraceptives and hormones).
For example: In otherwise healthy teenagers only 1 out of 50,000 will get a blood clot. For someone who is on birth control, she has about a 3-fold risk of getting a blood clot. If the child also has factor V Leiden, then the risk for getting a blood clot is 30-40 times higher than an otherwise healthy teenager.
In other words, if a 16 year old girl who has factor V Leiden is put on the birth control pill, her risk of getting a blood clot is 35 out of 50,000 or about 1 out of 1,500.
Both of my daughters have had blood clots and my brother and I both have too. My youngest had hers when seh was on birth control but not since. This is my oldest daughter's first blood clot and the doctor said she would be on them the rest of her life because of the Factor V.