I’ve learned to be resilient after multiple trials and tribulations, but there is one thing that sets me apart from many other individuals. About a month after I turned thirteen I lost consciousness in the mall with my family. After an extended hospital stay, several transfers and three blood transfusions I found out that I suffer from a bleeding disorder. Having a bleeding disorder unconsciously forces me to always be aware of myself and surroundings. Cuts and bruises are minor injuries to others, but for people like me who have a bleeding disorder it can be something major. There are also symptoms that aren’t quite visible on the surface however, they make a great impact. Along with clotting factor issues, iron deficiency sometimes occurs
The book "Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness" by Susannah Calahan is a narrative telling the life changing story of an unimaginable descent into madness, and the genius, lifesaving diagnosis that almost didn't happen. Previously healthy Susannah never would have imagined waking up in the hospital one day with no recollection of her battle with a disease that not only threatened her sanity but also her life. A team of doctors spent a month trying to pin down a medical explanation of what exactly what had gone wrong. During this time, we learn more about Susannah's family, friends, and loved ones and how each of them affect her overall wellbeing. Eventually, with the help of one special
Many people throughout the world visit the United States every year to receive medical treatment. This is due to our excellent pharmaceutical industry as it spends million of dollars and many hours of research to come up with what we can only describe as “miracle” drugs and treatments. Part of the success of many of these medications is because the pharmaceutical industry is highly regulated by policies that protect the public from accessing drugs that have not been fully tested and found to be “safe”. However, this was not the case until the late 1990s and early 2000s. One time in history that highly influenced the strict regulations we currently have was the nationwide contamination of patients through blood transfusion or by consuming medications
Hemophilia is a genetic bleeding disorder. People who have hemophilia have a deficiency or an absence of a coagulation protein. A blood clotting factor is deficient or absent. Bleeding is most often into joints, such as the knee, elbow, or ankle, but bleeding can occur anywhere in the body. People with hemophilia bleed longer, not faster.
A serious brain injury could lead to bleeding in or around your brain, causing symptoms that may develop right away or later.
Hemophilia is a rare bleeding disorder that slows the blood clotting process, which is not normal. Some people with Hemophilia may just have a little bit of “clotting factor” or no clotting factor at all (National Institute of Health [NIH], 2013). Clotting factor is a protein in blood that controls bleeding and they are needed the blood to clot normally. In order to help the blood clot, clotting factors work with “platelets” (National Institute of Health [NIH], 2013). Platelets are small blood cell fragments that form in the bone marrow, a tissue in the bones that is similar to a sponge. The functions of platelets have a very important role in blood clotting; the role of a platelet is to stick together (by the help of clotting factors) to block cuts, break on the carriers of blood (veins or arteries) throughout the body, and stop the bleeding when “blood vessels” (National Institutes of Health [NIH], 2013) are injured. Blood vessels are tube like structures carrying blood through the tissues and organs, like a vein, artery, or capillary. People with hemophilia do not have enough “clotting factor VIII or IX” (World Federation of Hemophilia [WFH], 2013) in their blood, which results to prolonged bleeding or oozing, meaning that bleeding can last longer (though, not faster) than usual after surgeries, accidents, or having teeth pulled out at the dentist. Clotting factor VIII, which can also be called as “anti-hemophilic factor” (AHF, for short) (Patient.co.uk, 2011), is a blood clotting protein that is necessary for humans to have. Clotting Factor IX is a protein that i...
“Good evening ma’am, are you the mother of Jane Doe?” says a police officer curiously. A mother with a frightened voice squeaks out, “Y-y-yes, officer.” Which he depressingly responds, “I’m sorry to tell you Mrs. Doe, but your daughter has been in a serious car accident. A drunk driver crossed the center line, hitting her head-on at sixty miles-per-hour. She is on her way to St. Mary’s hospital, so she can receive blood and get some tests done. She has lost a lot of blood.” The mother in shock cries a not-so-grateful thanks, hangs up the phone, and drives to the hospital. There seventeen-year-old Jane Doe is luckily doing fine. She has an IV hooked up replenishing the lost blood. It’s her second bag. The daughter and mother should be grateful for the daughter’s life. They should especially be thankful for those two pints of blood she received. A gift from donors, made to save people like Jane Doe. Although this story isn’t real, it is a scenario that shows the need for blood donation. Blood donation is a gift that every person should give in order to help others in his or her community.
