Understanding Risk and How To Prevent Blood Clots

Considering and following simple, everyday steps can help to lower the risk of developing blood clots for many. 

Stay Active and Move Your Body:

• Walk Regularly: Considering even those short walks throughout the day can be counted as a big difference. You are to aim for approx. 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity.  

• Stretch and Flex: If you are sitting for a longer time (e.g., at your desk, or on a plane), make sure to do some simple leg and ankle exercises. Follow simple steps like, flex your ankles up and down, rotate feet, and gently stretch those legs. 

• Make Sure To Take Breaks While Traveling: On long flights or car trips, get up, and walk once in every 1 to 2 hours. If you cannot walk, perform leg exercises while sitting on your seat. 

Hydrate Well:

Dehydration can make your blood thicker, and you can be highly prone to clotting like situation. 

• Drink Plenty of Water: You need to consider using 8 to 10 glasses of water daily. This goes well unless the doctor shall advise otherwise. 

• Limit Dehydrating Beverages: Lower consumption of sugary drinks, excessive use of caffeine, and alcohol. Such intake can eventually contribute to dehydration. 

Sustain a Healthy Weight:

• Balanced Diet: You need to focus quite well on the use of some healthy fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and efficient lean proteins. 

• Regular Exercise: Simply combine cardiovascular activities along with strength training. Getting to lose even a small amount of weight can helps in lowering strain on the circulatory system as whole. 

Quit Smoking:

Act of regular smoking can damage those blood vessel linings. This can make blood more likely to clot. Quitting to smoke is one of the most impactful steps to take for improvement of your overall health. This can also include blood clot prevention. 

Managing Health Issues:

You need to work closely with the doctor, for managing issues like: 

• High Blood Pressure: This shall help in keeping the blood pressure within a healthy range. 

• Diabetes: Helps to control the levels of blood sugar. 

• High Cholesterol: Sustaining healthy cholesterol levels. 

• Heart Disease: You need to adhere to those prescribed treatment plan.

Compression Stockings:

For several individuals who are notably at those higher risk like for those who shall recover from surgery or might be about some medical conditions. Hence, for them compression stockings can be helpful. 

• How it works: You need to apply gentle pressure to your legs. This can help the blood to flow back to your heart and further prevents the blood from pooling. 

• Consult the doctor: Make sure you get a proper fitting and prescription from doctor. This shall ensure that you are using the correct type and size. 

Medications (When Necessary):

For individuals, post-surgery or with a history of blood clots, doctors might prescribe several medications. 

• Anticoagulants (Also known as Blood Thinners): Such solutions shall lower the blood’s ability to form clots. This shall include rivaroxaban, warfarin, apixaban, and dabigatran. 

• Antiplatelet Drugs: such medications like aspirin, prevent platelets from sticking together and right from creating those clots. 

• Follow Doctor’s Orders: It is important to take several medications as what is prescribed and attend all those follow-up appointments. 

Post-Surgery Precautions:

If you are undergoing some sort of surgery, the medical team shall likely implement various strategies, which can help in preventing clots: 

• Early Ambulation: Getting up and walking quickly well post-surgery is a great deal. 

• Sequential Compression Devices (SCDs): Some of these sleeves shall help in wrapping around the legs. They can inflate and deflate to mimic walking, further promoting better blood flow. 

• Medications: As it is mentioned above, prophylactic anticoagulants can be well prescribed with reference to the same.