12. Avoid Smoking
When you smoke, your blood is more likely to clot and platelets are more likely to stick together. Your blood ends up clumping together because of the nicotine in cigarettes. This leads to blood clots.
Smoking will only make the condition worse. It’s best to avoid smoking to lessen the chances of getting more blood clots.
11. Maintain Body Temperature (Avoid Extremely Cold and Hot Temperatures)
When it’s hot and humid, the body sends more blood to the skin. This makes the heart beat faster and pump twice as much blood per minute as it would on a regular day. The hot weather can also cause dehydration, causing the patient to become dizzy. Dehydration can also affect the skin.
The cold temperature can cause the arteries and blood vessels to become narrow, affecting blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart. Your heart would have to work overtime to circulate blood. Extreme weather will just worsen the condition since blood clots have already formed with the onset of the condition.
10. Proper Skin Care
People who have polycythemia vera must take special care of their skin. The condition causes the skin to become itchy. This is caused by the increased level of mast cells in the body. These cells release histamine, which is responsible for the body’s allergic responses.
Since extreme weather is also detrimental to a patient with polycythemia, minimizing skin exposure to hot and cold weather can help in managing the condition.
9. Watch For Wounds and Sores
Increased levels of red blood cells can cause infection. Blood clots slow down circulation. This impedes the delivery of oxygen and critical nutrients to other parts of the body.
Wounds and sores are most likely to appear since they cannot be healed naturally by the body. Hence, a patient with polycythemia must always watch out for wounds and sores to avoid infection that can worsen the condition.
8. Phlebotomy
Phlebotomy lowers both the volume of blood and the number of excess red blood cells in the body. It is a procedure to withdraw blood from the body using a needle. This is a procedure that is done regularly until the levels of the red blood cells normalize.
Phlebotomy is similar to the procedure of donating blood. It is the most common treatment for polycythemia.
7. Anti-Itch Medications
Anti-itch medications can help control the itching that comes with polycythemia. Examples of these medications are antihistamines.
Interestingly, medications to treat depression can also help control the itching that comes with polycythemia. This was found in several clinical trials. These medications are called selective seroto9nin reuptake inhibitors or SSRs. Examples of these are paroxetine and fluoxetine.
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