blood clots

[king1033]

how do we know if we have them and how can we find out, other than having to find out the hard way... what are signs and symtoms etc, i feel this info could be very useful! for people who make bodybuilding their lifestyle.

 

[Diesel City]

blood work.

 

[SacToSD]

if you're worried about dvt's (deep vein thromboses) in your legs, which is what I believe seamus had, then you can feel for a pulse in your ankles and look for swelling in your lower legs. This is easy to do at home. Is it a fail safe method? No. Should you still get bloodwork? Yes. But, there are often tell tale symptoms of dvt's that you can check on yourself at home.

 

[SOCOM]

From wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_vein_thrombosis

 

[carrierdome]

When I had mine I noticed a roundish red rash that seemed to be travelling up my leg.

 

[PHIL HERNON]

Really?

blood work.

Blood clots? What test predicts this?

 

[SOCOM]

Blood tests

D-dimer

In a LOW-PROBABILITY situation, current practice is to commence investigations by testing for D-dimer levels. This cross-linked fibrin degradation product is an indication that thrombosis is occurring, and that the blood clot is being dissolved by plasmin. A low D-dimer level should prompt other possible diagnoses (such as a ruptured Baker's cyst, if the patient is at sufficiently low clinical probability of DVT

 

[Diesel City]

Blood clots? What test predicts this?

RDW blood test, measures the variation of red blood cell width reported as part of a standard Complete Blood Count. The refrence range on this is 12.0-14.5%
Also:

What are Blood Clots?
Blood vessels are basically semi-solid masses made up of sticky blood cells, which are formed when blood vessels are damaged. The body creates these clots as a kind of response to this blood vessel damage. The main duty of the clot is to seal the damaged blood vessel and to prevent blood from leaking out.

Blood clots that block arteries and prevent flow of oxygen and blood to an organ can cause serious tissue damage in the body. And when clots break away from a certain area, instead of protecting they can endanger the organs. Blood clots that block the flow of blood are usually the main culprits in strokes and heart attacks. Some of the other organs that can be damaged by blood clots are:
When a clot is formed in the arteries that are supplying blood directly to the heart, it can block this flow of blood, thus completely cutting off or reducing the oxygen supply to the cells in that area. As a result of which, the part of the heart that has been deprived of oxygen will die and this can cause a heart attack.
Blood clots that block the oxygen supply to the brain cause strokes.
Clots that are formed in the eye can lead to permanent blindness.
Deep vein thrombosis is the condition that occurs when a blood clot affects some of the deeper and larger veins like the ones found in the thighs and lower legs.

Blood Clot Symptoms
Heart attack causing blood clots always start off with a chest pain that starts from the center of the chest and then moves gradually upwards to the jaw, the back and the arms. Sometimes the pain will also be felt in the abdominal region. In most cases, people experiencing heart attacks will speak of a pounding sensation and tightness in the chest. The heart may beat irregularly and the pulse rate will speed up. Difficult in breathing, shortness of breath, vomiting, nausea, and fainting or even collapse are the first signs of a heart attack.

Blood clots that cause strokes usually have symptoms that are more pronounced on the opposite side of the body. This could result in paralysis or loss of sensation in one side of the face, leg or arm, and blindness. If the left hand side of the brain is affected, then the person will experience speech problems. Other symptoms of blood clots leading to strokes include severe headaches, confusion or loss of balance and coordination.

Inflammation in the surface veins is also a symptom of a blood clot. This could produce discomfort and pain. Blood clots that are formed in these surface veins do not usually break loose and travel in the blood stream so they generally don’t cause any blockage and complications in the organs.

Blood clots in the leg cause swelling, pain, increased warmth and redness. The classic symptoms of such blood clots are:
Swelling
Tenderness or pain over a vein
Redness
Sharp, shooting pain when the foot is being flexed
Warm sensation
Dull, aching throb in the calves, especially when the person is walking.
Widening or dilation of the surface veins.
This can lead to some very serious complications and blood clots that are formed deeper in the veins can break away and become an embolus or a traveling blood clot. This embolus can travel and get lodged in the lung and this condition is known as the pulmonary embolism.

Since clots in deep vein thrombosis tend to cause symptoms in the early stages, the first few warning signs occurs when the clot breaks loose and starts traveling towards the lung. Symptoms of pulmonary embolism include chest pain, bloody sputum and breathlessness.

