Blood clots

Blood clots can be very serious and need to be treated quickly. Staying healthy and active can help prevent them.

Symptoms of a blood clot include:

throbbing or cramping pain, swelling, redness and warmth in a leg or arm
sudden breathlessness, sharp chest pain (may be worse when you breathe in) and a cough or coughing up blood

Blood clots can be life threatening if not treated quickly.

111 will tell you what to do. They can arrange a phone call from a nurse or doctor if you need one.

Other ways to get help

Get an urgent GP appointment

A GP may be able to help you.

Ask your GP practice for an urgent appointment.

A blood clot in a leg is called deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

This could be a blood clot in the lungs (pulmonary embolism), which needs to be treated immediately.

Check if you’re at risk of blood clots

Blood clots are rare in young, healthy people.

You’re more likely to get them if you:

are staying in or recently left hospital – especially if you can’t move around much (like after an operation)
are overweight
smoke
are using combined hormonal contraception such as the combined pill, contraceptive patch or vaginal ring
have had a blood clot before

There are also other things that increase your risk of clots.

If you’re at a high risk of blood clots – for example, you’re in hospital – follow the advice of your care team about preventing clots.

This may involve wearing stockings that improve your blood flow or taking medicine to reduce the risk of clots (anticoagulants).

There are also things you can do to help avoid clots.

stay active – even just taking regular walks can help
drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration – you’re more likely to get a clot if you’re dehydrated
try to lose weight if you’re overweight
wear flight stockings or flight socks to improve your blood flow on long flights – a pharmacist can advise you about this