blood clot

[alan meehan]

Anyone had a blood clot before Santa has left me with one on christmas eve its the most painful thing i ve ever had,spending new year with my feet up

[Nikolas]

I hope they have given you blood thinners etc

[JA]

Hi Alan,

Sorry to hear of your pain, hopefully you're in good medical care with all the right medications and not going it alone. Get well soon.

Best
JA

[Leo.G]

I hope it's nothing too serious though any clot is not to be dealt with lightly. Doctors and specialists will get you on a path to good health again. I wish you a speedy recovery with no complications!


I had a pulmonary embolism in 2010 and it put me in Sydney hospital for 8 days but the specialist couldn't get me booked in to do any tests but saw me soon after at my local hospital and put me out and did what he had to do.
I drove myself to my local hospital (the place locals go to die) at 2:40AM with my lungs bleeding, bringing up a lot of blood. The STUPID intern walked up, 6 days before my sons 16th birthday and said "you'll be dead before the sun comes up" with my son right beside me. Were it not for the tubes hanGing out and pads everywhere I'd have gotten up and dropped the mongrel. Yes, I was angry, he'd asked me a question then just walked off like I didn't matter despite being in emergency.
I called him over and told him I'd had chest pain all day and he injected a blood thinner into my stomach which miraculously saved my life. I walked out of there the next day but returned to my own doctor the following day with a pasta sauce jar full of blood and demonstrated where it was coming from. He had me in to see a Macquarie street specialist that evening and thE specialist put me straight in Sydney eye and hand hospital across the road with the intent of doing an autopsy, wait, that may be biopsy but, couldn't get the theatre with one guy having lost 2 hands in an industrial accident (a guy in my room, poor fellow).
After 8 days I signed myself out and caught a train home with my lungs still bleeding MILDLY but they eventually cleared up.


In 2012 when I had a major heart attack my son sat and watched and refused to phone an ambulance (edit: Under my instruction not to bother) because he felt the same as I did, if the local hospital got me there they'd kill me or let me die. The strangest thing happened though that most people never believe, my cat jumped up on my chest, flattened me on the sofa and regulated my heart beat with her own. After an indeterminable time I felt great. I went to my own doctor a week later and told him what happened, he called me stupid , sent me to the hospital to get tests and then told me I'd had a major heart attack and I owed that cat my life.
I still have the cat, she's 14 soon and she still gets lamb leg steak and fresh chicken breasts for dinner.

[wavelandscott]

Yes, I have had a number of clots…lungs and legs.

Do see a Doctor…I was on blood thinners for some time (after a few nights in the hospital)…

[alan meehan]

wow thanks guys i most addmit this has me abit worried ive never had anything like this before ,and Leo thats a incredible story glad you are ok after going through that ,it has been hard at the moment the hospital and we have a lge one here with the john hunter hospital my time in hospital emergency was short they were really busy put me on low dose asprin compression bandage wnd to;d me to asee my gp which at the moment is on holidays until the 8th so its pain relief and rest until then

[Leo.G]

Take it easy Alan, don't overdo anything and anything out of the ordinary you get straight back to John Hunter hospital.
I changed my habits quite a bit after those experiences but I still smoke, some people are just too stupid for their own good. I swear I've cut down considerably and plan on giving up before I turn 64 in 2 weeks.

[floyd_2]

Hi Alan, really sorry to hear what you're going through mate. I'll tell you my story in the hopes that it might help to round out your knowledge on the subject a little bit. I first had 5 clots in my lungs concurrently maybe 5 years ago. One was called a doozie by the specialist at the hospital. My lung scan was a shocker.

I was originally misdiagnosed by a GP and put up with them for a number of days until I couldn't get out of bed from the pain one night. I took 2 voltarin before the ambos came and it helped a lot. BTW don't take voltarin as it can promote internal bleeds. I didn't know that then.

I ended up getting a second opinion from another local GP the following morning who was onto it very quickly. She rushed me to be scanned - the scanning place was ready for my arrival. They then rushed me to hospital where they admitted me immediately but couldn't do anything until my heart rate went below 120. I spent about 5 days in hospital where they would only given me panadol for the pain. I refused the panadol as it was useless for the pain level and resorted to meditation for pain control which I had learned years before. They put me on oxycontin (I think) for the pain when I was discharged, which I didn't take as I was worried about dependency with those sorts of drugs.

Six months of warfarin put an end to that, and then it was on to low dose aspirin.

