You may have heard the term “factor V Leiden” or “factor V”. After all, many people first hear the term after a family member received a diagnosis. Since factor V Leiden is hereditary, being aware of this information may be vital for your health. However, knowing that you may have a blood clotting disorder such as factor V Leiden can be an intimidating thing. But we at Prescription Hope want to provide you with the resources, information, and support to help you understand factor V Leiden and how to treat it.
Thankfully, you can live a full and healthy life with factor V Leiden. However, knowing more about the condition may help you keep you at a lower risk of a dangerous blood clot.
How Does the Body’s Blood Clotting Work?
When you get injured, your body springs into action. Even though we get cuts and scrapes on our skin from time to time, our blood vessels also get scrapes and nicks. While we cannot see these, the body knows they need to be repaired.
Once the body knows repair is necessary, it follows a particular process. First, the body sends platelets, which are blood clotting cells. They provide the initial cover on the open wound and help to slow the bleeding. Then, enzyme reactions occur on the platelets to begin producing a material called fibrin. The factor V protein aids in this process of enzyme reactions to produce fibrin. Thankfully, the fibrin holds the platelets in place and helps stop the flow of blood through the wound. This means a clot is the combination of fibrin and platelets.
Once the wound has enough fibrin, a protein called activated protein C (APC) deactivates factor V. Finally, the clot stops its growth due to lack of factor V and continues to block the wound while other enzymes repair the injured spot.
What is Factor V Leiden?
As one might guess, factor V Leiden involves the factor V protein. People with factor V Leiden suffer from a gene mutation which makes their factor V protein less responsive to APC’s signals to stop producing fibrin. The mutation of the factor V gene changes the protein’s structure which resists the proteins sent by the body to stop the production of fibrin. This means that while bodies without factor V Leiden cease to develop fibrin once APC shows up, those with factor V Leiden take more time to stop the fibrin creation process. The condition raises a person’s risk of developing abnormal blood clots.
Unfortunately, those with factor V Leiden become at risk of major blood clots which can cause serious complications. However, most people who suffer from factor V Leiden do not develop abnormal blood clots. Currently, statistics suggest about 90% of people with factor V will not develop abnormal blood clots.
Certainly, most people with factor V Leiden will not experience an abnormal blood clot. However, several conditions may show up as a result of the factor V Leiden gene mutation.
Deep Vein Thrombosis
The condition becomes apparent either through testing or after a patient suffers from a blood clot in a deep vein in the body. This condition is also known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). On rare occasions, the liver, kidneys, brain, or intestines may develop a blood clot as well.
Estimates suggest that up to 20% of first-time DVT occurrences are a result of Factor V Leiden.
Pulmonary Embolism
Another serious situation that may lead doctors to test for factor V Leiden includes a pulmonary embolism (PE), which occurs when a blood clot travels to the lungs. While DVT has a higher correlation with factor V Leiden than a pulmonary embolism, factor V still carries an elevated risk of PE.
The Danger of Blood Clotting Disorders
Blood clots remain a powerful and necessary tool in the body’s mission to repair itself. While this process keeps a person alive, the risk of blood clotting disorders also needs to be understood. Those with blood clotting disorders run a heightened danger of getting a blood clot in their arteries or their veins.
The arteries carry blood from the heart to the rest of the body, while veins carry blood to the heart. Blood clots in the veins can cause DVT in areas such as the leg, arm, pelvic region, liver, brain, kidneys, or even intestines. Likewise, PE travels through the veins to the lungs.
Blood clots in the arteries may cause:
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Loss of a limb
- Difficulty with movement
- Leg pain
How can I Tell if I Have a Blood Clot?
Knowing the symptoms of a blood clot may depend on the area affected by the blood clot. For instance:
If you have a blood clot in your arms or legs, you may experience:
- Pain
- Swelling
- Warmth
- Tenderness
However, a blood clot in the brain may result in:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Weakness in the face or limbs
- Difficulty speaking
- Vision changes
A blood clot in the heart may cause:
- Chest pain
- Upper body pain
- Trouble breathing
- Sweating
- Light-headed feeling
- Nausea
Finally, signals that a blood clot has formed in the lungs may be:
- Trouble breathing
- Sweating
- Chest pain
- Accelerated heartbeat
- Fever
- Coughing blood
These symptoms may not prove a blood clotting disorder, but suffering from them should direct a patient to get checked out by a doctor immediately. If a doctor suspects a blood clot, they will provide a physical exam, require blood tests, and most likely will use either an ultrasound or CT scan to locate the clot.
The doctor will then deal with the blood clot and may further wish to determine whether the patient suffers from a blood clotting disorder.
Testing for a Blood Clotting Disorder
Not every blood clot results from a blood clotting disorder. However, the presence of a blood clot may lead a doctor to rule out a coagulation disorder. Some instances in which a doctor might require further testing include:
- Family history of abnormal blood clots
- Young age (under 50)
- Unusual location for thrombosis. This might include arms, liver, brain, etc.
