Blood clots: Two critical ways to prevent life-threatening blood clots

BBC journalist’s husband emotionally recalls wife’s blood clots

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After injury, and once the wound is healed, the body naturally dissolves a blood clot. Sometimes, however, a blood clot can form on the inside of the blood vessels without an obvious injury, and it doesn’t naturally dissipate. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said: “Blood clots are preventable.” In order to minimise your risk of a life-threatening blood clot, the CDC recommends “walking around every one to two hours” when able to do so.

By moving around, you are able to improve blood flow, which can also be helped by doing “seated leg stretches”.

This includes raising and lowering your heels while keeping your toes on the floor, then doing the same by moving your toes up and down while keeping the heels on the floor.

Blood clot symptoms

The American Society of Haematology listed possible symptoms of a blood clot, depending on where it occurs in the body.

If the blood clot occurs in the heart muscle, you can expect to experience:

• Chest heaviness or pain
• Discomfort in areas of the upper body
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea
• Light-headedness.

By moving around, you are able to improve blood flow, which can also be helped by doing “seated leg stretches”.

This includes raising and lowering your heels while keeping your toes on the floor, then doing the same by moving your toes up and down while keeping the heels on the floor.

Blood clot symptoms

The American Society of Haematology listed possible symptoms of a blood clot, depending on where it occurs in the body.

If the blood clot occurs in the heart muscle, you can expect to experience:

Chest heaviness or pain

Discomfort in areas of the upper body

Shortness of breath

Nausea

Light-headedness.

If the blood clot occurs in the brain, there may be:

• Weakness of the face, arms or legs
• Difficulty speaking
• Vision problems
• Sudden and server headache
• Dizziness.

When a blood clot is in the arm or leg, there may be sudden or gradual pain, swelling, tenderness and warmth.

For a blood clot in the lungs, you can expect sharp chest pain, a racing heart, shortness of breath, sweating, fever, or/and coughing up blood.

If a blood clot is in the abdomen, there could be severe abdominal pain, vomiting and/or diarrhoea.

The American Society of Haematology stated that blood clots “can occur in veins or arteries”.

Both part of the body’s circulatory system, veins and arteries function differently.

The organisation explained: “Veins are low-pressure vessels that carry deoxygenated blood away from the body’s organs and back to the heart.

“An abnormal clot that forms in a vein may restrict the return of blood to the heart and can result in pain and swelling as the blood gathers behind the clot.”

An example of this would be deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which can end up being “extremely dangerous”.

“Arteries, on the other hand, are muscular, high-pressure vessels that carry oxygen and nutrient-rich blood from the heart to other parts of the body,” the experts continued.

“Clotting that occurs in arteries is usually associated with atherosclerosis, a deposit of plaque that narrows the inside of the vessel.

“As the arterial passage narrows, the strong arterial muscles continue to force blood through the opening, and the high pressure can cause the plaque to rupture.”

As such, a clot develops that could potentially lead to a heart attack or stroke.

One of the main risk factors for a blood clot is obesity, which is why moving your body is crucial.

Integrating daily exercise into your routine will do wonders for your health, as well as minimise the risk of life-threatening blood clots.

By exercising, you are also minimising other blood clot factors, such as:

• Immobility
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol.

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