blood clots page

[shannon]

a family member has been hospitalized with a blood clot this past year. it came back in the other arm and just doesn't make sense (he's 23). what the heck is causing this? the dr. obviously isn't any help. any nut. deficiencies or other conditions that cause this? i suspect celiacs but don't know if there is any relation. i've urged him to go primal but he refuses. please help!

[lmyers04]

my 5 yr old nephew has blood clot issues. He's been hospitalized before. His father and mother are obese. My nephew is also already obese. Its hard to watch your family members' health decline when you feel you are privy to better information but people usually dont want to hear it or wont understand it or wont go through with it. (Yea, like primal habits are going to start popping up in my brother's household 300 miles away because I might mention a better diet to him.......yea not gonna happen) Im sorry to hear about your family member, I have no knowledge of what might be causing this but thought I would share.

[shannon]

thanks. it drives me freakin nuts that they are so stubburn. i'm sorry to hear about your nephew. it's a damn shame for anyone (especially a child) to live like that.

[avocado]

A genetic or autoimmune process has surely been suspected. I don't know what they've actually tested for. I'd like to think primal would help, but I kinda doubt there's any real data on that.

[shannon]

they ran all the 'necessary' tests. everything was fine(obviously not). family history is clean when it comes to clots. dunno:-(

[Paleo Man]

Factor V (five) Leiden or Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS), among many other things, can cause clots in either veins or arteries. APS appears to be autoimmune in nature and like many autoimmune disorders, has been linked to gluten by progressive doctors willing to consider the gluten connection. I understand that there are a fair number of false negatives in APS testing, and that you sometimes have to catch it at just the right time, unless testing has improved since I last considered the issue.

[shannon]

thanks paleo man, i'm going to check that out. he was tested for wheat allergy which tells us NOTHING. they won't do a biopsy without anymore evidence.

[emmie]

Did he get all the genetic testing? Two of my siblings died young (37 and 43) of pulmonary embolisms, and the rest of us were tested for clotting disorders. However, at the time, the doctors told us that there were disorders for which they didn't yet have any testing available. So it's possible that there is some reason for the clotting that is well beyond diet. The rest of us (5 siblings) tested negative on all the genetic tests available.

Someone I know (very fit and healthy) recently lost the sight in one eye from a sudden blood clot. After a week of testing, the doctors could find NO CAUSE at all for the clot. They said that the body just something does these things.

[Paleo Man]

Did he get all the genetic testing? Two of my siblings died young (37 and 43) of pulmonary embolisms, and the rest of us were tested for clotting disorders. However, at the time, the doctors told us that there were disorders for which they didn't yet have any testing available. So it's possible that there is some reason for the clotting that is well beyond diet. The rest of us (5 siblings) tested negative on all the genetic tests available.

Someone I know (very fit and healthy) recently lost the sight in one eye from a sudden blood clot. After a week of testing, the doctors could find NO CAUSE at all for the clot. They said that the body just something does these things.

Though the disorders may be genetic, they are not necessarily beyond dietary interventions. Antiphospholipid Syndrome, APS, as I mentioned, is suspected of being triggered by dietary gluten by some progressive docs. Most docs do not even consider the connection and will say it "just happens" or is "genetic." It can cause pulmonary embolisms and runs in families.

One of the progressive physicians finding a link between APS and gluten is Alexander Shikhman, MD, PhD, of Del Mar, California.

http://www.articlesbase.com/pregnanc...y-2830580.html

APS is often involved in pregnancy and infertility problems as well as causing clotting. Gluten problems are turning out to be at the root of an enormous number of medical problems and symptoms, literally hundreds and hundreds of them. So it will be a while before they are sorted out and identified. In the meantime, everyone can benefit in some way or another from a strict gluten free Primal diet.

Perhaps consider this. Evolution is pretty efficient at weeding out genes that were/are not consistent with survival. So how would genes that produced potentially fatal blood clots in young people survive the culling process of evolution over the eons? One possible explanation in some cases might be that the genes in question don't cause blood clots in those on a Paleo diet or lifestyle, but that the clotting problem only arises on a modern diet or lifestyle. That could explain the failure of evolution to eliminate these genes. Just a thought.

In addition to avoidance of gluten, there are some studies suggesting that adequate Vitamin D intake, sun and supplements, may assist in preventing clotting problems. See Cillakat's excellent posts on testing and supplementation. Some genetic clotting disorders such as APS seem to be autoimmune in nature and adequate Vitamin D seems to help in modulating autoimmunity.

[shannon]

Did he get all the genetic testing? Two of my siblings died young (37 and 43) of pulmonary embolisms, and the rest of us were tested for clotting disorders. However, at the time, the doctors told us that there were disorders for which they didn't yet have any testing available. So it's possible that there is some reason for the clotting that is well beyond diet. The rest of us (5 siblings) tested negative on all the genetic tests available.

Someone I know (very fit and healthy) recently lost the sight in one eye from a sudden blood clot. After a week of testing, the doctors could find NO CAUSE at all for the clot. They said that the body just something does these things.

no he didn't get genetic testing done as far as we know. i'm a firm believer that what we put in our mouths determines our health(besides environmental factors). if he is predisposed to this genetically it doesn't mean he is doomed. i pray that he at least gives this lifestyle a chance long enough to see the benefits.