British Heart Foundation: Understanding blood clots
Our bodies require the blood to be able to clot to a certain extent to prevent excessive bleeding.
However, blood clots that don’t dissolve by themselves can be dangerous.
They can travel around the body to vital organs leading to potentially fatal medical emergencies such as pulmonary embolisms or strokes.
This was the case for a “healthy” and “active” woman who was found to have multiple pieces of a blood clot in her lungs.
Amaris White shared her story via the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention with the aim of raising awareness of blood clot symptoms.
In 2012 the then 25-year-old had just run two half marathons and was travelling in southeast Asia to celebrate the end of her bar exam.
However, not long into the trip she started to experience symptoms.
“We had been travelling for a few weeks when my lower back started to ache,” she said.
“I didn’t think much of it and ignored it for a week, chalking it off to the uncomfortable hostel beds.”
But on their last night in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia her leg started to swell and within a few hours the pain and swelling were “so severe” that she could no longer walk.
Amaris recalled: “My left leg became discoloured and for the next two days my roommate and I went to different hospitals in Malaysia in order to get a diagnosis—all the while my leg grew progressively darker, the pain increasingly crippling.”
After undergoing tests in hospitals it was confirmed that she had deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a condition in which a blood clot develops in a deep vein in the body.
Unbeknown to Amaris, part of the clot had already travelled to some of her vital organs.
“My condition was so serious I could have easily lost a leg or died,” she said.
“To top it off, though I didn’t know it yet, part of the blood clot in my leg had already broken off and travelled through my heart and into my lungs.
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“This complication (called pulmonary embolism or PE) is often fatal.”
She was flown to Tokyo in Japan due to the severity of her diagnosis where doctors placed a special filter, called an inferior vena cava filter, into the vein that goes to her heart to catch future life-threatening clots.
Risk factors
There are several factors that can raise your risk of blood clots. Amaris had recently endured three long flights, which is something that can increase your chances of a clot.
She also had two other risk factors, which greatly increased her odds of developing blood clots: being on hormonal birth control and a genetic condition called Factor V Leiden.
Recovery
“After having DVT as extensive as mine, I was told that I wouldn’t be able to run again without excruciating pain,” Amaris said.
“Determined not to let my medical history define my future, I have since trained for and run two half marathons and am currently training for three more half marathons in the spring of 2014, and the New York City Marathon in November 2014.
“I have exceeded all my doctors’ expectations, and because of my running and physical activity, my body has compensated by creating new veins.
“This process is called vein collateralization. In other words, even though my deep vein is blocked off because of DVT, my body is continually developing new, collateral veins to carry my blood.”
Other symptoms of a blood clot include:
- Throbbing or cramping pain, swelling, redness and warmth in a leg or arm
- Sudden breathlessness, sharp chest pain (may be worse when you breathe in) and a cough or coughing up blood.
If you experience any of these you should call 111 or see your doctor.
And if you’re struggling to breathe or someone has passed out you should call 999.
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