Hailey Bieber is reassuring fans that she is recovering from a blood clot that developed in her brain just a few days ago. Even though the health issue seems like an anomaly, doctors are warning that these clots are becoming more common in young people.
Bieber’s Health Scare
Last weekend, Bieber posted an Instagram story detailing her experience with the blood clot. “On Thursday morning, I was sitting at breakfast with my husband when I started having stroke-like symptoms and was taken to the hospital,” she shared with her followers. “They found I had suffered a very small blood clot to my brain, which caused a small lack of oxygen, but my body had passed it on its own and I recovered completely within a few hours.”
“Although this was definitely one of the scariest moments I’ve ever been through, I’m home now and doing well, and I’m so grateful and thankful to all the amazing doctors and nurses who took care of me!” she continued. “Thank you to everyone who has reached out with well wishes and concern, and for all the support and love.”
Blood Clots Can Be A Sign Of Unhealthy Living In Younger People
According to Dr. Shazam Hussain, the director of the Cerebrovascular Center at Cleveland Clinic, blood clots like Bieber’s can form for a variety of reasons. “It’s important to know your health and any potential risk factors you might have for strokes, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, difficulty with sugars,” he told People. “When we have younger people having a stroke, we will look for things that would cause their blood to have a tendency to clot — it could be hereditary and run in their families.”
Blood clots typically move to the brain after developing in other parts of the body, like the neck or heart. Once in the brain, the lack of oxygen causes the brain to shut down and cause stroke-like symptoms.
“A stroke is really a situation where every second counts,” Hussain continued. “The brain is very, very sensitive to the lack of blood flow and you lose somewhere around 2 million brain cells a minute. So it’s really important to get that medical attention right away.”
In Bieber’s case, the clot was small enough that her body was able to pass it on its own. However, with larger clots, doctors usually administer a clot-busting drug or perform a thrombectomy. Even though we think of strokes as something older people need to worry about, Hussain said that younger people are at risk, too.
“We think of stroke as being something that happens in older ages, but we are seeing it in younger and younger people,” Hussain explained. “It relates, generally, to people having unhealthy lifestyles, maybe not eating as well or not getting in regular exercise, along with other factors like genetics. So it’s important that people don’t just think of it as something that happens to older people. If you’re younger and have those symptoms, you’ve got to get to the hospital.”
Bieber’s blood clot experience was frightening, but her story is raising awareness about blood clots in younger people and letting them know about preventative measures that can be taken to prevent a similar experience.
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