Posted on 06/10/2008 11:42:39 PM PDT by neverdem
When David Bloom, 39, went to Iraq in 2003 to cover the war for NBC News, his wife, Melanie, naturally feared for his safety. Would a bullet or a bomb claim him? A land mine? An ambush?
Instead it was a blood clot lodged in his lungs that ended his life. Ms. Bloom subsequently learned that her husband carried a genetic abnormality, factor V Leiden, that greatly increased his risk for developing blood clots.
Mr. Bloom had three other risk factors for clots: a long plane ride to Iraq, erratic eating habits that could have caused dehydration, and cramped sleeping space in Army vehicles. But had he not had this genetic quirk — or had he known about it and the higher risks it carried — he might have escaped his fate.
A Hidden Problem
Factor V Leiden (pronounced factor five) is the most common hereditary clotting disorder in the United States, present in 2 percent to 7 percent of Caucasians, less often in Hispanics and rarely in Asians and African-Americans.
The disorder accounts for 20 percent and to 40 percent of cases of deep vein thrombosis, or D.V.T., the clot that Mr. Bloom developed in his leg before it broke loose and traveled to his lungs, resulting in a pulmonary embolism that caused his death.
Factor V Leiden is more often than not a hidden disorder, until someone in a family — often someone like Mr. Bloom, who was athletic and healthy — develops a deep vein thrombosis or another unexpected clot. Because screening for this problem is not routine, factor V Leiden is usually not detected until several members of a family develop clots or one person develops a succession of clots.
Even then, a possible carrier of the gene defect may not be tested.
Dr. Rinah Shopnick...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
My friend goes to Kaiser. I will suggest that he consult with a hematologist there. His wife loves to take on Kaiser and win.
If your PT and PTT are not in the safe zone, you cannot have Aspirin or Coumadin. Your pretty much screwed.
ping
I have never been on a flight where they didn't provide water (800k miles).
placemarker
My husband's hematologist calls it "Warfare on Rats". LOL
There are some tests for the genetic markers for these types of clotting disorders (sometimes collectively just called "thrombophilia", btw). I wouldn't recommend getting tested unless there is good reason to (several events, maybe). Knowing about the condition is useful information, but once it hits your medical record, it affects ability to get life insurance. For the most part, the treatment is the same whether you have the condition or not -- the only difference is that with the condition you're on anticoagulants for life. A person who has multiple events probably would be anyway.
The treatment either way is:
Anticoagulants - take them as prescribed
Leafy greens - avoid them
Water - drink lots of it all the time
Crossing your legs - don't do it
Moving around - early and often
Thanks for the data.
My friend is on MediCare (my wife informed me) and Kaiser via the Ca Teacher’s retirement program. So he is covered.
He is on Coumadin and is a good user after his 3rd episode.
He does need to drink more water.
What is behind this “Leafy greens - avoid them”?
Full of vitamin K, which decreases prothrombin time.
I've been on warfarin for nearly ten years because of atrial fibrillation, which can cause blood clots. Eventually you learn how to eat to keep your prothrombin time (INR) within a specific range
Vitamin K (in leafy greens) nullifies the Coumadin/Warfarin.
http://www.ptinr.com has a good database of Vitamin K values for foods, but my husband just avoids a short list of them completely (spinach, kale, collard greens, mustard greens, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts) and eats the rest in moderation.
You can bring water on the plane, just not through security. I know the bottled water in the airport is expensive, but I've seen people take empty bottles through security and fill them up at a drinking fountain.
Thanks.
I had a pulmonary embolism in 2003 and was tested for Factor Five..the docs swore it was from that. But it wasn’t thank God.
My sister has Factor V and lost a baby at 20 weeks gestation because there was a clot in the umbilical cord and they didn’t know it was there until the baby had died. The testing is very expensive, so they don’t do it as a routine thing.
She has since had a successful pregnancy and has a beautiful baby boy, thanks to the use of blood thinners.
Before her diagnosis, I hadn’t heard of it before.
I am sorry to read about your sister’s lost pregnancy. Congratulations on the nephew!
In light of post #14 (and a hat tip to my wife for connecting the possible dots)...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2030772/posts
Health/life BUMP! RIP Bill & Tim.
“Another reason I refuse to travel for work these day, after amassing several hundred thousand frequent flyer miles. Combine the security lines, removing shoes and belt, ditching bottles of water and no water provided on the planes, seats built for 12 year olds and sitting crammed in there dehydrated for 13 hours wondering if those leg cramps are something serious - they should be paying us to fly.”
The year after I retired, I had a very lucrative consulting deal which involved flying a round trip at least once a week or several trips each week.
Even before 9/11, the travel had become such a hassle. I had to travel with a slide projector and the business suits checked in at the gates.
My luggage often missed the flight or went on another flight without me, inspite of early check ins. That created problems re my presentations if my projector was gone and my suits.
Delta on a Saturday morning flight had sold my seat to two other people, one was a very pregnant lady. She got the seat, the other guy went another flight, and I flew home on an attendants seat.
The end of this insanity was a bomb scare at the United Terminal at LAX in May 2001. Thousands of us were herded out into the streets with no explanation. I had a reservation with Avis and contacted them by cell phone. They informed me that there was a bomb scare. They sent a bus to pick me up about a half mile away and contacted United to have my luggage sent to my hotel. I gave a dinner presentation to 50 people with no slides, in my shorts, a tee shirt and looking like I had been in a herd. My luggage arrived at the hotel after midnight with my medicines, suit and slide projector.
On the way home, United tried to seat me between twin bros trying out for the Raiders Offensive line in 3 across seating. There wasn’t enough room for a sheet of paper let alone me. I had to take a later flight. My luggage arrived home two days later.
Later a few Freepers warned me that we/I were in big potential danger as we were marched into the streets at LAX.
That was my last trip with that company, and I went into total retirement.
Afterwards, whenever my wife and I flew, the hassles got worse. My wife ended up as a possible terror risk because she didn’t user her first name anymore. We found out about that when California refused to renew her driver’s license because it was different than her social security name on file.
She was hassled incredibly because of that. She is reddish blond and very fair skinned and yet the hassles continued.
I and a few million others with the same dangerous Celtic Names ended up on a no fly list.
Our last flight was two years ago this coming September when we flew to Jacksonville for a wedding of a good friend. Fortunately we heard that carrying our new Passports and a copy of the pre 9/11 passports would eliminate those security hassles and they did.
However, that was during the no liquids on board hassle. My wife’s contact solutions, make up and meds were in her check in luggage, and those came to our hotel two days later. Fortunately, everything arrived a few days later so she could enjoy our vacation and the wedding.
On the trip home, we changed planes in Phoenix and aiport security was in high gear in the terminal and on our specific SW flight. TSA apparently had bad feelings about 3 guys and one poor 80+ year old WWII fighter pilot, who had flown back to the DC area for a daughter’s funeral. Another guy and I got TSA to back off of him. His crime was he made reservations quickly after his daughters death, flew to the DC area, attended her funeral and was trying to fly back home with minimal luggage and in less than 2 days.
Security personnel apparently came on boaard after we loaded and took off two of the guys via the back door. Then, two young loud mouthed young women started mouthing off before the flight got started, and they were escorted out the front door.
My wife and I decided no more flights unless there was a real emergency. In Feb, we took a cruise out of Mexico. We drove down 101 and spent the night in motel close to the harbor and left our vehicle there and went too and from the ship via their shuttle.
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