 

[PHIL HERNON]

Well

RDW blood test, measures the variation of red blood cell width reported as part of a standard Complete Blood Count. The refrence range on this is 12.0-14.5%
Also:

What are Blood Clots?
Blood vessels are basically semi-solid masses made up of sticky blood cells, which are formed when blood vessels are damaged. The body creates these clots as a kind of response to this blood vessel damage. The main duty of the clot is to seal the damaged blood vessel and to prevent blood from leaking out.

Blood clots that block arteries and prevent flow of oxygen and blood to an organ can cause serious tissue damage in the body. And when clots break away from a certain area, instead of protecting they can endanger the organs. Blood clots that block the flow of blood are usually the main culprits in strokes and heart attacks. Some of the other organs that can be damaged by blood clots are:
When a clot is formed in the arteries that are supplying blood directly to the heart, it can block this flow of blood, thus completely cutting off or reducing the oxygen supply to the cells in that area. As a result of which, the part of the heart that has been deprived of oxygen will die and this can cause a heart attack.
Blood clots that block the oxygen supply to the brain cause strokes.
Clots that are formed in the eye can lead to permanent blindness.
Deep vein thrombosis is the condition that occurs when a blood clot affects some of the deeper and larger veins like the ones found in the thighs and lower legs.

Blood Clot Symptoms
Heart attack causing blood clots always start off with a chest pain that starts from the center of the chest and then moves gradually upwards to the jaw, the back and the arms. Sometimes the pain will also be felt in the abdominal region. In most cases, people experiencing heart attacks will speak of a pounding sensation and tightness in the chest. The heart may beat irregularly and the pulse rate will speed up. Difficult in breathing, shortness of breath, vomiting, nausea, and fainting or even collapse are the first signs of a heart attack.

Blood clots that cause strokes usually have symptoms that are more pronounced on the opposite side of the body. This could result in paralysis or loss of sensation in one side of the face, leg or arm, and blindness. If the left hand side of the brain is affected, then the person will experience speech problems. Other symptoms of blood clots leading to strokes include severe headaches, confusion or loss of balance and coordination.

Inflammation in the surface veins is also a symptom of a blood clot. This could produce discomfort and pain. Blood clots that are formed in these surface veins do not usually break loose and travel in the blood stream so they generally don’t cause any blockage and complications in the organs.

Blood clots in the leg cause swelling, pain, increased warmth and redness. The classic symptoms of such blood clots are:
Swelling
Tenderness or pain over a vein
Redness
Sharp, shooting pain when the foot is being flexed
Warm sensation
Dull, aching throb in the calves, especially when the person is walking.
Widening or dilation of the surface veins.
This can lead to some very serious complications and blood clots that are formed deeper in the veins can break away and become an embolus or a traveling blood clot. This embolus can travel and get lodged in the lung and this condition is known as the pulmonary embolism.

Since clots in deep vein thrombosis tend to cause symptoms in the early stages, the first few warning signs occurs when the clot breaks loose and starts traveling towards the lung. Symptoms of pulmonary embolism include chest pain, bloody sputum and breathlessness.

I did not ask what a blood clot was.......I want to know what blood test you say I can take to predict a blood clot.

 

[Diesel City]

OK.

In bold on my post. RDW test and as you already know, it's only one way to tell. The second part was for the guy that asked.

 

[whiteknucks]

are d- dimer levels checked on every normal blood test?

 

[PHIL HERNON]

Well

In bold on my post. RDW test and as you already know, it's only one way to tell. The second part was for the guy that asked.

I do not already know..........I do not believe it. Only one way to tell if you can predict a blood clot? What are the other ways to predict? I do not need to know the symptoms, just the predicators.

 

[Diesel City]

I do not already know..........I do not believe it. Only one way to tell if you can predict a blood clot? What are the other ways to predict? I do not need to know the symptoms, just the predicators.

I listed the only one I know of. I'm interested to know if there are any more, so if you have some spill the beans.


Here's some more interesting info concerning RDW:

the Archives of Internal Medicine, in this Monday's issue (March 9, 2009, Volume 169(5), pages 515-523), states that RDW values are a strong predictor of mortality in adults age 45 years or older. Deaths from all causes including Cardiovascular and Cancer were higher in people with higher RDW values, lower with lower RDW's. The RDW effect, the article goes on to say, may be related to subtle insufficiencies or failures to absorb essential substances, this in turn caused by as yet unsuspected maladies brewing in the patient.

