British Heart Foundation: Understanding blood clots
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Blood clotting is usually normal and healthy. It’s a step your body takes to prevent bleeding too much if you’re injured or have been cut. It’s like a plug in your blood vessels to stop the blood from pouring out endlessly. But prolonged clotting can become “dangerous” and even life-threatening explains the health body Baptist Health. Two signs your leg may show up indicating you have a sinister clot that needs to be treated quickly.
Blood clots can happen in any of the arteries – known as arterial thrombosis – or veins around your body, including deep within your arms and legs. This is known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Clots in your blood that don’t dissolve can cause “serious problems”, the health body said.
They can stop blood from moving around your body and cause either pain or swelling.
If the clot is in your arms or legs, the pain can be either “sudden” or “gradual”, Baptist Health explains.
But in cases of DVT, the pain can seemingly come out of nowhere as it doesn’t always come with swelling.
Professor Beverley Hunt said: “We know from modern studies that about 80 percent of deep vein thrombosis are clinically silent, in that they don’t have any swelling and they don’t have any change in colour, but we do know they cause pain.
“So, if someone has unexpected pain in the leg, and there’s no obvious explanation, they need to think about deep vein thrombosis.”
It’s important to respond immediately to deep vein thrombosis or arterial thrombosis. DVT can cause complications such as pulmonary embolism, while arterial thrombosis can result in a heart attack.
In some cases, the blood clots can break off from where they first formed. If the blood clot moves to block one of the arteries leading to your heart, you can have a heart attack.
Blood clots that break off from veins in your arms and legs can also move to your lungs (pulmonary embolism), which can cause the organ to fail.
According to Mayo Clinic, “most” cases of pulmonary embolism start in the deep vein in the leg.
The other symptoms of blood clots in your arms or legs include “redness and warmth”, explains Baptist Health.
You may also experience “sudden weakness in the arm or leg” or “tenderness”.
What are the signs of a pulmonary embolism?
It’s always better to react to deep vein thrombosis as soon as possible. But just in case, it’s worth being aware of the symptoms of pulmonary embolism.
Hunt said: “PE symptoms include sudden or gradual shortness of breath, often they cause chest pain worse on breathing in, they can make people feel sweaty and unwell suddenly.
“In fact, they can cause almost any respiratory symptom. Coughing up blood can also be a symptom, but it is pretty rare.
“Therefore, it’s crucial that medical professionals and the public are aware of the signs, symptoms, and risk factors to look out for.”
She explained that not moving is one of the main causes of venous blood clots is not moving because it can reduce the blood flow in your veins.
Heart attack symptoms
The symptoms of a heart attack include the following:
- chest pain – a feeling of pressure, heaviness, tightness, or squeezing across your chest
- pain in other parts of the body – it can feel as if the pain is spreading from your chest to your arms (usually the left arm, but it can affect both arms), jaw, neck, back, and tummy
- feeling lightheaded or dizzy
- sweating
- shortness of breath
- feeling sick (nausea) or being sick (vomiting)
- an overwhelming feeling of anxiety (similar to a panic attack)
- coughing or wheezing
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