In honor of March being DVT Awareness Month, I decided this week I would share with you all an easy little acronym to recall the signs of a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Just to refresh your memory, a DVT is a blood clot that can form anywhere in your body (often in your lower legs) when you aren't moving around as much as you usually do. People develop them on airplanes, long car rides, after injuries, in the hospital, and tons of other times. On top of that, anyone is at risk (old and young)! Being pregnant or on birth control pills, if you're a smoker, if you're overweight, or have any genetic blood disorders or a family history of clots increases your risk even more! The real danger of having a DVT is when the blood clots travel around your body and go to your heart, lungs, or brain. That can be fatal. In fact, over 100,000 people in the US die every year from blood clots that go to their lungs (pulmonary emboli). It's the #1 cause of preventable death in hospitals.
Become AWARE of the signs of DVT and if you experience any, seek medical help immediately. Additionally if you have any of these signs and feel short of breath, have trouble breathing, have chest pain, or slurred speech call 911 immediately.
A= All of a sudden you experience the following symptoms
W= Warm to the touch arm, leg, or hip
A= Arm or leg pain that just started and gets worse when you point your toe up
R= Redness in the same area that is warm
E= Enlarged arm or leg (swollen larger than the other one)
Check out the rest of this website to learn some more...but seriously, check it out, what else are you really doing? 5 minutes on this site could save your life or the life of someone you know. That's better than spending another 5 minutes procrastinating on StumbleUpon or Tumblr.
Please do me a favor and in honor of DVT Awareness Month, share this website with at least one person you know, and ask them to do the same. Help other people to become AWARE!
