!! EVERYone must read this article if you are OFFICE / Computer lifestyle!!!
How sitting at a desk for too long could give you a deadly blood clot
When Diana Buchan developed sharp pains in her calf, the 30-year-old graphic designer tried to ignore it.
Although she first thought she had pulled a muscle while training for a charity bike ride, she hadn’t been training hard enough for that to be the case.
In fact, the cause of her discomfort was deep vein thrombosis — a blood clot in her left leg.
Diana Buchan had deep vein thrombosis. In the weeks leading up to her first symptoms, she'd been sitting at her desk for up to six hours at a time
The clot became dislodged, and a few weeks later Diana was in hospital with a life-threatening pulmonary embolism (blood clots on her lungs).
While the greatest risk factor for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is surgery, most people associate it with long-haul flights and the Pill.
However, it seems air travel is not the only thing we should be worrying about.
New research suggests a greater risk is the amount of time we spend sitting — wherever we are.
A U.S. study published yesterday in the British Medical Journal found that women who sat for a long time every day had double or even triple the risk of a dangerous blood clot.
While the women most at risk had sat for more than 41 hours a week (on top of their work hours), the research is the first to prove a sedentary lifestyle increases the dangers.
In Diana’s case, in the weeks leading up to her first symptoms, she’d been sitting at her desk for up to six hours at a time, for long days on end, without a break. It could have killed her.
Deep vein thrombosis is caused when the wall of a blood vessel is damaged (through injury, such as a broken bone or surgery) or if the blood clots more easily than normal (as a result of medication or genetics).
Diana was sitting at her desk without a break. It could have killed her
It can also be triggered by the blood flow slowing down considerably — such as when you’re immobile for a long time.
Some experts are so convinced by the specific link between prolonged periods at a computer and DVT that they have coined a new term for it: e-thrombosis.
While the incidence of e-thrombosis is not yet known, it’s estimated that the average person in Britain spends 12 hours a day immobile, looking at screens.
‘If you sit for 90 minutes or more at a desk, the blood flow behind your knees decreases by 50 per cent, significantly increasing the chance of a DVT,’ says Professor Beverley Hunt, consultant in haematology at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospitals in London.
‘It is vital to take regular breaks every hour or so: get up, walk about, rotate your ankles and stretch out your calf muscles.’
There is concern about a lack of awareness of the risks of e-thrombosis, and DVTs in general, among the public.
Experts point to the recent case of 26-year-old Rebecca Cain, a marketing executive from Nottinghamshire, who died when a DVT was misdiagnosed as muscular pain.
The danger is that if a clot in the leg breaks off, it can then travel up the body and block blood flow to the lungs.
A small pulmonary embolism can cause breathlessness, pain and even the coughing up of blood. A larger one, or many smaller ones, can block the entire blood supply to the lungs, starving them of oxygen and often proving fatal.
Around 25,000 Britons die each year as a result of DVTs. They are more common in the over-60s, though they can affect any age.
The problem, as Diana discovered, is too many medics assume only older people are at risk.
‘I realised something wasn’t right when I developed pains in my left calf,’ she recalls.
‘The pain got progressively worse until I could barely put weight on that leg.
‘I’m self-employed and for the previous ten days I’d been working very long days to clear a backlog.’
Despite the pain, she still went ahead with a charity bike ride, cycling from London to Portsmouth, because she didn’t want to let down the people who’d sponsored her.
Two days later, she went to see a GP.
‘I described my symptoms and asked if it might be a DVT, as I’d looked up the symptoms online.’
Diana explained she was on the combined Pill (a known trigger) and she had been immobile at her computer for very long periods.
‘But the doctor’s reaction was dismissive. He said that as I hadn’t been on a long-haul flight and was only 29, it could not possibly be that.
'He also prodded my leg and told me that if I had the condition, my leg would be swollen and too sore to touch.’
Some experts are so convinced by the specific link between prolonged periods at a computer and DVT that they have coined a new term for it: e-thrombosis
In fact, as Diana was later told, many deep leg clots are not accompanied by swelling or severe pain.
The doctor, a locum, diagnosed muscular pain.
‘He just told me to take ibuprofen and move around more,’ she says.
Over the next two days, the pain gradually lessened, but any sense of relief Diana felt was quickly replaced by anxiety as she began to feel short of breath.
Five days later, she was in bed when she suddenly got stabbing pains in her chest, shoulders and back. At her fiance’s insistence, she saw a different GP, who immediately sent her to A&E.
A barrage of tests and scans followed, and Diana suddenly found herself surrounded by a team of medics, who told her she had multiple blood clots in each lung.
‘They kept repeating frightening phrases such as “medical emergency” and “life-threatening condition”. I was in total shock.’
Fortunately, scans showed there were no clots in the legs, and Diana was given medication to shrink those on her lungs. She had to return to the doctor every day for five days, then twice a week for a month for monitoring.
‘I was glad not to have to stay, but equally I was terrified by what was happening.’
During this time, one of Diana’s consultants confirmed that sitting at a desk all day could have been a factor in her illness.
‘She told me the first cases of DVT were diagnosed after the war, caused by people sitting long hours in air-raid shelters on deckchairs,’ says Diana.
‘I was on an old, uncomfortable chair with limited leg room, so this made sense.’
So why are so many people dying from DVT? Professor Hunt blames a lack of education among health care professionals.
‘My clinics are full of people like Diana who were misdiagnosed,’ she says.
‘Doctors, nurses and midwives are not being given the basic training to help them spot signs of blood clots — and that must be addressed urgently.’
Charles McCollum, professor of surgery at Manchester University, agrees that front-line medics need more support and training.
‘It’s a complex area, and 80 per cent of DVTs are asymptomatic — meaning there will be no clear pointers such as swelling, skin discolouration, heat or significant pain.
‘In my opinion, GPs need to lower their threshold of suspicion and if in doubt, send patients for proper diagnostic tests such as ultrasound and the D-Dimer test.
‘This checks for a particular protein noticeable only when there is significant formation and breakdown of blood clots.’
Once diagnosed, the clots are easily treatable with anti-coagulant drugs such as warfarin and the use of compression stockings.
Diana was prescribed a six-month course of warfarin. She also has to wear compression stockings whenever she’s travelling or sitting immobile for any length of time.
‘Nowadays, I turn down work if the deadlines are too punishing,’ she says.
‘I’m no longer willing to sit chained to my desk for hours on end. It’s just not worth the risk.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2011216/How-sitting-desk-long-deadly-blood-clot.html#ixzz2LGfPmfqZ
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