Born: June 9, 1972
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July 28, 2004 at 12:05 pm
Good heart, bad blood...
I just returned from the follow-up visit to my cardiologist (I still can’t believe I have one of those). All but one of the tests came back as normal from last week’s lab work. My cholesterol is low… My Lp(a) and hs-CRP (whatever those are): normal.
So what came back abnormal?
Well, some of us have a mutation of our blood called Factor V Leiden — all of us have Factor V, but a few of us are…different. My levels of Factor V Leiden are just a little lower than they’re supposed to be (normal levels are above 1.96 and mine are somewhere around 1.44).
About Factor V Leiden:
Factor V Leiden is the most common hereditary blood coagualtion disorder in the United States. It is present in 5% of the Caucasian population and 1.2% of the Afro-American population.So, it seems that there is a high possibility that my fun experience was brought on by a blood clot. (My opinion is that, since I’ve been injured so many times in life, my body has mutated in order to heal itself more quickly — you, know, like Wolverine or something.)
Factor V Leiden increases the risk of venous thrombosis 3-8 fold for heterozygous (one bad gene inherited) and substantially more, 30-140 fold, for homozygous (two bad gene inherited) individuals.
The prothrombin 20210 mutation is the second most common inherited clotting abnormality. It is more common than protein S and C deficiency and Antithrombin deficiency combined; 2% of the general population is heterozygous. It is only a mild risk factor for clots, but together with other risk factors (such as oral contraceptives, surgery, trauma, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, etc) or combined with other clotting disorders (like Factor V Leiden), the risk of clotting increases dramatically.
But, we still don’t know.
In the meantime, I have been taken off of Toprol (thank, God!) and put on Coumadin (a blood thinner). Coumadin is supposed to have a lot less side-effects than Toprol and, gratefully, it’s not for treating heart disease (as is Toprol) but for reducing chance of blood clotting — which has a less likely chance of happening to someone my age anyway. I do still have a problem with occassional high blood pressure — which may have to be dealt with chemically at some point, but for now, I will be happy to be off of the Toprol.
I am also going to have to visit a hematologist to see if my Factor V Leiden levels are, in fact, an issue. If the hematologist says that I am ok, I’m probably going to have to go through more tests and hear more theories; theories that are still up for grabs. Whether I have a propensity for coronary spasms or I developed a blood clot or whatever…
I guess there is still some waiting to do.
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Comments (4)
Unfortunately, since I’m of the heterozygous camp, I can’t help much. I was actually taken off of Coumadin quite a while ago. The reason was because my hematologist thought I was at more risk on it than off. But, since, I’ve had my gall bladder removed (common among Factor V sufferers) and, justt recently, this:
http://sense-datum.org/tim/archive/2007/..
So, maybe I should have never stopped? I have an appointment with my hematologist on Monday.
The moral of this story (and, to cut this long comment short):
Study up. Know your situation. Always ask questions. Don’t discount anything that concerns you.
This may help:
http://fvleaiden.org