What Does a Blood Clot Look and Feel Like? With Pictures

Blood clot in the leg

A blood clot that shows up in one of the major veins in your body is calleddeep vein thrombosis (DVT). They’re most common in the legs or the hip region.

While the mere existence of a clot in your legs won’t harm you, the clot could break loose and travel to your lungs. This leads to a serious and potentially fatal condition known aspulmonary embolism.

Signs of a blood clot in your leg include:

• swelling
• redness
• pain
• tenderness

These symptoms are especially indicative of a blood clot when they occur in only one leg. That’s because you’re more likely to have a clot in one leg as opposed to in both legs. There are some other conditions and factors that could explain these symptoms, however.

To help distinguish a potential blood clot from other causes, Thomas Maldonado, MD, vascular surgeon and medical director of theVenous Thromboembolic Centerat NYU Langone Medical Center, offered some more detailed thoughts on what someone might feel if they have a blood clot.

For one, the pain might remind you of a severemuscle cramporcharley horse. If your leg is swollen, elevating or icing the leg won’t reduce the swelling if it’s a blood clot. If icing or putting your feet up makes the swelling go down, you may have a muscle injury.

With a blood clot, your leg may also feel warm as the clot worsens. You may even notice a slightreddish or bluish hueto your skin.

You shouldn’t worry about a clot if the leg pain is made worse with exercise but relieved by rest. That’s most likely a result of poor blood flow through the arteries rather than DVT, says Maldonado.

Blood clots can also form in veins that are closer to the skin, known as superficial venous thrombosis, and cause a syndrome calledsuperficial thrombophlebitis.

这些可能是由于损伤皮肤,including having an intravenous (IV) line placed, or other risk factors similar to those causing a DVT. While superficial thrombophlebitis can be painful, these types of blood clots usually don’t travel to the lungs.

Your doctor will examine you and may use an ultrasound to differentiate between a superficial blood clot and a DVT.

Blood clot in the chest

血凝块可能更常见的小腿,but they can happen in other parts of your body, too. Where clots form and where they end up influence which symptoms you have and the consequences.

For example, when a blood clot forms in the arteries of the heart and blocks blood flow, it can cause aheart attack. Or, a blood clot could travel to your lungs and cause a pulmonary embolism. Both can be life threatening and have similar symptoms.

Chest painis a sign that something is wrong, but figuring out if it’s a heart attack, a pulmonary embolism, or justindigestioncan be difficult.

According to Maldonado, the chest pain that comes with a pulmonary embolism may feel like sharp pains that get worse with each breath. This pain may also be accompanied by:

• suddenshortness of breath
• rapid heart rate
• possibly acough

A pain in your chest that feels more like an elephant is sitting on you may be a sign of a potential cardiac event, such as heart attack orangina. The pain that goes along with a potential heart attack may center on your chest.

It might also radiate to the left part of yourjawor your leftshoulderandarm.

If you’resweaty或者有什么感觉消化不良以及切st pain, that’s more cause for concern of a heart attack, says Patrick Vaccaro, MD, MBA, director of the Division of Vascular Diseases and Surgery at Ohio State University’sWexner Medical Center.

Both conditions are serious, and both warrant further immediate medical attention.

Is your chest pain fromcongestionorwheezing? That’s more consistent with an infection orasthma, adds Maldonado.

Blood clot in the abdomen

When a blood clot forms in one of the major veins that drain blood from your intestine, it’s called amesenteric venous thrombosis.

A blood clot here can stop blood circulation of the intestine and cause internal damage in that area. Catching a clot in the abdomen early may lead to a better outlook.

Some people are more at risk for this type of clot than others, says Caroline Sullivan, nurse practitioner and assistant professor at Columbia University School of Nursing. This includes anyone with a condition that causes swelling of the tissues surrounding the veins, such as:

• appendicitis
• cancer
• diverticulitis
• pancreatitis, or acute swelling of the pancreas

Takingbirth control pillsandestrogen medicationsalso increases your chances of having this type of clot.

The symptoms of a clot in the abdomen may include abdominal pain,bloating, andvomiting. If the stomach pain gets worse after eating or worse over time, it’s more likely to be associated with a clot, says Sullivan.

This pain might be severe and seem like it’s coming out of nowhere. It’s not something you’re likely to have experienced before, says Vaccaro, who compares it to “some of the worst pain an individual can experience.”

Blood clot in the brain

Blood clots that form either in thechambers of your heartor within the carotid arteries in your neck have the potential to travel to your brain. That can cause astroke, explains Sullivan.

Thesigns of a strokeinclude:

• weaknessornumbnesson one side of your body
• vision disturbances
• difficulty speaking clearly
• difficulty walking
• inability to think clearly

Unlike most of the other signs of blood clots, Vaccaro notes that you likely won’t feel pain with a stroke. “But there may be aheadache,” he adds.

For more details of what having a blood clot might feel like, read some real stories from theNational Blood Clot Alliance (NBCA)of people who have experienced one.

When to call your doctor

See your doctor if you think there’s even a small chance you could have a blood clot.

“The sooner the blood clot is diagnosed, the sooner treatment can be started and [the] chance of permanent harm can be reduced,” says Vaccaro.