Blood Clots, AKA Silent Killers
With the death of Antonio Puerta, a 22-year-old soccer player for Sevilla and Spain teams, so-called “sudden death” no longer remained in the “won’t happen to me” category most people place themselves in. Puerta suddenly fell on the floor during a match against Getafe, back in August, 2007. After collapsing on the field, Puerta was able to walk to the dressing rooms, where he collapsed again out of heart failure. He died two days later. Doctors said a blood clot had caused his heart to succumb. So what are blood clots and can they cause sudden death often enough to fear for our lives?
Allegedly, sudden death is the ceasing of body functions happening either to really old men or recently born babies. Sudden death among men under 30 is said to happen in approximately one out of every 300 thousand a year. However, an increased number of events have lead men to believe sudden death is waiting around the corner. Recent sporting events during which young, healthy men seem to have simply “dropped dead”, has alarmed the male community and the world as a whole.
If a 22-year-old soccer player can suddenly die for no reason while playing in the field, what is there left for average, couch potato, beer drinking, little sport making Joes? Panic attack! Forget generic Viagra and other now seemingly small problems. Well, perhaps alarmed fellows around the world should start by calming down and understanding what a blood clot is and how one of these silent killers can truly get to you.
Doctors and specialists say most cases of death caused by a blood clot register among the elder generations; however there are certain circumstances in which a thirty-something or even twenty-something man could become a victim of blood clots. Regarding gender, men are more genetically predisposed to suffering from blood clot formation. Still, family genetic predisposition can be a risk factor for our gender group, already at risk. As symptoms indicate, those over 40, lacking exercise in their lives or travel a lot (long trips can make circulation deficient and form clots) are more prone to become victims. Being overweight is no exception; as a matter of fact, obese men with a history of heart disease or cancer are cataloged as high-risk candidates for blood clots.
Yet chances of you getting killed by a blood clot are slim. Below the knee, doctors agree, blood clots are seldom deadly. However, when blood clots form above the knee, these can travel up the blood stream and block important arteries, including major veins. This traveling clots are responsible for vein obstruction and hence cutting off the blood supply from the heart. In the worst case, the consequences are heart failure and death. Yet, blood clots usually tend to damage tissue, but nothing more.
Even when percentages are nothing to get alarmed over, getting your life back on the healthy track is important. With life eating us up we seldom find time to do the things that trully matter when it comes to being fit and healthy. Work, family and life in general tend to take away time and exaustion usually gets the best of us. With no time or willpower to go to the gym or have a run around the neighborhood, blood clots are seconds away from pulling us underground. Restructuring our life styles is essential for blood clot formation chances to drop. After all, a 22-year-old soccer player had the upper hand on most of us.
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