- No certain cause of the blood clot
- Returning of blood clots
- Suffering from a stroke at a young age
If a doctor notices symptoms such as these, a couple of tests may be recommended. While various tests exist for different blood clotting disorders, testing for factor V Leiden includes receiving a blood screening to determine whether you have a resistance to APC. If your test results indicate that you have a resistance to APC, your doctor will then test to see if you have factor V Leiden.
Sometimes a doctor may skip testing for APC resistance and simply run a DNA test to determine whether the patient has factor V Leiden.
How is Factor V Leiden Treated?
Thankfully, if a person with factor V Leiden has never suffered from a DVT or PE, then most likely their doctor will not prescribe medication. A DVT or PE is often treated with an anticoagulant (blood thinner) like warfarin. The anticoagulant may also be known by the name Coumadin or Jantoven. While a doctor may prescribe warfarin or another blood thinner to treat DVT or PE, it is not usually recommended to treat a person with factor V Leiden with a blood thinner for the rest of their life.
A doctor may prescribe Lovenox following knee, surgery, hip, or abdominal surgery. A woman with factor V Leiden and pregnant, as well as a history of DVT or PE, may be prescribed Lovenox since warfarin should not be taken while pregnant. Lovenox requires a daily injection.
Having had a DVT or PE in the past raises the risk of a reoccurring DVT or PE, but factor V Leiden has not been shown to raise the risk of developing a second clot. In some instances, doctors may recommend a lifetime plan of taking anticoagulants such as warfarin.
Reduce the Risks of Factor V Leiden
While factor V Leiden plays a role in developing a DVT or PE, it is certainly not the only risk factor. Other factors compound with factor V Leiden to drastically heighten the danger of DVT and PE occurring. This means that the more risk factors coupled with factor V Leiden, the more compounding risks there are. Some of those compounding risks include:
- Obesity
- Oral contraceptive pills
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Surgery or trauma
- Pregnancy
- Long periods of immobility
A person may drastically reduce their risk of developing DVT or PE by focusing on a few things.
Staying healthy: Since obesity compounds the risk of a blood clot for those with factor V Leiden, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight is vital. Losing weight can drastically help a person’s risk profile.
Keep moving: Sitting at a desk, in a car, or on an airplane for too long also raises the risk of DVT or PE. Be sure to stand and walk around every couple of hours to ensure proper blood flow.
Understand your risks: Oral contraceptive pills (birth control) or hormone replacement therapy are personal choices made by a person’s doctor. However, be sure to discuss the risks with your doctor before beginning a regimen of any type of hormone treatment.
How to get Warfarin or Lovenox
Those who purchase warfarin or Lovenox, whether through insurance, rebate programs, Medicare, or out-of-pocket often deal with high costs and strain on their budget. Considering the importance of this medication, nobody should have to choose between their prescription medications or their bills.
Instead, finding affordable options or low-cost drugs could be the difference between having what you need or not being able to provide support to a loved one.
While various programs exist to help those with needs for medications, such programs are often messy and complex. People seek out rebates and government programs but find themselves buried in paperwork and phone calls. Many prescription assistance programs come with complex variables. Unfortunately, people get lost and confused trying to find affordable anticoagulant medication.
At Prescription Hope, we offer an affordable and simple process to get affordable meds every month.
How It Works
Those who wish to apply can visit PrescriptionHope.com. After becoming familiar with what Prescription Hope offers, you are welcome to complete and submit an online enrollment form. Once you submit the enrollment, Prescription Hope can pre-qualify you as soon as we determine we can assist based on the information provided.
After we receive all the requested paperwork from you and your healthcare provider, the first order of medication often arrives within 2 to 4 weeks. We will then place refills ahead of time so that you receive your medication on a regular schedule.
Medications typically arrive in a 90-day supply, directly to your home or healthcare provider’s office, depending on the requirements of the pharmaceutical company that ships your medication.
Prescription Hope’s Mission is to Help You Get Warfarin or Lovenox
Prescription Hope dedicates itself to helping those with blood clotting disorders such as factor V Leiden get the affordable meds they need at a reasonable monthly rate. We know both warfarin and Lovenox provide vital, lifesaving anticoagulation for a person with blood clotting disorders, but we also know the expenses. Our desire is for every member to live without the stress and worry of paying too much for their prescriptions. We refuse to believe anybody should have to choose between warfarin and the costs of living.
We provide a simple, consistent monthly rate of $70.00 per medication for over 1,500 medications. This means that not just people with factor V Leiden can benefit from what we offer. Our heart is to help you get access to affordable prescription medications.
If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with factor V Leiden and are looking for cost savings on drugs or affordable blood thinner medications such as warfarin or Lovenox, then please visit us at www.PrescriptionHope.com to learn more about how we can save you money every month!
