Symptoms of Blood Clot

When you cut or injure yourself, your body stops the bleeding by forming a blood clot.

Proteins and particles in your blood, called platelets, stick together to form the blood clot. Blood clots form when there is damage to the lining of a blood vessel, either an artery or a vein. The damage may be obvious, such as a laceration, or may occur on the microscopic level. As well, blood will begin to clot if it stops moving and becomes stagnant.

Excessive blood clotting can occur if the body's clotting process is altered or wrongly triggered. Blood clots can form in, or travel to, the arteries or veins in the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and limbs. The two major types of blood vessels are veins and arteries. Arteries carry blood from the heart to the body; veins carry blood back to the heart.

Usually the causes of blood clots in the veins are very different from the causes of the blood clots in the arteries. In the short term, serious problems can result from clots in both veins and arteries.

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is the formation of a blood clot in one of the deep veins within the body, such as in the leg or pelvis. This kind of thrombosis can occur after surgery and may cause redness, pain and swelling.

For some people, blood clots can be a serious problem. In some cases, the body is capable of managing clots that happen in the body, but on the other hand, the body sometimes fails to stop the clotting of blood. Clots can happen in any area of the body.

However, one alarming occurrence of blood clot is when it happens in the eye. If the body does not get rid of blood clots as soon as possible, it can travel to other parts of the body making matters worse for a person.

Symptoms of blood clots occurring in the legs or the arms include:

Swelling

Warmth

Redness

Pain

Other symptoms depend upon the location of the clot, and often the effect will be a loss of function. Heart attack and stroke are self-explanatory.