Houston-based rapper BeatKing, also known as Club Godzilla and Justin Riley, has died at age 39. He … [+]
Houston-based rapper BeatKing, also known as Club Godzilla and Justin Riley, has died at age 39. He reportedly fainted during a recording session and was rushed to a hospital, where he was found to have a pulmonary embolism.
He first achieved broader attention when his single “Crush” went viral in 2010. But arguably his biggest hit was “Then Leave” which not only went viral on social media in 2020 but also rose all the way to the third position on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. BeatKing’s work included collaborations with 2 Chainz, Bun B, T-Pain and Ludacris.
A pulmonary embolus is when a blood clot travels to and blocks an artery that supplies blood to your lungs. This clot most often originates in one of the deep veins of your leg, hence the name deep vein thrombosis or DVT. In blocking a pulmonary artery, a pulmonary embolus prevent blood flow to the portion of the lung supplied by that artery, which is clearly not good. After all, your lung is kind of responsible for bringing oxygen into your blood stream and getting rid of carbon dioxide. When your lung tissue doesn’t get blood flow and thus oxygen, like any body tissue, it will soon die unless blood flow is quickly restored. Also, when enough pulmonary artery blood flow is blocked, the pressure in the pulmonary artery builds up causing your heart to work even harder. If this pressure gets too high, eventually, your heart will essentially get exhausted.
Therefore, a pulmonary embolism is a medical emergency that can be life threatening. So if you have symptoms suspicious for a pulmonary embolism such as sudden shortness of breath, chest pain or fainting, don’t just think you can walk it off or treat it with a sandwich. Other possible symptoms include a cough producing bloody mucus, a rapid or irregular heartbeat, lightheadedness or turning blue.
Treatment then is to keep you as oxygenated as possible, while trying to dissolve via medications or remove the blood clots via an invasive procedure and prevent more clots from going to the lungs. Time is of the essence. The sooner the treatment, the more likely you are to survive the pulmonary embolism.
Preventing pulmonary embolisms means preventing DVTs or any clots that may travel to the lungs. Physical inactivity can make it more likely for blood to pool in your legs and form DVTs. That’s because blood that’s not moving tend to clot. Some people have conditions that make it more likely for clots to form such as clotting disorders, heart disease that slows the flow of blood making it more likely to clot, blood vessel problems, kidney disease, Covid-19 and certain cancers or medications. Surgery can make your blood more likely to clot for a while afterwards, typically the first two or three months after getting general anesthesia. Oh, and increasing blood clot risk is yet another reason that smoking is bad for you.