Plan B One-Step, or the morning after pill, is an emergency contraceptive designed to prevent pregnancy within 5 days after a contraceptive failure or unprotected sex. The pill contains 1.5 milligrams of levonorgestrel the active ingredient, and is believed to act principally by interfering with the process of ovulation, fertilization, or implantation. You should have bleeding after Plan B One-Step within three weeks of taking the pill. If you do not have any bleeding within two weeks, you might want to consider a pregnancy test.
It dawned on me that I couldn’t be moved because the pain was too great, and I had already lost so much blood that it would be a matter of time before I would lose too much. I had finally come to realization with my
In October of 2013 my family’s lives and mine were turned upside down when my seven-year-old cousin was in an accident. My cousin fell through a sliding glass door and cut the main artery in his thigh. He was flown to the Stanford Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) where he spent the next four months having surgeries and fighting for his life. My family spent those four months traveling back and forth from Monterey to Stanford in order to help and support my cousin.
In Blood In Blood Out is a drama directed by Taylor Hackford, and starring Damian Chapa (Miklo), Benjamin Bratt (Paco), and Jesse Borrego (Cruz), produced by Hollywood Pictures. The film was based off everyday life in East Los Angeles, from the 1970’s through the 1980’s. Damian Chapa stars as Miklo in the film, a Mexican-American who wanted to be accepted, not by his skin but for the Mexican within him. Benjamin Bratt (Paco) was the older cousin of Miklo, who learned his lesson throughout the movie and changed his ways. Jesse Borrego (Cruz) is the step-brother of Paco who was a talent artist, who ended up turning to drugs because of back problems caused by a rival gang incident.
ITP is a blood disorder that causes bruising and excessive bleeding, it is caused by your platelets getting too low, making your blood not clot correctly. When people with ITP get really low platelets their blood will be very slow to clot making Internal bleeding or bleeding on or under the skin result. ITP usually occurs when the immune system produces antibodies against platelets. Symptoms include easy or excessive bruising, bleeding from the gums or nose, and blood in the urine or stool. ITP is caused by a genetic mutation, some types of inherited thrombocytopenia are easy to find. The platelets can be almost as large as red blood cells or very small. Sometimes it is very difficult to diagnose or go undiagnosed because there are no specific
On my hospital bed, I sit and stretch out my arms to relieve some nervous tension. My room is nothing but dull grey walls and the smell of disinfectant. My ears perk up as I listen to doctors and nurses conversing outside. Their voices grow louder and louder as I hear their feet coming closer to my door. I crane my neck towards sounds, only to spot the brass knob of my door turning. My heart begins to race and my breathing becomes shallower. I quickly pull out a pocketknife from under my pillow and slip it into my pants pocket. Stealthily, I roll out of bed, forgetting about the various tubes attached to my body. I wince in pain and tears well up in my eyes as they get yanked ou...
The second and more serious type of bleeding is venous bleeding, which transpires when a vein has been severed and blood flows steadily. Most veins collapse when cut, which aids in controlling this type of external bleeding until medical attention can be received.
I used to be an obsessively compulsive and hyperactive person before this incident – and now I was calm, emotionless and fearless of death, which was sure to come. This is a really unusual entrance into the teen years of life. This was soon followed by depression, loneliness and inability to think clearly. Now, I was unable to think clearly and would fall into a lot of problems that would haunt me soon. My ‘wisdom’ was left in form of a memory only.
One of the symptoms is if there is blood in your urine or stool. In addition to this, other symptoms are, if the individual has unusual bleeding after getting vaccinations, unexplained and excessive bleeding from an injured, and having nosebleeds without any explanation. Clotting plays a big role in the healing process of numerous injuries. According to UXL Science, “Clotting means the blood thickens to the point where it stops flowing. Without this rapid clotting, people would be in danger of bleeding to death from very minor injuries” (1). This process stops and helps heals a wound and if the development of clotting does not work properly the individual can have several problems when they get injured. While someone is bleeding, their body automatically collects blood cells together to form a clot that stops the bleeding. Internal bleeding is a greater health concern and the Mayo Clinic has also stated, “That internal bleeding can damage your organs and tissues, and may be life-threatening” (2). It is harder to heal internal damage in a person’s body, therefore if they do get hurt internally it is important the human body knows how to heal itself properly and quickly. As stated by the Mayo Clinic, “A simple bump on the head can cause bleeding into the brain for some people who have severe hemophilia” (6). Other complications that come with this disorder is that internal bleeding that occurs deep