DVT: A deadly travelers companion

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:01]Hello and welcome once more to my channel. Today I'd like to tell you about a silent enemy that like to travel with people when people set out on trips. Before I tell you about this silent enemy is also a deadly killer. I would like to show you some pictures and videos of a man who was unfortunate victim of such silent killer. Chances are you have heard of this man. His name was HeavyD, a popular musician. He performed on stage with the name Heavy D, but in reality his name was Dwight Arenti Mayers. He died suddenly at the age of 44 after traveling. And now I'll show you his movements in the weeks before his death. This is the man in the stage performing a few weeks just before his death. lively and perform. A few weeks after that performance, the musician slumped and died at his home in Los Angeles. The coroner determined that the cause of death was for something called pulmonary embolism, which is blood clot to the lung.

[00:01:14]Why does that matter and how does that pertain to your travel? I'll tell you.

[00:01:20]When you travel and you are sitting in one position, blood that flows down to your legs are pulled down here and they don't flow back as well as they should.

[00:01:33]Under normal circumstance, blood moves back up to the right side of your heart and to your lung where it picks oxygen.

[00:01:42]But when you are traveling and you are seated in one position, you have swelling of your leg and that clot forms like this. And then at the end of your travel when you resume normal activities sometimes the blood clot breaks up travels up through your legs or some other deep veins in your abdomen occasionally from your arms goes to the right side of your heart to your lungs and then you have something called pulmonary embolism which is what killed the man in question.

[00:02:18]Now that you have seen the images and the pictures and diagrams and video, I'll tell you how that matters when you travel. When you take any type of trip, including road trip, traveling by train, flying by airplane that requires you to sit in one position for 2 hours or longer and for some people even shorter period of time. clot forms in your leg and because you are in a seated position you have swelling of your legs and that clot forms and then can break up at some point cause pulmonary embolism shortness of breath chest pain lightadedness even collapse or even death as in the case of that man.

[00:03:04]Now what can you do when you're traveling on the road by driving? Make sure you stop at least every 2 hours. Go to the bathroom, walk around, stretch your leg.

[00:03:16]Some type of activity like that will help prevent the VT. Also, make sure you drink plenty of water. Don't be in a hurry to get to your destination because doing so means you are not stopping. You are driving four, five, 6 hours continuously.

[00:03:33]Similarly, if you're flying by airplane and you are sitting for a long period of time, exact same thing can happen. Worse of all, if you're traveling by airplane and you have taken one of those um economy seats and you are sitting by the window, chances are you don't want to disturb the passenger who is sitting on the other side or by the aisle. So you wind up sitting for a much longer period than you want to because you don't want to inconvenience other people. That puts you at greater risk compared to people who are sitting in business class or people who are sitting in the middle seat or aisle seat because those people have more opportunity to get up and walk around. So the lesson here is that blood clot can form in anybody no matter how healthy you are.

[00:04:25]If you are sitting in one sitting position, not moving around for 2 hours or longer. For some people, other risk factors such as being overweight, as in the case of the gentleman we showed, put you at greater risk. Others, people who have things like cancer of any kind increases your risk when you travel.

[00:04:48]Also, if you have had recent uh surgery within the last uh 3 to 6 months such as abdominal surgery, orthopedic surgery of the hip or the legs and you have not been moving about or you had a cast that combined with road trip increases your risk of having blood clot or pulmonary embolisine.

[00:05:09]Some women who have had a recent pregnancy or who have delivered are also at greater risk or people taking hormones such as birth control pills. So please be aware of this common problem.

[00:05:24]Don't be a statistic. Do the right thing. Get plenty of exercise or stretches in between your trips. Thank you. Until next