I asked if there would be lasting pain and they said maybe yes, maybe no. In my case, there was lasting pain for a number of years, but it finally faded. I could mostly feel where the clots had caused the damage when I was under stress. It was a good signal for me to relax.

About a year later I had an ache behind both knees. One of my brothers pushed me to get scanned and I had more clots there. The blood specialist discovered that I had Factor 5 Leiden which predisposes me to clotting for no reason. So, now it's thinners for life (Xaretlo). Those clots didn't leave any lasting issues as far as I can tell. At the time, I couldn't squat as it felt like I had something clogging the veins behind my knees. I think one of the clots was quite long too. That eventually went away after about 6 months. One side disappeared quite a while before the other. Probably that long clot took a while to disappear.

If they put you onto Warfarin, it's good and bad. You need to have your blood levels checked every 2-3 days (just a finger prick) and your warfarin dose modified accordingly to keep it at the right level. Foods with vitamin K will defeat warfarin, so green veggies are a problem unless you have them in the same quantities all the time. When I finally came off warfarin, I went straight out to grab a big salad lol. I kept a list of all foods that contained vitamin K and at what levels in my pocket at all times to help me to avoid certain foods if I was eating out.

So, the upside of warfarin is that they can turn it off very quickly with a vitamin K shot. This could save your life if you have a bad bleed from an accident or need an urgent operation. The downside is that it's a pain in the ass going to the doctor every 2-3 days to check levels and modify doses (and keep a diary of it all).

Xarelto, on the other hand, is one pill a day. However, there's no way to turn it off like you can with warfarin. It's convenient, but more dangerous.

Take it easy mate. I was told to keep active (not crazily so) and to not stay seated all day like one might for an office job. Get up regularly and go for a 2-5 minute walk if your doctor allows it. It's good maintenance for your condition - and into your future too once this is dealt with. Blood clots are very common, and it's good news if they stop in your legs or lungs. Much better that way than them traveling any further.

[csb]

Get well soon. Here's something to cheer you up:

Daddy, Daddy, all the kids at school call me a vampire.

Oh, they're just teasing you. Now finish your tomato soup before it clots.

[alan meehan]

Thanks Dean that has given me alot of information on this condition ,its good to get some first hand advice from you guys that have been through such a horrible condition many thanks

[SB]

Hi Alan
That not a good thing for the new year! Sorry to hear about that.
There are some very good anti-coagulants available these days so do get some good advice asap so you can get back up and running again.

Chris.

[kencas]

Hi Alan,
I can give you my history of clots.
I have had 3 deep vein thrombosis in my right leg - the first from my knee down 10cm and a pulmonary embolism, the second a full leg from my groin to my ankle, and the third from above the knee to my calf. All of them were diagnosed as idiopathic in that I have no blood disorders or anything that could possibly be the direct cause. It just happened.
In all cases I was put on Clexane which is an injection into the stomach for about a week followed by moderate 20mg Xarelto (Rivaroxaban - a Novel Oral Anti-Coagulant or NOAC) for 6 months.
Where things went astray was after stopping the Xarelto each time I got another clot after 3 months. So when the third hit I was advised to remain on low dose 10mg Xarelto for my lifetime as a prophylactic. And 5 years down the track I haven't had another clot.
Downsides? If I cut myself I bleed a lot, but it is not insurmountable. And I would much rather have that than another clot!
Ken.

[floyd_2]

I had forgotten all about the Clexane. The hospital said that I could go home if I could self inject into my stomach fat. I asked for the needle and got myself out of there and home. It would have been nice if they had told me the best way to inject (point of bevel first). I makes sense - didn't have my thinking cap on I'd say. It made a big difference when I worked that out. Clexane made my stomach black and blue lol I just chose a new injection site each time and worked slowly from far left to far right over the days.

[blindman]

Seems like there are many blood clots problems around, but don't forget magic potion gives you these problems and many more, and there is no going back with any medications.
Hope that with thinners you get better.
Regards

[Leo.G]

I was going to ask which magic potion (after no sleep all night) but my son soon chimed in with the answer.

I don't believe in magic!

[blindman]

That's good. Me neither :-)

[JaseD]

Yep got one after I broke my leg. Worst thing was I ignored the symptoms and flew. They put me on rivaroxaban (a thinner without the issues of warfarin) and I came good. It felt like a charlie horse. They gave me a scan to see how far it travelled. I was told if it was higher in my leg I was off to hospital because of the size of it.