Here's the link on the Dimer. Appears that it is also relevant as posted before...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-dimer

 

[maldorf]

All I know is that once I got my blood clot it was like someone turning off a switch. Once I racked the weight all at once I was hit with a feeling of fatigue, dizzyness,and nausea. The lights in the gym all dimmed and then I could not hear at thing. It was as if I were deaf. I sat down and broke out in a cold sweat. All of these things are the symptom of a heart attack of course. I think the symptoms of you blood clot are going to be limited to where the blood clot has occured. For me it was the heart. they cleared my clot out with a catheter run up my femoral attery. with that they had a suction intrument that sucked the clot out of that artery.
I think for the most part there really isnt anything that you can do to tell you a have a clot until its too late. All you can do is watch the predictors, as Phil mentioned. Things like a high hematocrit or hemoglobin being one. Other than that I dont think there is a whole lot they can monitor. They can do gentetic tests on you to see if you have tendencies, but thats nothing routinely done.

 

[RV63T]

if you have insurance or can afford see your doc and request a doppler. if worried cant afford not to.
if confirmed then dont leave the hospital becuase they say youve had enough blood thinner. confirm its gone with another doppler.

 

[machola]

positive homan's sign can tell if you have a dvt in calf. if the person has a dvt you don't want to do a homan's test... irregular hematocrit, hemoglobin, platelets, irregular clotting factors can lead to dvts. excess vitamin K, legs being in the same position for a long time, dehydration.... and there's a lot more. look up deep vein thrombosis on a medical website and u'll get some good info

 

[king1033]

All I know is that once I got my blood clot it was like someone turning off a switch. Once I racked the weight all at once I was hit with a feeling of fatigue, dizzyness,and nausea. The lights in the gym all dimmed and then I could not hear at thing. It was as if I were deaf. I sat down and broke out in a cold sweat.

that sounds sooo scary man im glad your still here with us.

on another note i knew it was a good idea to create this thread. PEOPLE need to know about this!!! its VERY important especially for the guys like me who make this their lifestyle. Im gonna go live on the pubmed articles for awhile see if i can come up with anything useful. but so far i have learned a thing or two from what people had to say.

 

[gtj220]

Portal vein thrombosis

Speaking as someone with a portal vein thrombosis, you know when your doubled over in agonizing pain, can't eat, can't get comfortable, and you go to the emergency room thinking you have some weird digestive disorder. They give you morphine which does nothing, then they give you dilaudid when finally give you a break from the pain you've had for days. Then you get a cat scan and an mri to find the clot. And then you know!!

 

[dragonfire101]

Doesn't look like many actually show a clot but show more of indications.


Diagnostic Tests

You may need one or more tests to find out whether you have DVT. The most common tests used to diagnose DVT are:

* Ultrasound. This is the most common test for diagnosing deep vein blood clots. It uses sound waves to create pictures of blood flowing through the arteries and veins in the affected leg.
* A D-dimer test. This test measures a substance in the blood that's released when a blood clot dissolves. If the test shows high levels of the substance, you may have a deep vein blood clot. If your test is normal and you have few risk factors, DVT isn't likely.
* Venography. This test is used if ultrasound doesn't provide a clear diagnosis. Dye is injected into a vein, and then an x ray is taken of the leg. The dye makes the vein visible on the x ray. The x ray will show whether blood flow is slow in the vein. This may indicate a blood clot.

Other less common tests used to diagnose DVT include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scanning. These tests provide pictures of the inside of the body.

You may need blood tests to check whether you have an inherited blood clotting disorder that can cause DVT.

 

[qbkilla]

could some of those symptoms be caused by a vericose vein or poor circulation?

when i was much heaver abot 3 months ago, i would do cardio and my lower legs and calves would become red, swollen, painful, and numb. i also have a vericose vein in one calf.

however 3 months later, i have lost 40lbs, and my blood pressure and heart rate are much lower and now i can run 45 minutes without any of the above symptoms.

i spoke to a doc, he said it is probably the vericose veins and did not seem concerned.

another thing that i have changed is i got running shoes.