Blood Thinners: Do They Really Make the Blood Thinner?
Many people take so-called blood thinners every day. This is intended to reduce the risk of blood clots in diseases of the cardiovascular system. But can that actually work?
Normally, the body’s own blood clotting or the sealing of wounds and injuries is intelligently controlled by the body. Platelets reach the wound, accumulate there and condense from the edge of the wound in combination with a fine fibrin network, thereby stopping the bleeding within a short time (a few minutes) by means of a kind of plug. This endogenous mechanism only works up to a certain size of the wound or amount of blood escaping.
The so-called blood thinners prevent this mechanism and ensure that the body can no longer stop bleeding on its own. The intelligent interaction of platelets, fibrin and red blood cells to close wounds independently is paralyzed or blocked. With permanent intake of these “blood thinners,” the intelligent emergency wound healing and regulation is permanently blocked.
Blood thinners therefore do not change the ratio of blood plasma (fluid) to the blood components such as red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. Blood thinners only prevent the ability of the platelets (thrombocytes) to adhere from the edge of a wound in order to close the wounds. The correct term for blood thinners is therefore coagulation inhibitors or coagulation blockers.
Fundamentally, blood thinning could only be achieved if the ratio of blood plasma to the blood cells and solid components were altered – that is, if the proportion of blood plasma (fluid) were increased.
What does the hematocrit value indicate?
In “thick” blood there are proportionally more blood cells than fluid; in “thin” blood there is more fluid than blood cells. The proportionally largest share of the solid blood components is made up of the red blood cells (erythrocytes), which transport oxygen, also called erys. A value that provides information about the ratio of blood cells (solid components) to blood plasma (fluid) is the hematocrit.
A hematocrit value of 50/50 means 50 % solid components such as red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes), platelets (thrombocytes) and 50 % plasma. A hematocrit value of, for example, 45 % therefore indicates: The blood contains 45 % blood components and 55 % blood plasma. The “normal” value for men is approximately 41–54 %, for women around 37–46 %.
The problem is the permanent intake of “blood thinners”
With regular intake of “blood thinners,” these inhibit the body’s own blood clotting. Therefore, blood thinners must be discontinued several days before major operations, otherwise there is a risk of life-threatening bleeding that can no longer be stopped. Common side effects of their intake range from bruises to gum and nosebleeds up to serious bleeding that can be life-threatening.
The great danger lies in the regular and permanent intake of the “blood thinners.” Actually, these medications should be called “blood-clotting preventers,” because even small internal bleedings without external signs – a ruptured vessel – can lead to life-threatening internal continuous bleeding.
We will not go into the economic backgrounds, incentives, mechanisms and strategies of the pharmaceutical industry through its marketing and sales experts in connection with their foot soldiers, the pharmaceutical representatives, who regularly visit and influence doctors.
Of course we know that there are situations and emergencies in which it can be life-saving to take coagulation inhibitors temporarily! The bio-logical facts, however, clearly show a great danger with permanent and regular intake.
Three examples of normal, elevated and low hematocrit values
Our autonomic nervous system controls, among other things, the vessel diameter via the two main nerves, the sympathetic (tension/stress) and the parasympathetic (relaxation/regeneration), a vessel constriction (increase in blood pressure) or vessel dilation (reduction in blood pressure).
When the vessels are constricted in a stress and tension situation, blood pressure automatically and bio-logically increases. When the vessels are dilated during sleep and relaxation, blood pressure bio-logically decreases. However, the constriction or dilation of the vessels has a direct influence on the ratio of blood plasma (fluid) to the solid components present in the vascular system, mainly the erythrocytes, which make up the proportionally largest share (see graphic).
Further detailed information on the regulation in the next part.