DO call your health care provider immediately if you have chest pain or cough up blood.DO call your health care provider if your symptoms don’t get better.DO walk around and stretch your legs if you sit for long periods.DO follow your doctor’s advice about losing weight and exercising more to lower your risk of recurrence of DVT.DO take medicine and go for the blood tests (INR) as directed by your health care provider to monitor the blood thinner level if you are taking warfarin.Overweight people should lose weight and become more active to prevent future clots. The health care provider may also recommend special stockings to control swelling in the legs. Instead of warfarin, you may be prescribed newer blood thinners such as rivaroxaban (Xarelto) or apixaban (Eliquis) these medications do not require periodic blood tests to monitor levels. Blood tests to make sure that the warfarin dose is correct must be done. Lifetime treatment may sometimes be needed. When warfarin reaches the desired level in blood, heparin will be stopped and warfarin will be continued, usually for 3-6 months, at times longer, depending on the cause of the DVT. The health care provider will also prescribe blood thinning pills (warfarin) to prevent the clot from enlarging and stop new ones from forming. Your health care provider will decide which option is best for you. Heparin can be given intravenously or injected under the skin (subcutaneously). Treatment is immediate injection of a blood thinner (heparin) to thin the blood and prevent growth of blood clots. Only in rare cases when the diagnosis is suspected but sonogram and blood tests are inconclusive, the health care provider may also order a special x-ray study (venography) in which a dye is injected into the vein to see whether a clot is blocking blood flow. If DVT is suspected, the health care provider may recommend a sonogram (ultrasound) of the swollen leg or other part to measure blood flow in the area and a blood test (D-dimer). The health care provider will ask about symptoms and do an examination. Symptoms are pain, tenderness, warmth, swelling, and redness in the area. Overweight, air or car travel for prolonged periods, using certain oral contraceptives and estrogen replacement therapies, cancer, and family or personal history of blood clotting problems can increase the risk of DVT. Prolonged bed rest (more than 3 days), recent surgery (with anesthesia for more than 30 minutes), smoking, being If the clot moves to the lungs, a pulmonary embolism (blocked vein in the lungs) occurs and life threatening breathing problems can develop.ĭVT most often affects people who are physically inactive, elderly, pregnant, or have blood disorders that increase the risk of blood clotting. The area becomes swollen, red, and painful. The clot (thrombus) causes blood flow to slow. Affected veins are usually deep in leg muscles but can also be in other areas. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is an illness that develops when the blood clots in a vein.
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