A blood clot is a jelly-like mass of blood that forms after a bodily injury to prevent excessive bleeding. In addition, proteins and platelets found in the plasma create a clot in the injured area. The human body will dissolve the clot after the injury has healed.
Sometimes, a clot forms inside veins or arteries without injury and does not dissolve on its own. It can result in pulmonary embolism or stroke. It’s serious and does require proper diagnosis and treatment.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that:
- Stroke is a main culprit of serious long-term disability. It decreases mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age sixty-five and over.
- It kills approximately 130,000 people in the U.S. each year.
- Someone in the U.S. experiences a stroke every forty seconds. Someone dies from it every four minutes.
- Nearly 795,000 people in the U.S. experience a stroke each year. Around 185,000 of these strokes are in people that have had a previous stroke. Around 610,000 of them are new or first strokes.
- Stroke costs the U.S. about 33 billion dollars every year. It involves the cost of missed days of work, health care services, and medications to treat stroke.
There Are 2 Kinds of Blood Clots, Like Venous and Arterial:
It is important to know that blood clots can form in veins or arteries. Arteries are responsible for carrying oxygenated blood away from your heart, whereas veins are responsible for returning oxygen-depleted blood to your heart.
• Venous Blood Clots
Venous clots occur in the veins and often develop gradually. They typically form after trauma like a broken leg or surgery. There’re 3 kinds of clots that occur in the veins, including superficial venous thrombosis, DVT (deep vein thrombosis), and PE (pulmonary embolism).
Superficial venous thrombosis: It occurs in a vein that’s close to the surface of the skin. It is painful and requires treatment.
Deep vein thrombosis: It occurs in the pelvis, lower leg, or thigh. It can also occur in the liver, kidney, intestines, brain, or arm.
Pulmonary embolism: It’s a deep vein thrombosis that’s broken off the point of origin and may travel to the lungs, which could be fatal.
The symptoms of venous clots include:
- Vein that’s hard to the touch or painful
- Inflamed, painful, or swollen skin over affected vein
- Reddened skin over the affected vein
• Arterial Blood Clots
They occur in the arteries and prevent blood and oxygen from reaching vital organs. They usually form in the legs or feet; they can also form in the heart resulting in a heart attack or in the brain resulting in a stroke.
The symptoms of arterial clots include:
- Weakness of the affected area
- Numbness or tingling in the arm or leg
- Muscle spasms or pain to the affected area
- Loss of color to the affected area
- Hands or fingers, which feel cool to the touch
- Cold legs or arms
- 6 risk factors for arterial blood clots:
- Smoking
- Obesity
- Physical inactivity
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
Here Are the Early, Warning Signs and Symptoms of a Blood Clot:
The symptoms of blood clots vary depending on their location in the body. Moreover, the American Society of Hematology states that a person can experience the following five symptoms in case a blood clot has formed in these particular locations:
- Lungs – Coughing up blood, sweating, shortness of breath, fever, racing heart, and sharp chest pain;
- Heart – Light-headedness, nausea, sweating, shortness of breath, chest pain or heaviness, and discomfort in other parts of the upper body;
- Brain – Dizziness, sudden and severe headache, vision problems, difficulty speaking, and weakness of the legs, face or arms or legs;
- Abdomen – Diarrhea, vomiting, and intense abdominal pain;
- Leg or Arm – Warmth, swelling, tenderness, gradual or sudden pain, and hair loss on legs.
- Quit smoking: It goes without saying that tobacco products can elevate your risk of blood clots, whether you use a vapor device or smoke cigarettes.
- Get regular exercise: You should exercise regularly and avoid a sedentary lifestyle. In case you have a desk job, get up to stretch your legs throughout the day.
- Follow a healthy diet: Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and diet plays a vital role in optimal health. You should avoid foods, which are harmful to your health like refined carbohydrates, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, sugars, processed foods, and GMOs.
- Consult your doctor to see if there’re any other medication options for you: Blood pressure, hormone and cancer medications could elevate your risk of blood clots. So, you should consult your doctor to see if there’re any other options for you.
The Following Natural Remedies Are Beneficial to Your Overall Health and Can Help Prevent the Formation of Blood Clots:
- Vitamin C – It acts as a potent antioxidant and helps improve your vascular health.
- Turmeric, bilberry, and ginger – They help decrease the ability of platelets to become clumped that can result in the formation of blood clots.
- Gingko – It lowers the content of fibrin, i.e., a protein that plays a role in forming blood clots.
- Natural antibiotics – They include onions, olive oil, garlic, and more. A study showed that the regular consumption of garlic could help prevent thrombosis.
- Vitamin E – This vitamin helps prevent oxidation. Foods rich in this vitamin include kiwi, butternut squash, broccoli, avocado, almonds, and green leafy veggies.
- Omega 3 Fatty Acids – Foods rich in omega 3 fats include walnuts, fish, and pumpkin seeds.
