D dimer is a blood test that evaluates levels of a protein fragment when there’s a clot hanging around in the bloodstream. If this level is elevated, it’s often a tip-off that there was a tiny blood clot formed in your body and now you’re breaking it down.

Now that people can self-order their own blood work at many places around town, you might want to evaluate your own D dimer level. I must caution you that if it’s elevated, you need to alert your physician and find out if you need anticoagulant therapy, and what other measures you can take. Blood clots are dangerous, so you don’t want to ignore an elevated D dimer level. 

In the hospital setting, a D dimer blood test will be ordered if you have bronchitis or pneumonia in order to assess risk for respiratory failure, pulmonary embolism, stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and a number of other blood clotting disorders.

Fibrin isn’t the bad guy. Fibrin is an insoluble protein formed from fibrinogen when your blood forms a clot. That’s OK and healthy because if you bleed from a paper cut, you want that to happen. The scab that forms is part of the normal hemostatic response. Healthy fibrin levels means your blood moves through your vessels freely and comfortably, without sticking to capillary walls and impeding blood flow. That’s important because a healthy fibrin level means that oxygen and nutrients get delivered to all of your organs. 

Sometimes a blood clot is not present, but the D dimer is high. This is a shortcoming of the test because it causes unnecessary alarm. For example, pregnancy, liver disease or a recent surgery can raise D dimer in the absence of a blood clot.

Since the D dimer is an evaluation of clotting and a blood clot requires fibrin to form, you should think of natural, easy ways to protect your blood, keep it healthy and keep your fibrin levels down in the normal range. Here are some nutritional considerations, please ask your doctor if it’s right for you: grape seed extract, bromelain, ginkgo biloba, nattokinase, lumbrokinase and garlic.

I know many of you will self-order this test. If it's not in the normal range, be sure to consult a qualified physician, especially if your blood pressure is high or you have heart disease. If you’d like to read my longer, more comprehensive article, sign up for my newsletter at suzycohen.com.