Blood clotting question

[joelle]

Hi, I'm quite new to the forum (although have been reading posts for a while) and I have a HELLP question that I just can't get my head round.
I know that HELLP causes platelets to drop drastically (mine went down to 27K) which means the blood doesn't clot properly risking haemorrhage etc....but if that is the case then why were a number of large clots found in my placenta? Surely that means the blood was clotting too much??


This might be a rather stupid question but I'd be grateful if someone
could explain.

I had a lots of blood tests done after having my daughter and they showed that I had no detectable underlying blood disorders.

Thanks

[jenmatt1]

Joelle- I can't offer you an answers but I had class I HELLP too and the docs have also not found any underlying blood disorders for me either. My platelets dropped suddenly- in morning when admitted to hospital at 11 am, I was just under 50K by the time I delivered 7 hours later it was under 30K and I had to have 2 blood platelet transfusions.

I'd be curious as well about this, especially now that I am pregnant again.

[jean]

I am also curious about this. My platelets were low and I had clots in the placenta. Though my Peri said that if there were clots in the placenta, that it was the baby's blood and not mine. That confuses me though-I am still scratching my head on that one.

[joelle]

Thanks ladies, it's interesting that we were all wondering about the same thing.
I actually have an appointment with my Consultant Obstetrician today so if I can the chance (I already have a long list of questions...I'm an information junkie!!) I will ask her that too and share her response with you later.

Jennifer, congratulations on your pregnancy, I hope it is going well so far. As neither of us have underlying blood disorders, I would be interested in what treatment/advice you have been given so far? I've just been told that I'd be on low dose aspirin in any future pregnancy and obviously with lots more checks as it happened so early for me (25 weeks).