Is there a Doctor in the house???????
- Thread starter SweetyPie
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Oliver Clozoff
SirRealism
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Sweetypie,
the reason you may not have found anything about the disorder is that it's generally referred to as "antiphospholipid antibody syndrome". In simple terms, it's an autoimmune condition in which a person begins to make antibodies (molecules ordinarily used by the body to label foreign invaders and begin the process of an immune response against the invaders) to molecules called phospholipids which are found in the cell membranes of all your cells.
Essentially, this just means that the immune system mistakenly identifies the phospholipids as foreign and attacks them, instead of leaving them alone as it should for parts of your own cells.
It's somewhat similar and often associated with a more well-known disease called Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus (or Lupus for short) in which the body also makes antibodies against material in the nuclei of its own cells.
Most of the manifestations of the disease result from damage to the natural ability of blood to clot properly. Although the antiphosholipid antibodies cause a decrease in the ability of blood to clot, the manifestations are due to paradoxical clotting of blood in veins and arteries (no one understands why). Depending on where the clots are, this can lead to heart attacks, strokes, blood clots passed to the lungs called pulmonary emboli, and clots within the placenta in pregnant women which may cause repeated miscarriages.
What's strange is that only about 30% of people with these antibodies develop the abnormal clotting manifestations, so just having the antibodies doesn't mean you have the syndrome. The syndrome is only diagnosed if you have the antibodies AND the clinical manifestations. It's generally treated with aspirin and other anticoagulants.
Hope this helped.
the reason you may not have found anything about the disorder is that it's generally referred to as "antiphospholipid antibody syndrome". In simple terms, it's an autoimmune condition in which a person begins to make antibodies (molecules ordinarily used by the body to label foreign invaders and begin the process of an immune response against the invaders) to molecules called phospholipids which are found in the cell membranes of all your cells.
Essentially, this just means that the immune system mistakenly identifies the phospholipids as foreign and attacks them, instead of leaving them alone as it should for parts of your own cells.
It's somewhat similar and often associated with a more well-known disease called Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus (or Lupus for short) in which the body also makes antibodies against material in the nuclei of its own cells.
Most of the manifestations of the disease result from damage to the natural ability of blood to clot properly. Although the antiphosholipid antibodies cause a decrease in the ability of blood to clot, the manifestations are due to paradoxical clotting of blood in veins and arteries (no one understands why). Depending on where the clots are, this can lead to heart attacks, strokes, blood clots passed to the lungs called pulmonary emboli, and clots within the placenta in pregnant women which may cause repeated miscarriages.
What's strange is that only about 30% of people with these antibodies develop the abnormal clotting manifestations, so just having the antibodies doesn't mean you have the syndrome. The syndrome is only diagnosed if you have the antibodies AND the clinical manifestations. It's generally treated with aspirin and other anticoagulants.
Hope this helped.
Thanks that explains alot but another question I have is could that disorder possibly be the cause of my severe PIH and HELLP Syndrome in two pregnancies. I have 2 preemies one born at 28 weeks gestation and one born at 25 weeks gestation. The doc asked if I have ever been tested for Lupus. Should I follow this up?
Oliver Clozoff
SirRealism
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2000
- Posts
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I'm not a gynocologist, so I'm fuzzy on the relationship between antiphospholipid antibody syndrome and pregnancy-induced hypertension and HELLP syndrome, but I know that all three are associated with premature labor and birth. I know that HELLP is similar in cause to Lupus, although it's only seen in pregnancy (usually), while Lupus can occur anytime. Your premature deliveries may have been due to pre-ecclampsia and high blood pressure, so it's hard to say if Lupus or antiphospholipid contributed to it. The only way to know is to get tested.
PIH and HELLP are definitely enough by themselves to cause repeated problems in pregnancy, so you probably don't have antiphospolipid, but if you're pregnant and worried, you might want to check it out.
If you're not pregnant now and you're not having problems, I think your premature deliveries were probably just caused by PIH and HELLP, both of which resolved after you delivered. If you ARE having problems, that signals a more serious problem that you definitely want to get checked out.
Even if you're not having problems though, I might want to follow up on it. As I mentioned, it can cause heart attacks and strokes in relatively young people. Because the test for the disease is based on detecting the antibodies and most people who have the antibodies don't get the disease, even if you "test positive", you may never have any problems with the disease.
I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably want to check it out, though. It's usually better to be proactive, but as you see, medicine is far from perfect and we don't have all the answers.
[Edited by Oliver Clozoff on 03-03-2001 at 01:53 AM]
PIH and HELLP are definitely enough by themselves to cause repeated problems in pregnancy, so you probably don't have antiphospolipid, but if you're pregnant and worried, you might want to check it out.
If you're not pregnant now and you're not having problems, I think your premature deliveries were probably just caused by PIH and HELLP, both of which resolved after you delivered. If you ARE having problems, that signals a more serious problem that you definitely want to get checked out.
Even if you're not having problems though, I might want to follow up on it. As I mentioned, it can cause heart attacks and strokes in relatively young people. Because the test for the disease is based on detecting the antibodies and most people who have the antibodies don't get the disease, even if you "test positive", you may never have any problems with the disease.
I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably want to check it out, though. It's usually better to be proactive, but as you see, medicine is far from perfect and we don't have all the answers.
[Edited by Oliver Clozoff on 03-03-2001 at 01:53 AM]
