1. Desmopressin (DDAVP) Can Prevent Bleeding
For mild to moderate cases of hemophilia, the medicine desmopression or DDAVP can be an effective treatment. It is a man-made hormone designed to stimulate your blood to release more of its own clotting factor. Doctors can give it to you intravenously or as a nasal spray. DDAVP can prevent excessive bleeding before activities like dentist appointments and contact sports.
2. Treat the Disorder with Replacement Therapy
Replacement therapy is used with moderate to severe cases of hemophilia. It employs human blood with clotting factors or synthetic materials called recombinant clotting factor. Both are considered safe, but human blood clotting concentrates have a slightly higher risk of transmitting infectious diseases.
Replacement therapy can prevent future bleeding, but it also may be used to stop a bleeding issue. It is injected two or three times a week to maintain the amount of clotting factor in your blood. You can have this done at the hospital or your doctor can train you inject yourself. There is the risk that your blood may react to the clotting factor as a dangerous foreign substance and produce antibodies to destroy it. If this occurs, your doctor may give you more clotting factor to overwhelm the antibodies, or he may give you clotting factor composed of different materials.
3. Physical Therapy for the Joints
Hemophilia may cause internal bleeding that can swell your extremities and put pressure on your joints, which often become sore. Physical therapy for damaged joints can decrease the pain and reduce the risk of developing arthritis in the affected areas. For severely damaged joints, however, joint replacement may be the only solution.
