How You Can Avoid Deep Vein Thrombosis While Flying
By: Jason Maxwell
Submitted: 2010-05-29 04:40:56 | Word Count: 691
"The best thing to do if you need to fly while you are pregnant is to consult your obstetrician sot hat you can be cleared of any kinds of complications. It is not uncommon that flying can cause problems to both you, the mother, and the fetus inside you. Aside from the potentially harmful effects of high cosmic radiation as a result of being in a high altitude, being in a flight may also make you immobile for a long period of time unless you are aware of what this can bring. And among these things that may be caused by sitting still for an extended period, Deep Vein Thrombosis, or DVT could become a problem.
Long journeys of more than 4 hours duration by plane, train, etc, are thought to cause a slightly increased risk of DVT. This is probably due to sitting immobile and cramped for long periods. On plane journeys, in addition to the immobility, other factors which may possibly play a part (but are not proven) include: reduced cabin pressure; reduced oxygen levels in the plane; slight dehydration as a result of not drinking much water and drinking too many alcoholic drinks as these are often freely available.
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There are various factors that put people at greater risk of a DVT such as obesity, taking the contraceptive pill, pregnancy, having an existing heart problem, or cancer, being immobile due to injury or illness, but the risk factor that concerns us here is a lengthy journey in cramped conditions.
DVT is a condition in which a certain volume of blood in the deep veins tends to coagulate or solidify. DVT can be due to a lof of different factors but all of them can cause hypercoagulability or the tendency for blood to solidify even on instances when it's not necessary. Platelets are components in blood that are responsible for blood coagulation which we need to stop the bleeding when we have cuts or wounds. But hypercoagulability becomes a problem because it can create those clots even when they are not needed.To understand better, a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot that forms in one of the deep leg veins. These veins are blood vessels which go through the calf and thigh muscles, and are not those which can be seen just below the skin. The clot that forms in the leg vein usually remains stuck to the wall of the vein and after a while the symptoms gradually settle. However there are two serious consequences which can occur as a result of a deep vein thrombosis.
When you are on an airplane, you have the tendency to be constantly sitting the entire flight. But when you're pregnant, this can cause you to develop hypercoagulability. This is because during pregnancy, there are hormonal changes that promote an over activity of your blood coagulation functions. Another thing is that your veins, which carry blood back to your heart, will have a hard time overcoming this pressure and bring the blood back up from your lower extremities because of the downward pressure exerted by your uterus. This then creates an environment that will make unnecessary coagulation highly possible.
Therefore, it is important that you regularly stand up and move around through out the entire flight. This will promote blood circulation and will help those veins on your legs and feet push blood back to your heart where it goes into your lungs for oxygenation and then goes back to your heart again distribution to your different body parts. If your normal circulatory cycle can be interrupted by hypercoagulability, it can create serious complications which can even include death when the coagulated blood is dislodged from the vein and goes in to the lungs which causes pulmonary embolism."
Author Resource:-
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