You might have felt some worry and fear for your health because of the blood clots some people have recently been getting. Since we want to help you live a healthier, more energetic life, we need to share everything you should know about blood clots, their signs, causes, and how to prevent them. This will help you understand these clots and the health risks they pose. But don't panic about it. The earlier you catch blood clots, the easier and faster the healing.
In this article, we'll go over what blood clots are, their types, some symptoms and causes, and ways to prevent them.
What are blood clots?
Blood clots are groups of sticky blood cells of different sizes formed inside the body when it's wounded and one of its blood vessels is damaged. This is called clotting. The clot (the sticky cell group) works to block the damaged vessel to stop bleeding and protect the body. But if clots form inside the body without any injury, they can cause serious damage to the area where they form like legs, arms, belly, lungs, heart, brain, kidneys, and other organs.
Types of blood clots:
There are two types of blood clots, differing mainly in whether they can move or not:
- Fixed type: It’s called clotting, where the clot stays fixed at the injury or damage site of the blood vessel. You can clearly see this when clots form and surface wounds heal on your skin.
- The mobile type: This is the blockage process where the clot moves inside blood vessels away from where it formed. Depending on its size and where it settles in the body, the damage caused varies. It can affect vital organs and sometimes be deadly. It blocks blood carrying nutrients and oxygen to the living cells of that affected organ.
Blood clot symptoms:
As mentioned before, the clot’s type and size determine the health damage it causes, affecting body parts depending on the clot’s location. The symptoms differ based on where the clot is in the body. For example:
- If the blood clot forms in one of the arms, the patient will feel things like cramping, swelling, and redness near the spot of the clot.
- If the blood clot is in the abdomen, the patient will experience severe stomach pain, often with nausea and diarrhea.
- If the clot forms in the heart, the patient will feel severe pain, heaviness in the chest area, pain in the upper body, shortness of breath, sweating, and nausea. This happens because part of the heart is blocked, stopping blood and oxygen from reaching its cells, causing them to die over time and leading to a heart attack.
- If the lungs get a blood clot, the patient will feel chest pain, faster heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweating, fever, and might cough up blood.
- When the brain gets a clot, it causes weakness in the face, arms, and legs, plus trouble seeing, talking, dizziness, and headaches. Over time, without enough blood and oxygen, the patient can have a stroke.
- If clots form in the eye area, the chance of blindness goes up.
Causes of blood clot formation:
Clots normally form if something triggers it like an injury. Dangerous clots happen because of blood flow problems, vessel damage, or changes in blood makeup. Several factors raise the risk of clots like:
Sitting for long periods:
Sitting for a long time, especially when traveling or office work, raises the risk of clots since blood doesn’t flow well when you sit. So it’s important to change your position every 30 or 40 minutes. The same goes for lying in bed a long time due to illness or surgery because blood doesn’t circulate properly.
Obesity:
It’s known that when body weight increases a lot, movement gets harder, and the person can’t do many usual activities. This raises the chance of blood clots because blood flow slows down. So it’s always advised to eat healthy foods and exercise to keep an ideal weight and avoid blood clots.
Pregnancy:
Your weight goes up during the nine months of pregnancy. So you should eat healthy the whole time and do simple exercises like walking to avoid any risk since your changed body might make blood clots more likely.
Smoking:
Harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke damage blood vessels, making smokers much more likely to get blood clots.
Family medical history:
Having a clot isn’t hereditary by itself, but some inherited diseases can cause a higher risk of clots and may affect family members’ health.
Old age, autoimmune disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases, certain cancers like pancreatic, lung, and blood cancer, and some viral infections that cause immune deficiency and hepatitis also raise the risk of blood clots.
How to protect your body from blood clots?
Since your daily bad habits can play a big role in raising your risk of blood clots, you need to watch them carefully, fix them, and follow healthier habits that benefit your body and life. Also, the foods you eat regularly help protect you from the risk of such clots. So you should also rethink harmful foods and replace them with good ones that lower your chance of blood clots. Here are some healthy habits and foods to protect your body from blood clots.
First: Healthy habits
- Move your legs while sitting if you have to sit for long periods, and change your position every 30 or 40 minutes.
- Exercise regularly and consistently to keep your blood flowing normally.
- Avoid gaining weight so you can move easily, which lowers your risk of blood clots.
- Be careful with smoking because cigarette smoke has harmful chemicals that speed up clot formation.
- Reduce your stress and worries so your blood pressure doesn’t rise and you’re less likely to get blood clots.
- Wear loose clothes and wide socks because very tight clothes can squeeze your blood vessels and stop blood from flowing naturally, which is risky for your health.
- Drink enough water every day to keep your blood flowing normally.
- See a doctor from time to time to check on your health and make sure you don't have high blood pressure.
Second: healthy foods
There are some foods that help improve blood flow, boost heart health, protect it from diseases, stop blood clots, and keep blood in its liquid state, like:
Ginger:
It’s good to eat ginger daily because it treats many health issues, especially for dissolving blood clots. It reduces inflammation and relaxes muscles. You can drink one cup a day to enjoy ginger’s amazing benefits.
Hot pepper:
Hot pepper plays an important role in protecting you from the risk of blood clots because it can lower blood pressure and improve blood circulation in the body. So it's recommended to add it to your daily meals.
Salmon and tuna:
These oily fish have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which reduce blood cholesterol and prevent clots. So make sure to eat them as a main dish now and then.
Cinnamon:
You can add cinnamon to your dishes for flavor and a unique taste. It also helps reduce inflammation in the body, lowers blood pressure, and protects against strokes caused by brain clots. But eat it in moderation because over time it can damage the liver.
Dark chocolate:
Dark chocolate contains flavonoids, which are chemical compounds that stop platelets from building up and causing sudden blood clots.
Garlic:
There isn't a recipe without garlic added to give it a nice smell and unique taste. Besides that, it also helps prevent blood clots by stopping platelet buildup.
Tomatoes:
Tomatoes have chemicals that stop platelets from building up and causing clots. So always add them to your salad and your family's for full health benefits.
Onions:
Onions are used a lot in your main dishes. Besides having many nutrients and health benefits, they also prevent platelet buildup that leads to clots over time.
Besides these foods, there are many others you can eat to protect your body from blood clots, like turmeric, grapes, pineapple, cranberries, spinach, and more.
