Symptoms of thrombosis
Thrombosis happens when something damages the inner lining of your blood vessel (endothelium) or slows blood flow. In either case, cells in your blood start to stick together when they shouldn’t. Normally, many cells in your blood coexist in harmony and come together when needed for a certain job. For example, if you have a wound, platelets and proteins join together at the site of injury to serve as a plug. This multistage process (hemostasis) forms a necessary clot that stops you from losing too much blood. The clot dissolves when your wound heals. It’s like an emergency meeting at work when everyone huddles at one desk. When the problem’s solved, everyone leaves and goes their separate ways. But various medical conditions, medications and other factors can cause components of your blood to cluster together when they don’t need to or fail to dissolve when they should. As a result, a blood clot (thrombus) may form from clumps of blood clotting components and potentially get bigger. It may also break away and travel through your bloodstream until it gets stuck in a smaller blood vessel (embolus). Both of these situations can lead to dangerous — or even life-threatening — complications. That’s why it’s important to learn what may put you at risk.