Brief Introduction on Pulmonary Embolism and How it Affects Us

In simple terms, you can explain pulmonary embolism as a blood clot occurring in the lungs. It usually stops the blood flow and thus part of lungs gets damaged and reduces the oxygen level in the blood. This has a negative effect on the other organs of our body as well. Hence, pulmonary embolism needs to be treated as quickly as possible. The presence of numerous clots and if they are big in size, it can cause serious health issue.

How Pulmonary embolism affects?

The clots occur mainly due to blockage of pulmonary arteries in the lungs. The clots are caused in the arteries that go from legs to lungs, rarely from the other parts of the body to lungs. This is the reason why you need medical attention when the blood clots are observed in legs as you need to be immediately treated.

What are the causes leading to formation of blood clots related to pulmonary embolism?

  • It happens mostly due to deep vein thrombosis. The blood clots form in veins in the body. This happens due to injury, non activeness and because of other health conditions.

  • Sometimes, the blockage in veins and arteries are caused by other materials as well like by fat of broken leg marrow, part of tumor remains in the body, presence of collagen or tissues can block the flow of blood.

If you are bed ridden for a longer time because of grave health conditions or had cancer, there are chances of you suffering from pulmonary embolism. The indications of you suffering from pulmonary embolism depend upon the number of clots present, their size and your health history involving lungs and heart ailments.

The symptoms indicating you are suffering from pulmonary embolism:

  • You will feel shortness of breath suddenly if you ignore and be active then the condition will become worse.
  • You realize the pain in the chest region understanding it to be heart attack. The pain may be mild when you rest but when you take long breath, cough or exert yourself, the pain is intense.
  • While coughing, if you split blood or bloody sticky sputum.
  • You calf portion of legs swell or you feel it is painful.
  • Your skin seems to be discolored, known as cyanosis.

  • Often feel feverish.
  • You sweat a lot even in cold climatic conditions.
  • You feel dizziness sometimes or experience irregular heartbeat.

Some symptoms are similar to heart related ailments of other chronic diseases. However, if you feel pain in the chest and cough bloody sputum, you need to see your doctor immediately. Not to worry, as early diagnosis helps in getting relief from pulmonary ailment.