Why Do Some People Bleed More?

Why Do Some People Bleed More?

Even though all of us have blood in our bodies, when blood comes out when there is no injury, it’s scary.

Blood flowing inside a healthy person is always in the liquid state.

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When we accidentally injure ourselves say a cut caused by a kitchen knife or fall from a scooter or involved in a automobile accident, bleeding stops after a few minutes.

That is because there are cells called platelets and proteins called clotting factors come into play and stop the bleeding by forming a clot.

In some cases bleeding happens without injury from parts of the body like nose, gums. In other cases bleeding happens in joints, muscles, brain or stomach for no reason. In these situations detailed blood tests are necessary to pinpoint the problem.

Deficiency of platelets or clotting factors are common reasons why excessive bleeding takes place.

Platelets go down in numbers when body is infected by viruses like Dengue, Hepatitis, AIDS, Covid and others.

There are so many clotting factors in our body and they are given Roman numerals for identification.

Haemophilia is one well known problem that runs in families, here Factor VIII is lacking.

Clotting can also get affected in persons with liver damage, severe infections and sometimes in pregnancy.

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The practice of marriage between closely related persons is one reason for babies born with rare bleeding disorders.

Genetic counselling and awareness education in society will go a long way in preventing babies being born with rare bleeding problems that are not easily treatable.

Related articles

When we get a small injury it is these platelets which spring into action and stops bleeding.
Many virus infections cause low platelets and in India, Dengue infection is one of the common causes for this problem.

Some people are prone to developing thrombosis or clots in their blood vessels.
These can all be detected by special tests and need regular monitoring and treatment by a hematologist.