While a person’s blood may look uniform, it’s made of a combination of different cells, proteins, and clotting factors, or substances that aid clotting.
As with many things in the body, blood relies on a balance to maintain a normal consistency. If an imbalance in the proteins and cells responsible for blood and blood clotting develops, your blood can become too thick. This is known as hypercoagulability.
A number of factors can cause thick blood, such as:
Because there are so many potential causes of thick blood, doctors don’t have a standard definition of thick blood. They instead define it through each condition that results in thick blood.
Blood clotting disorders that because thick blood tend to be rare. Some of the more common include factor V Leiden, which an estimated 3 to 7 percent of the general population has. This condition doesn’t mean a person’s blood will be too thick, but that they are predisposed to having thick blood.
Of all the people who’ve had a blood clot in their veins, less than 15 percent are due to a condition that causes thick blood.
Many don’t have any symptoms of thick blood until they experience a blood clot. The blood clot usually occurs in a person’s vein, which can cause pain and affect circulation in and around the area where the clot occurs.
Some are aware they have a family history of a blood clotting disorder. This may motivate them to be tested for blood clotting issues before any arise.
Having too many blood cells can lead to a variety of symptoms. Examples of these include:
If you experience any of these symptoms, you should see your doctor to test for thick blood:
The conditions that result in thick blood can be inherited or acquired at a later time, as is usually the case with cancers. Following is small sample of the many conditions that can cause thick blood:
It’s important to understand that conditions that cause thick blood, and sometimes blood clotting, aren’t the only causes of blood clots.
For example, a person may experience a heart attack because their blood came in contact with plaque in their arteries, which causes a clot to form. Those with poor circulation also are more prone to blood clots because their blood doesn’t move through their bodies as well. This isn’t due to the blood’s thickness. Instead, the arteries and veins of these people are damaged, so blood can’t move as fast as normal.
The medicines that can be thought are:-