Who we are
Speaking of Blood Clots is a patient education platform, built by a survivor for women who are ready to build healthy lifestyle behaviors after a blood clot.
We are
- A patient-built education platform.
- Focused on health literacy and lifestyle habits.
- A place to prepare for the conversation with your care team.
- Here for women whether or not they take an anticoagulant (blood thinner).
We are not
- Medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
- A replacement for your care team.
- A clinic or a clinical practice.
- A place that sets one health care specialty against another.
Everything here is meant to start important conversations with your care team, and to be talked through before you change anything.
What we value
Evidence first, uncertainty out loud
We share what the research shows and say plainly where it doesn’t yet. We cite our sources, and we change our minds when the evidence does.
Care is a team effort
We respect every specialty at the table. Primary care, vascular, hematology, mental health, dietetics, and strength and conditioning each see a different part of you. We believe the best care after a VTE brings them together.
Decisions are shared
Your risks are unique, and your preferences matter. Your care team brings clinical judgment. You bring something just as real: you’re the expert on your own life, and your lived experience belongs at the center of every decision about your care. The best decisions use both.
Why we’re here
After a blood clot, care is built around the urgent questions: how to treat the clot and, if blood thinners (anticoagulants) are used, for how long.
What comes after the initial clotting event is a different question: what does life and health look like long term? In my hospital notes, lifestyle-related risk factors were documented eight times. In my hematology follow-ups, we talked about them zero times. Short appointments leave little room beyond the urgent question.
This isn’t only my observation. A 2025 evidence synthesis of what survivors describe found that knowledge (for patients and clinicians alike), lingering physical symptoms, the emotional impact of a clot, and experiences of care all shape whether people can build healthy habits afterward. The authors also note that rehabilitation after a clot is often not offered, and that when it is, many programs leave out the psychological side. (Kenny et al., Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 2025)
That gap is why this platform exists: a place for women to learn the language of their care, build the lifestyle habits linked to vascular health and aging well, and bring both into the conversation with their care team.
Behavior change science helps explain why habits can be hard to build after a clot. Any habit takes capability (the knowledge and skills), opportunity (the support and setting), and motivation. Knowledge is one of the factors survivors raise most often in that research, which is part of why we start with health literacy.
As an affiliate member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, it’s my honor to bring the patient experience to the clinicians in that community.
Survivorship is part of my story. Surviving isn’t where I stay.
Val ConleyWe talk about menopause
Because conversations about menopause and healthy aging are rarely written with a blood clot history in mind. Women with that history belong in them.
A recent example: the American College of Physicians’ 2026 guideline on treating hot flashes and night sweats lists a history of blood clots among the current contraindications to estrogen (reasons it generally isn’t prescribed), notes that the studies behind it commonly excluded women with that history, and calls for longer-term trials in this group. For women who can’t take estrogen, it describes other options. (American College of Physicians, Annals of Internal Medicine, 2026)
When a headline says “women,” it doesn’t mean all women. A contraindication isn’t always the final word. Other specialist guidance, including the European Menopause and Andropause Society’s, says a history of blood clots is not an absolute contraindication and calls for a careful, individual look at benefits and risks. What matters can include whether the clot was provoked or unprovoked, whether it has recurred, and whether you take a blood thinner, and for some women, hormone therapy and a blood thinner are considered together. Decisions like this deserve a care team that includes hematology. Closing the gap starts with women with a clot history being part of the research and the conversation.
Who belongs here
This community is for women who are past the acute phase and ready to build: the habits, the knowledge, and the confidence to talk with their care team about life after a blood clot.
If you’re newly diagnosed and still finding your footing, you’re welcome here whenever you’re ready. The National Blood Clot Alliance (StopTheClot.org) and VascuLEARN (VascuLEARN.org) are good places to start.
