This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in December of 2023. For the original video go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaW_Is8H9fQ
Mike: David Bloom was a very talented 39-year-old reporter who was best known for covering the Iraq war and in April 2003, he suddenly collapsed and died.
Brad: Now, the cause of David Bloom's death was determined to be a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot that he had in his leg, that traveled up to his lung, and that was the result of his death.
Mike: So what is a DVT in a pulmonary embolism? A DVT stands for deep vein thrombosis, which can be located in your legs. Commonly the thigh region, sometimes the calf, up towards the pelvis and even in the arms.
Brad: So a pulmonary embolism is a clot in the lungs that can be fatal. Now, that clot originates from a deep vein thrombosis, like Mike said, often from the leg, either the calf or the thigh. The blockage in that area breaks apart, floats, or actually travels through the bloodstream and ends up in the lung. And that's how the transition occurs.
Mike: Now, at the end of the video, we will show you what you can do to help prevent these things. Now, we're going to cover some signs of a DVT, commonly known as a blood clot. They can include pain, swelling, tenderness, redness of the skin, and typically in the areas we mentioned earlier. And also, we're going to show you a test right now, you can try it home on yourself to perhaps see if you have a blood clot.
Brad: So the manual test or screening for a deep vein thrombosis in the calf area is to stretch. This is a manual test that therapists are trained on as well as doctors. And you stretch the calf and that's painful, it's pretty sharp pain. Or you can grab the muscle belly mid-calf and squeeze, and that's very painful.
Brad: The problem with this test is it's not really reliable. In other words, if it's positive, you still have to go and get an ultrasound Doppler to confirm that's what it is. So stretching the calf hurts, and squeezing the calf hurts, maybe there's a thrombosis in there, but it needs to be confirmed. Now, we're going to go through the signs or symptoms of a pulmonary embolism. Difficulty in breathing, chest pain or discomfort in the chest, faster than normal or irregular heartbeat, coughing up blood, low blood pressure, or lightheadedness, or fainting.
Mike: So when it comes to any of these symptoms, Brad just mentioned, it is important to contact your doctor as soon as possible, or if you can't get ahold of them, check in to the emergency room. So now we're going to talk about some of the risk factors that may increase your chances of developing a DVT or pulmonary embolism.
Brad: Anytime you are sitting for long periods of time, for example, in an airplane, train, or bus, that can increase your chances for a DVT. Also, a fracture in your leg, severe muscle injury, major surgery, immobility, limited movement, paralysis, birth control pills.
Mike: Pregnancy in up to three months after giving birth, heart disease, lung disease, cancer and its treatment, inflammatory bowel disease, previous DVT or pulmonary embolism, a family history of DVT, inherited clotting disorders, age, and obesity.
Brad: So this brings us to the question of how many people are actually affected by DVT or pulmonary embolism. And according to the CDC, it's 900,000 people per year in the United States.
Mike: Now, how many people have actually died from pulmonary embolism? And that answer is 25% of the cases.
Brad: Okay, one simple exercise you can do to help decrease the risk of a DVT or blood clot. And we're talking about if you're in a seated position, traveling and you're kind of stuck there for a long period of time, it's simply to do ankle pumps that get the muscle and the calf working to help that blood flow and keep things moving as they should. You simply do 10 to 20 of them every 30 minutes.
Mike: A second option you could try is wearing some compression socks. Brad has them on his foot. Now, this can help because it has graduated pressure, it helps take the blood from your feet and pushes it back up into your legs, especially if you're not moving much.
Brad: That's right. So again, they are socks that are compression socks, and you'll see they're actually specific to the medical field. So if you're concerned that you may have a blood clot or have a high risk for it, please talk to your doctor and make sure you get yourself situated so you're comfortable.
Mike: And if you want to check out more videos on DVT, we have one right here, "Is a Blood Clot Causing the Pain in Your Leg (DVT)? How to Tell & Prevent".
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