Symptoms of blood stasis

In life, many people don’t have a particularly good understanding of blood stasis. So what is blood stasis? Blood stasis is a disease caused by pathogens invading the blood. It is caused by deficiency of Qi and blood, sleeping in the wind, or sweating due to exertion, which allows wind evil to invade and block the flow of Qi and blood. Generally, when blood stasis occurs, the skin color suddenly turns white, then turns blue, and then turns to flushing, and the attacks are intermittent. Therefore, people must go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible after suffering from blood stasis.

What are the typical symptoms of blood stasis?

Patients often suffer from attacks after catching cold or their fingers coming into contact with low temperatures. Some are also triggered by emotional excitement or mental stress. The characteristic of the attack is that the skin color of the fingers and toes suddenly turns white, then turns to cyanosis, and then turns to flushing, with intermittent attacks. It is more common on fingers and less common on toes. The attack often starts from the tip of the little finger and ring finger, and gradually spreads to the entire finger and even the palm as the disease progresses, but the thumb is less likely to be affected, accompanied by local coolness, numbness, tingling, soreness, swelling, discomfort or other abnormal sensations. Systemic and local temperatures may occasionally decrease, but the radial or dorsalis pedis artery pulsation is normal. When the disease first occurs, the attack usually lasts for a few minutes to half an hour and then resolves on its own. The skin turns red, often with a burning or stinging sensation, and then returns to its normal color. If you apply local warming, rub the affected limb, wave the limb, etc. during an attack, the attack can be stopped. As the disease progresses, symptoms become more severe and attacks become more frequent. Each attack can last for more than an hour, and sometimes the hands and feet need to be immersed in warm water to stop the attack.

What are the causes of blood stasis?

1. Dysfunction of the central nervous system causes hyperfunction of the sympathetic nerves;

2. Increased levels of adrenaline and norepinephrine in the blood circulation;

3. The condition often worsens during menstruation and improves during pregnancy, so some people believe it is related to endocrine;

4. Defects in the limb arterioles themselves, resulting in overreaction to normal physiological phenomena;

5. Some people also believe that the initial stage is that the small arteries in the extremities overreact to the cold, and then due to long-term vascular spasm, the intimal hyperplasia and blood flow are blocked. If there are various physiological factors that reduce the blood flow in the small arteries in the extremities, they can act on the diseased arteries and cause attacks.

6. Patients often have a family history, suggesting that it may be related to genetics;

7. Immune and connective tissue diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, polyarteritis nodosa, dermatomyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, polymyositis, mixed connective tissue disease, vasculitis caused by hepatitis B antigen, drug-induced vasculitis, and Sjogren's syndrome;

8. Obstructive arterial disease, such as occlusive arteriosclerosis, thromboembolic vasculitis, etc.;

9. Physical factors, such as shock injury, direct arterial trauma, cold injury, etc.;

10. Caused by certain drugs, such as ergot, lead, thallium, arsenic poisoning, polyvinyl chloride, β-blockers, cytotoxic drugs, contraceptives, etc.;

11. Factors that affect the neurovascular mechanism, such as cervical ribs, anterior scalene muscle syndrome, thoracic wall, outlet syndrome, improper use of crutches compressing the axilla, tumor compressing the brachial plexus and subclavian vessels, cervical spondylitis or nucleus pulposus rupture, peripheral neuritis, syringomyelia or tabes dorsalis, etc.;

12. Increased cold agglutinins or cryoglobulinemia in the blood, polycythemia vera, paroxysmal hemoglobinuria, etc.;

13. Some are associated with migraine and variant angina.

What complications can blood stasis easily lead to?

Blood stasis can cause occlusion of small blood vessels, resulting in ischemic necrosis of the fingertips. In severe cases, the finger (toe) tips may become flat and gangrenous, and the distal phalanx may become necrotic, absorbed, or dissolved due to ischemia, resulting in shortening or amputation. In some patients with low resistance, ulcers caused by fingertip ischemia may lead to diseases such as osteomyelitis and sepsis, which are also the most serious complications of this disease. Correct and timely use of anti-infection drugs can help prevent the occurrence of these complications.