what can i do to help break up a blood clot in my leg
Don't allow a plane ride or an extended couch tater session put you at risk. Here's what to do to keep your blood flowing.
Blood clots that form in the deep veins of the legs (deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT) can cause leg symptoms. Worse, the clots can break loose and travel through the blood to the eye so to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism (PE).
More than people die from PE each year in the Us than from breast cancer. What causes DVT and PE, what are the symptoms, and how can you prevent them?
Causes and triggers
Subsequently your arteries bring oxygen-rich claret to your legs, your veins send the blood support to your centre and lungs (for more oxygen).
"If claret in the deep leg veins doesn't movement fast enough, or if y'all have a status that makes you decumbent to blood clots, a blood clot can develop," explains Dr. Sherry Scovell, a vascular surgeon who specializes in venous disease at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Full general Hospital.
Mutual claret clot triggers include
- being bedridden for long periods because of surgery or illness
- sitting for long periods — fifty-fifty three to iv hours — in a car, plane, or railroad train
- getting too little activeness and sitting also much
- having blood pool in your legs considering valves in a superficial vein don't work properly (a varicose vein)
- taking a medication that promotes blood clotting.
Your risk for claret clots also increases with older historic period, a family unit history of DVT, a previous DVT, cancer, certain genes, COVID-19, heart failure, obesity, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, smoking, spinal cord injury, stroke, untreated varicose veins, and use of birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy.
Symptoms and risks
Be on the sentry for symptoms of two types of blood clots that can form in the legs.
A blood clot in the superficial veins. This is called a superficial venous thrombosis (SVT). "It causes redness, tenderness, or pain over varicose veins," Dr. Scovell says. "Sometimes, an SVT can grow and become a deep-vein thrombosis."
A claret jell in the deep leg veins. A DVT usually begins in one leg. "When you lot go a blockage, the blood tin't leave your leg easily. That leg can become bloated rather suddenly, and painful," Dr. Scovell says. If your legs don't normally get swollen, but one leg becomes bloated over a few days, that may be a sign of danger.
If part of that deep-vein clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, a PE occurs. "The clot gets stuck in blood vessels in the lung, you stop getting plenty blood flow there, and that part of the lung dies. Y'all accept shortness of jiff and chest pain when you have in a deep breath," Dr. Scovell says.
Avoiding blood clots
In that location are apps available to help yous decide your run a risk for getting a DVT. Dr. Scovell recommends an app called "Caprini DVT Hazard," available on iOS devices, such every bit an iPhone.
How can yous avoid getting a clot when you're stuck in situations that increase your take a chance, such as a long motorcar ride? Keep the following tips in mind.
Stay hydrated. Avoid excessive alcohol intake, and drink lots of water.
Stretch your legs. Get up every 60 minutes or ii and stretch your calves or move your ankles dorsum and forth repeatedly. "The calf muscles act like pumps and propel claret through the veins," Dr. Scovell says.
Move your legs while you're lying down. Bend your knees, or point and flex your feet.
Clothing compression stockings. They'll assist prevent swelling and keep blood from pooling in the legs.
Pay attending to your position. Avoid crossing your legs, and periodically change your position while seated.
Get an aisle seat when traveling. On a airplane, train, or bus, sit in an aisle seat so yous can hands go upward and movement around every few hours.
What if you have symptoms?
If you lot have new symptoms indicating the possibility of a DVT or a PE, and if you can't speak immediately to your dr. or nurse, get to the emergency room. "It'due south an emergency, not something to cheque out on Monday if it's Fri," Dr. Scovell says.
Handling typically involves taking a claret thinner for several months or longer. "We also have to figure out why you got the claret clot. If nosotros can't detect a reason, you may demand to take a blood thinner for a longer time," Dr. Scovell says. "And nosotros don't want you to always go a claret jell again, so you lot'll demand to be proactive about avoiding future risks."
Epitome: © gradyreese/Getty Images
As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides admission to our library of archived content. Please notation the engagement of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of appointment, should ever exist used every bit a substitute for direct medical advice from your md or other qualified clinician.
Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/top-causes-of-blood-clots-in-the-legs-and-how-to-avoid-them
0 Response to "what can i do to help break up a blood clot in my leg"
Post a Comment