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Transient Bleeding Issues?

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
So.

Several years ago, my first clue that something was going wrong with my overall health was a dramatic drop in iron levels. I don't remember the values, but I remember my GP asking if I had started blacking out or 'losing time'. o_O

This came with severe LRQ pain. Looking back, I probably had a GI bleed that wasn't healing. At the same time, I had a period that lasted two and a half weeks -- would not stop bleeding. Even wounds on my skin wouldn't close.

Then, it went away.

Fast forward nine years and I've had bleeding problems once in a great while, where I simply don't clot. I've gotten my lady-hormones measured (while this was happening) and they are all normal, so it's (probably) not that kind of bleeding problem. I've got my Von Willebrand factors measured and they're normal.

What could cause this on-again, off-again sometimes-hemophilia? It's not something I typically worry about because it happens so rarely, but I've begun to wonder if it's an important part of the overall picture that I've been ignoring because it's so rarely an issue. Could this be a function of immune system dysfunction? I wonder...

Wild speculation welcome. Not something I'm trying to 'solve', more like something I'm trying to think more deeply about, and maybe understand better.

-J
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
How interesting, Jamie. I will start by saying I have no clue about it, but one year ago I have had one period like that.

The period was hormonally triggered by 1 dose of vit K2-MK4 I had taken 14 days earlier, then I attributed the continuous bleeding to my multimin that contained Manganese. If it would happen again, this time I would try to stop it by taking B2.

Ever since this episode I have been fighting against anemia on and off despite eating lots of rare beef. I will have to see the hematologist about it.
 

roller

wiggle jiggle
Messages
775
as a child i wasnt bleeding, blood would not flow anywhere, and once there formed a 1cm? round blood ball on the knee, with a yellowish net partially visible.
my wound healing was super-speedy.

by 10 i had the first nose-bleeding, recurring for several years.
bleeding, wound healing was then normal.
nose-bleeds ceased later in puberty.

i also had such a period beyond believe.
it was after taking iron.
i may have the hla a3 iron overload but ferritin levels were normal/low (79 ng/ml)
 
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PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
Wild speculation welcome. Not something I'm trying to 'solve', more like something I'm trying to think more deeply about, and maybe understand better.

Are you sensitive to vitamin-e supplements? If I take a single 100 IU dose of vitamin-e (from tocopherols) I get internal bleeding (blood in my stool.) If you are sensitive, maybe only at certain times, then a supplement you were taking at the times of extra bleeding could have vitamin-e and cause bleeding.
 

GypsyGirl

Senior Member
Messages
165
Location
North Carolina
Hm. About four months from onset, I developed ITP (immune thrombocytopenic purpura) - low platelets. I also had (and still have) low iron/ferritin levels. There are times when little cuts don't heal and I'm bruising much more, but it doesn't necessarily seem to correspond with ITP.

It could be the low platelets. Or it could be low iron (most likely from heavy periods, though I question my body's ability to absorb iron considering how much iron I eat AND supplement in high quality form). There's so much going on - secondary GI issues, flares of Lyme/coinfections, flares of mold poisoning/chemical sensitivities. Each of those flares can cause new and varying symptoms that seem unrelated and without obvious cause.

Anyway. What I'm trying to say is - yes - I have had times where my blood doesn't seem to clot. It SHOULD be related to low platelets, but what's on paper doesn't match the timelines.

Something I do think is odd is that when reading about ME/CFS (and Lyme) - many, many people report hypercoagulation and blood clots. But I haven't heard much about hypocoagulation. No idea why, just a trend that might be worth stating.
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Are you sensitive to vitamin-e supplements? If I take a single 100 IU dose of vitamin-e (from tocopherols) I get internal bleeding (blood in my stool.) If you are sensitive, maybe only at certain times, then a supplement you were taking at the times of extra bleeding could have vitamin-e and cause bleeding.

Never heard this! Cite? :)

-J
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
I have over-blown responses to bites and at times bruise very easily.
Just recently I read somewhere (where?) that allergic reactions to bites mean low B6 and easily bruising migh be low zinc, but I would never thought that you would still be deficient in those!
 

bertiedog

Senior Member
Messages
1,738
Location
South East England, UK
It's weird to open up the forum and see the title of your thread because I had just been Googling garlic and vasodilation. The first article mentions it is a blood thinner also fish oil can be a blood thinner too.

I have got 3 huge bruises come up on my hands and wrists after one big knock and one small scratch plus persistent migraines have come back the past 3 days but now I know why. I had started a low dose garlic supplement about a month ago and last weekend started a high dose one because of gut issues getting worse. So there is my answer, garlic has a bad side effect for me and wondered if you are taking any supplements that could be blood thinners?

Perhaps some of us are more sensitive to this than others but there is no question daily garlic supplements are not good for me at least. Hope you get to the bottom of your problem too.

Pam
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
I suppose I could be taking blood thinners, but I certainly can't find any commonalities between the times this has happened. I was taking Vinpo for a long time and didn't have a single episode while on it (not a blood thinner per se, but...)

Its transient nature in particular makes it hard to pin down. It would be great if I could figure something that I am taking or not taking when it occurs, but it really doesn't seem related to things I'm doing on purpose; or if it is, it happens so subtly that I'd have to be doing X for months before the symptom shows, and would therefore never associate it with action or supplement X...

Just weird. Happened to my older sister recently too. Random, incredibly-low iron. Poor thing has restless leg,which was made infinitely worse by the very low iron...

-J
 

JaimeS

Senior Member
Messages
3,408
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
Except when it's dopamine-related.

Basically, they don't know.

It is certainly true that any mineral deficiency makes it considerably worse, whatever the primum mobile is.

-J
 
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panckage

Senior Member
Messages
777
Location
Vancouver, BC
I had similiar problems with having my blood refuse to clot. It took me several years to figure out the issue - NSAIDs (eg. Aspirin, ibuprofen, etc) were what was preventing my blood from clotting
 

bertiedog

Senior Member
Messages
1,738
Location
South East England, UK
I often forget to really check out herbs and supplements for their blood thinning properties and often forget. I have run into trouble with so many herbs because of this.

Pam