Treatment Options Making a Plan and Sticking to It
It’s never too late to take the steps to better manage your hemophilia, your health, and your life. By knowing the facts, setting goals, and making good choices, you can minimize the impact of bleeds on your life.
When it comes to your health and your bleeds, what are you happy with? What would you like to change? Once you understand where you are, you can then set goals to get where you’d like to be.
General Health:
- Track your weight. Has it changed by 5 to 10 pounds in the last month?
- Log your physical activities. In the last month, how often have you ridden your bike, gone to the gym, played an interactive video game?
- Stay in contact with your HTC. In the last year, how often have you connected with your HTC care team?
Bleeds:
- Has your joint pain gotten worse over time? How?
- How often in the last month have you had to miss school, work, or other activities because of bleeds?
- How many bleeds did you have in the last month? In the last year? How many fewer bleeds do you want to have?
- What motivators might help you achieve your goals? What obstacles might get in the way of achieving your goals?
- Your goal may be to have zero bleeds or fewer bleeds than you had last month or last year. Talk with your clinician to determine the appropriate and realistic goal for you.
Make a Plan
To beat bleeds, you need a plan. Work with your clinician to create a treatment plan that works for you.* Your plan will also focus on overall health. Keeping your joints and muscles strong now and in the future is critical to help prevent bleeds. Exercise and eating well are key to staying strong and reducing stress on joints by maintaining a healthy weight.1.2 Fill out the Bleed Assessment Score Sheet and take it to your clinician to start the conversation.
Stick to It
A good plan helps you take charge, reduce bleeds, and minimize pain associated with bleeding. A great plan will help you do it in a way that works with your life. The key is to create a routine you can stick with over the long term. That way, it’s easier for you to realize the benefits of reducing bleeds.
On paper, on your smartphone, or online, create a simple tracking system that works for you.3 It’s important to keep track of things like infusions, bleeds, weight changes, exercise, and successes.4
- Every month, take a look at your progress and successes
- Don’t forget to take advantage of the ABR resources to help you beat bleeds
Estimate your ABR now on Facebook.
While you’re tracking your progress toward your goals, also note your patterns. What do you need to do to achieve your goals? What challenges are in the way? Write these down, and then think about key behaviors you can use to stay on the right path.
Sticking to Your Plan
Keeping track of your infusions helps you notice patterns. If you’re missing your infusions for recurring reasons, talk to your clinician about adjusting your treatment plan to better fit your needs.
Watching Your Weight
Remember that your weight is important for calculating your factor dose, which can change the effectiveness of your infusions. If you lose or gain weight, contact your HTC to see if your dose needs to be adjusted.
Developing a Fitness Plan
Exercise is a great way to improve your health. Your HTC staff members are great resources to help you develop a fitness plan that is right for you.
*Note: Call your HTC or hemophilia clinician if any unexpected bleeds occur.
References
- LaFranco J, Delorm D. Making better food choices. HemAware Web site. http://hemaware.org/health-wellness/fitness-nutrition/making-better-food-choices. Accessed June 26, 2012.
- Anderson A, Forsyth A. Playing It Safe: Bleeding Disorders, Sports and Exercise. New York, NY: National Hemophilia Foundation; 2005.
- du Treil S, Rice J, Lessinger CA. Quantifying adherence to treatment and its relationship to quality of life in a well-characterized haemophilia population. Haemophilia. 2007;13(5):493-501.
- Poon M-C, Jackson S, Brown M, Wilma M. Clotting factor therapy. In: Amesse C, Bedard L, Blanchette V, et al, eds. In: All About Hemophilia: A Guide for Families. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: Canadian Hemophilia Society; 2010. http://www.hemophilia.ca/files/Chapter%2005.pdf. Accessed June 6, 2012.
