22-02-2012, 02:46
Hey guys,
I just wanted to weigh in one of the factors in why women (slightly increased risk especially in caucasian women) are at increased risk of developing blood clots when taking oral contraceptives. When a woman becomes pregnant, one of the ways her body is triggered to respond is by increasing blood volume in order to accommodate a developing life within her uterus.. to put it simply. By an "increase in blood volume," the mother is just producing more of everything found in the blood... which happens to include an increase in a component of the blood that makes up what are known as "clotting factors" that are responsible for helping to clot blood during an injury, etc. So when a woman is put on oral contraceptives, the idea is that the woman's body is tricked into believing it is already pregnant (thus it can't become pregnant again if it already thinks its pregnant.. I'm fuzzy on EXACTLY how this works, so if anyone cares to explain further.. please do), but a result seen is that this will trigger the increase in blood clotting factors.. which then leads to increased risk of developing thrombi (clots). One of the best ways to help prevent clots from forming if you are taking oral contraceptives is to drink plenty of water (dehydration leads to an increased concentration of these clotting factors = not good), and exercise often to prevent a sedentary lifestyle.. sitting for long periods of time puts you at risk for developing these thrombi.. within veins of the legs especially, which in itself is not terrible (and can even be asymptomatic), but if the clot dislodges it can travel to the lung where it can cause a pulmonary embolism (it can block off some of the much smaller veins found in lungs compared with the large leg veins it was formed in)..
Hm, I hope I didnt get too side tracked, lol. I just wanted to help share some knowledge w the forum
*Disclaimer: Please take all of this with a grain of salt. I am trying to write up what I believe to be truthful information, but if anyone notes anything I wrote out that is incorrect.. please call me out on it, as I don't want to spread false information to anyone.
Hope this helps someone!
I just wanted to weigh in one of the factors in why women (slightly increased risk especially in caucasian women) are at increased risk of developing blood clots when taking oral contraceptives. When a woman becomes pregnant, one of the ways her body is triggered to respond is by increasing blood volume in order to accommodate a developing life within her uterus.. to put it simply. By an "increase in blood volume," the mother is just producing more of everything found in the blood... which happens to include an increase in a component of the blood that makes up what are known as "clotting factors" that are responsible for helping to clot blood during an injury, etc. So when a woman is put on oral contraceptives, the idea is that the woman's body is tricked into believing it is already pregnant (thus it can't become pregnant again if it already thinks its pregnant.. I'm fuzzy on EXACTLY how this works, so if anyone cares to explain further.. please do), but a result seen is that this will trigger the increase in blood clotting factors.. which then leads to increased risk of developing thrombi (clots). One of the best ways to help prevent clots from forming if you are taking oral contraceptives is to drink plenty of water (dehydration leads to an increased concentration of these clotting factors = not good), and exercise often to prevent a sedentary lifestyle.. sitting for long periods of time puts you at risk for developing these thrombi.. within veins of the legs especially, which in itself is not terrible (and can even be asymptomatic), but if the clot dislodges it can travel to the lung where it can cause a pulmonary embolism (it can block off some of the much smaller veins found in lungs compared with the large leg veins it was formed in)..
Hm, I hope I didnt get too side tracked, lol. I just wanted to help share some knowledge w the forum
*Disclaimer: Please take all of this with a grain of salt. I am trying to write up what I believe to be truthful information, but if anyone notes anything I wrote out that is incorrect.. please call me out on it, as I don't want to spread false information to anyone.
Hope this helps someone!