How Much Do You Know About Deep Vein Thrombosis (Dvt)?

When sitting for long periods of time, or when traveling for more than four hours, you should get up and walk around. It also helps just to move your legs. You can exercise your legs while sitting by raising and lowering your toes while keeping your heels on the floor, and tightening and releasing your leg muscles.

Staying healthy, exercising, drinking lots of water, not smoking and wearing compression stockings when traveling long distances are a few ways that can help prevent a DVT formation. You should consider evaluation by a vein specialist if you have swelling, visible veins, or varicose veins. These problems can be associated with venous disease, which can increase your risk of developing a DVT.

The effects of DVTs and PEs can lead to chronic issues for some people. In addition, one-third of people who have a DVT will have long-term complications such as swelling, pain, and discoloration of the involved limb. In severe cases, this can cause a person to become disabled.

It is true that as you age, the risk of DVT increases, but many DVT patients are in their twenties and thirties.

DVT is a serious and under-diagnosed medical condition. Many other people may have a chronic or repeat blood clot or may have leg problems from a previous DVT.

You should move around as soon as possible after having been confined to a bed, such as after surgery, illness, or injury.

Even healthy people with no medical problems have an increased risk of developing a DVT while traveling by air. To reduce this risk, you should wear compression socks while flying, stay hydrated, and do leg exercises such as toe raises periodically throughout your flight.

There are often no symptoms for DVT and it is only diagnosed if a complication occurs, such as a Pulmonary Embolism. Some typical symptoms that can occur, though, are pain and tenderness, redness, swelling, and skin which is warm to the touch.

While DVTs usually develops in the deep veins of the leg or in the calf, they can also occur in the pelvic region and arms.

Varicose vein disease increases your risk for developing a deep venous thrombosis or venous ulceration.

You have control over a number of things that can cause DVT, such as obesity, smoking, taking birth control pills, and dehydration. Staying healthy and active will help to decrease the chances of developing a DVT. If you have symptoms in your legs, you should consider getting evaluated by a vein specialist.

There are many reasons to feel pain or tightness in the leg, but not as many for swelling. This is especially true if the swelling is one-sided. If you experience swelling and/or pain in one leg and suspect you many have a DVT, you should be evaluated by your local vein specialist or an Emergency Department physician right away.