No, not that kind. J I was recently diagnosed with a form of thrombophilia called Factor V Leiden (FVL). I had never heard of this before, however, it is a genetic condition that increases the tendency of blood clotting. Don’t we want our blood to clot? Yes, but, with this gene, our blood has the risk to develop abnormal clots that could become life-threatening. While most people with this gene will be fine, those with high risk factors, will be prescribed blood thinning medication by their doctors. Which is where I find myself now. I have been trying to get pregnant, which puts me in a high-risk category and my doctor has put me on Heparin, which is a shot I have to inject into my stomach twice a day. While it started out not fun, it’s even more not fun now as I still have no idea why some days I bruise and other days I just have a little red spot at the injection site. What I do know is that I don’t look forward to it every day, but I know it’s for a good purpose. J
What I’ve learned in researching FVL is that it can be one of many contributing risk factors that cause miscarriage. While my three sisters and mother have not been tested for FVL, I do know that out of the five of us, we have had a combined 13 successful pregnancies and 8 miscarriages. That’s over 60% miscarriage rate, whereas the average rate is 10-25% (http://www.americanpregnancyassociation.org/). I’m not a doctor, and I can’t say these two are related, but it is an interesting note to consider.
Two years ago, while training for a half marathon, I noticed recurring heart palpitations after training without proper hydration. When the palpitations continued after a week of rest, I went to the doctor. After wearing a heart monitor for 24 hours that confirmed the palpitation, the doctor put me on the blood pressure medication, Atenelol. Again, I don’t know for a fact that this is related to the FVL, but once Kelly reminded me of the link (I tend to block these things out of my memory), I will be mentioning this to the doctor to see his thoughts.
I share this with you to inform you and to see if any of you have found yourselves in a similar situation. At the least, you’ll now recognize it when House or his staff throw it out as a diagnosis, which I heard last week!
Links for more information on FVL:
Things to be thankful for:
~ Days of rest
~ New exciting recipes to try
~ Beach Days
~ Pizza on Cheat Day
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