Thick blood, medically called hyperviscosity, is susceptible to middle-aged and elderly people and can be diagnosed through hemorrheology examination. The main factors that affect blood viscosity are: blood cell factors, such as the number, size, and shape of blood cells, red blood cell deformability, platelet function, etc. Plasma factors, such as plasma proteins (especially fibrinogen, immunoglobulins), blood sugar, blood lipids, fibrinolytic activity, etc. Vascular factors, such as blood vessel length, diameter and intimal smoothness, etc. Other factors, such as mood, lifestyle, smoking, drinking, etc. If the above factors occur or become abnormal, blood viscosity may occur.

1. What is blood viscosity and hyperviscosity?

Blood viscosity is the abbreviation of blood viscosity and is one of the indicators reflecting blood viscosity. The main factors that affect blood viscosity include: red blood cell aggregation and deformability, hematocrit, size and shape, blood cholesterol, triglyceride and fibrinogen content, etc.

Hyperviscosity (or hyperviscosity) is caused by an increase in one or more blood viscosity factors, which makes the blood excessively viscous and slows blood flow, resulting in abnormal blood rheology parameters. Characterized clinicopathological syndrome. In layman's terms, it means that the blood is excessively viscous. This is due to the red blood cells in the blood gathering into clusters and losing the proper gaps and distances, or the red blood cells in the blood having a reduced ability to bend and deform when passing through tiny capillaries, causing the blood to become thicker. Increased circulatory resistance and poor microcirculatory blood flow.

2. Causes of hyperviscosity

① Excessive cell concentration: The number of cells in the blood is relatively increased. For example, the body water of the elderly is relatively reduced, and the water content in the blood is also reduced, so the proportion of blood cells will be relatively increased. Since the liquid component in the blood is reduced and the solid component is increased, the viscosity in the blood will naturally increase.

② Increased blood viscosity: In addition to red blood cells, there are many plasma proteins in the blood, such as globulin, fibrinogen, etc. When these macromolecular proteins increase, they often bond with red blood cells to form a grid, which increases the resistance to blood flow and leads to an increase in blood viscosity.

③ Increased aggregation of blood cells: Cells in the blood should perform functions individually rather than accumulated together. When there is some abnormality in the structure of red blood cells or platelets, red blood cells and platelets will accumulate together, blocking blood vessels and forming thrombus.

④The deformability of blood cells is weakened: the capillaries in the human body are very thin, and the smallest blood vessels can only allow one blood cell to pass, and the blood cells have to change their shape when passing through the small blood vessels to facilitate passage. When the deformation ability of blood cells is weakened, it is difficult to pass through small blood vessels, which affects the blood flow speed and thus increases blood viscosity.

⑤ Dyslipidemia: Since blood circulates throughout the body, when the lipid content in the blood is too high, the blood's own viscosity can change. In addition, increased blood lipids can inhibit fibrinolysis and increase blood viscosity. The increase in blood viscosity is conducive to the occurrence of coronary heart disease and even induces acute myocardial infarction.

3. Early signs of hyperviscosity

The blood is thick and the flow rate slows down. In this way, the lipids in the blood are deposited on the inner wall of the blood vessels, resulting in narrowing of the lumen and Insufficient blood supply leads to myocardial ischemia, cerebral thrombosis, limb blood vessel thrombosis and other diseases. Some middle-aged and elderly people often feel dizzy, sleepy, memory loss, etc., and always think that this is an inevitable phenomenon of life's decline. In fact, these are the consequences of hyperviscosity.

The main early symptoms are: ① dizziness in the morning and wakefulness at night; ② sleepiness after lunch; ③ shortness of breath when squatting while working; ④ paroxysmal blurred vision; ⑤ during physical examination, the needle tip is often blocked and the blood is very thick. It quickly agglutinates in the needle tube; during blood rheology measurement, the blood viscosity is above "+++" and other indices are also significantly increased.

In daily life, if middle-aged and elderly people find that they have the above symptoms, they should go to the hospital for hemorrheology examination in time.

4. Why do the elderly develop hyperviscosity?

Because the elasticity of the blood vessel walls in the elderly gradually weakens and the lumen slowly narrows, so cells tend to stick to each other. Causes an increase in blood viscosity, thereby slowing down blood flow and leading to the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases; at the same time, the increase in blood viscosity in the elderly is related to the protein (globulin, fibrin) and lipid (triglyceride) contained in the plasma. Ester, cholesterol) content is related to increased. It has been confirmed that people with dyslipidemia are prone to increased blood viscosity; in addition, when the blood contains more foreign matter (such as epithelial cells shed from the inner wall of blood vessels, lipids attached to and shed from the blood vessel wall, etc.), fibrin And platelets gather around foreign objects and wrap them up, which can easily form thrombus, affect the normal running speed of blood, and increase the viscosity of blood. When these thrombi enlarge or suddenly flow into a smaller artery, they will block the blood vessel, causing tissue ischemia, hypoxia, and necrosis, leading to cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction, infarct vasculitis, etc.

5. How to prevent and treat hyperviscosity

①Drink more water: Pay attention to the timing of drinking water, such as before getting up in the morning, before each meal (1 hour) and before going to bed. It is best to take no less than 2000ml per day.

② Choose foods that can dilute blood: These foods include hawthorn, black fungus, garlic, onions, green onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, strawberries, pineapples, lemons, etc., which inhibit platelet aggregation and prevent thrombosis; Anticoagulant foods with aspirin effects include hawthorn, tomatoes, red grapes, oranges, and ginger; foods with lipid-lowering effects include hawthorn, spirulina, celery, carrots, konjac, seaweed, kelp, purslane, walnuts, corn, sesame seeds, and apples , kiwi fruit, etc.

③Reasonable diet: Eat less animal offal and animal fat, eat less fried food, eat less meaty and spicy food and less sweets for dinner. It is advisable to eat light food, mainly vegetarian, with a mix of coarse and fine grains.

④ Eat more foods rich in lecithin: eat more soybeans and soy products, eggs, and fish. It is helpful to improve blood viscosity and make thrombus less likely to form.

⑤ Eat more fruits and vegetables containing vitamin C: Vitamin C can regulate blood lipids; the fiber in vegetables can prevent the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines and reduce blood viscosity.

⑥Insist on physical exercise: such as walking, jogging, Tai Chi, badminton, mountain climbing, swimming, etc., which can promote blood circulation.

⑦Drug treatment: Under the guidance of a doctor, use some drugs that are anticoagulant and reduce blood viscosity. Commonly used drugs include ketone, sodium alginate diester, enteric-coated aspirin, tea pigment, streptokinase, and aspirin. Snake antithrombotic enzyme, etc.; you can also choose some drugs for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, such as compound salvia miltiorrhiza tablets, angelica tablets, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Ligusticum chuanxiong, dipyridamole (dipyridamole), etc.

⑧No smoking: It affects blood circulation, reduces blood flow, and reduces blood flow speed, which can lead to adverse outcomes.

⑨ Regular physical examination: People over 50 years old should undergo hemorrheology examination and platelet aggregation test. Based on the examination results, take effective protective measures to reduce the occurrence of embolic diseases. At the same time, blood viscosity indicators can be dynamically observed so that you can be aware of them.