Blood Clots

A blood clot is a semisolid clump of blood cells and other substances that form in your blood vessels. The clump protects you from bleeding too much if you’re injured or have surgery. But sometimes, blood clots can keep your blood from flowing like it should. This can lead to life-threatening conditions.

What do blood clots do?

Blood clots are the first line of defense if something damages your delicate blood vessels. If you prick your finger on a needle, blood clots are why the bleeding usually stops within seconds. But sometimes, blood clots keep your blood from moving around your body.

Where are blood clots located?

Blood clots form in blood vessels in your veins and arteries throughout your body. Blood clots in veins may look like clumps of reddish jelly held in place with netting. Blood clots in arteries are slightly different. They contain more platelets than clots in veins.

Platelets are tiny colorless pieces of cells that your bone marrow makes. The netting is fibrin. Fibrin is a blood protein. It’s sticky and may look like long strings. Blood clots’ red color comes from red blood cells that are trapped in fibrin as they flow past the injured area.

What conditions involve blood clots?

Bleeding disorders and blood-clotting disorders are conditions that involve blood clots. Some inherited diseases may increase your risk.

Bleeding disorders

This is when your blood doesn’t clot like it should, so you may bleed a lot after an injury or surgery. Bleeding disorders include:

• Hemophilia
• Platelet disorders like thrombocytopenia
• von Willebrand disease

Blood clotting disorders

A blood-clotting disorder is when your body makes more blood clots than usual. Two common and serious disorders are:

• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
• Pulmonary embolism (PE)

Inherited diseases

The inherited diseases Factor V Leiden and prothrombin gene mutation are the most common examples of inherited blood clotting disorders. These disorders may increase your risk of a blood clot, but the blood clots aren’t abnormal.

Signs that something isn’t working right

Issues with blood clots cause different symptoms. In some cases, the symptoms may mean you have a life-threatening condition. You should call your provider or go to the emergency room if you have:

• Uncontrollable bleeding: Bleeding disorders like hemophilia may cause this symptom.
• Sudden, sharp chest pain: This may be a pulmonary embolism symptom. Other symptoms are feeling light-headed, fainting, skin that looks blue or suddenly feeling short of breath.
• Pain in your arm or leg: This is a deep vein thrombosis symptom. Other symptoms are pain and swelling in one arm or leg or a sudden, severe headache. Leg blood clots are more common than arm blood clots, and people who use PICC lines or ports have an increased risk of blood clots. 

Can a blood clot go away on its own?

That depends. Your body may dissolve a blood clot that formed to stop bleeding. But you may need treatment to support your body while it dissolves a clot in your deep veins and causes deep vein thrombosis. Prompt treatment can keep DVT from causing severe complications.

What’s the treatment for blood clot issues?

There are different treatments for bleeding disorders and blood-clotting disorders. If you have a clot in your vein (deep vein thrombosis), you may take medication that makes it harder for your body to form clots.

If you have a clot causing a heart attack or stroke, you may take medication that specifically affects your platelets’ ability to form clots instead of or along with another anti-clotting medication. Treatments for bleeding disorders like hemophilia focus on medication that boosts your body’s ability to make blood clots.