How Can You Tell if You Have a Blood Clot?

Abnormal blood clots can form in your veins. And that's a problem. Because, if they break free from your veins and travel to your lungs, they can become a life-threatening concern. Now, the key to preventing this outcome is to prevent clots, or to detect them as early as possible. That way, you can seek immediate intervention and save your own life!

Preventing Blood Clots in Your Deep Veins

Rather than treating a clot, we'd like to help you prevent one. Especially a deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, the name for a clot that forms in the deep veins in your legs. Luckily, that's fairly easy to do. Because, the best way to fight abnormal clotting is with movements that boost blood flow in your legs. So, simply by taking a daily walk, you could be reducing your risk for an abnormal clot. But, in the event prevention doesn't work, here are the symptoms of a blood clot to watch for, in order to help with early detection.

How Can you Tell if you Have a Blood Clot?

Unfortunately, it's hard to tell when blood clots are forming. Because, sometimes, they don't cause any symptoms. Other times, however, you'll notice these blood clot symptoms:

• Changes in skin color, especially redness, at the clot site, or moving in streaks down your leg
• Skin that swells or turns warm to the touch
• Pitting or areas of depression within the swollen area
• You experience pain or cramping, but haven't suffered an injury

If you notice any of these symptoms, call our vein specialists right away. Detecting a blood clot early in its formation can help prevent a potentially deadly clot break.

What are Clot Breaks?

Clot breaks develop when a DVT breaks loose from the veins in your legs, traveling to the lungs where it becomes a pulmonary embolism. Symptoms of a clot break include sudden, unexplained shortness of breath; an unexplained cough; fatigue; increased heart rate; and/or chest pain. When you try to breathe deeply, you may also feel pain in your rib cage.

When to Seek Treatment for Blood Clots

While blood clots can resolve on their own, that could be a lengthy process. And, in the meantime, the clot could cause serious health issues. First, if a clot forms in an artery, that could prevent your cells from receiving much-needed blood. Also, since DVT clots can break free and travel to your lungs, they need immediate medical attention.

Treatment Options

Treating blood clots involves medication or medical device intervention. Some clots can be resolved with oral or IV blood thinning medication. At other time, clots may be resolved by inserting a catheter or wire to open up the blood vessel. In certain cases, the clot may be surgically removed via thrombectomy. Luckily, most clots can be resolved before they cause serious harm. But you must seek immediate medical attention to achieve the best results. So, at the first sign of clotting symptoms, give us a call or click here to request an appointmentwith our vein specialists in Georgia.