Life DOES go on after DVT
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This site is for people with DVT, seeking comfort and information from others who understand from personal experience.
 
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 My little story..

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leesha

leesha


Posts : 1
Join date : 2008-10-30
Age : 37
Location : Western Australia

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PostSubject: My little story..   My little story.. Icon_minitimeFri Oct 31, 2008 5:30 am

My name's Alicia. I live in a small city in Western Australia and I'm 21 years old.

My story starts with me having a sharp pain in my lower back region. After injuring my muscles there before (playing soccer) I thought that it was just a muscle pain and would go away with some rest and time. Over the next couple of weeks though it moved around my hip to my groin area. As it moved it caused more pain and eventually I could not walk properly, and I didn't even have enough energy to have a shower or get dressed.

One day I woke up and my leg had started to swell between my groin and knee. It felt as if I had a muscle cramp - but on the entire top part of my leg. I tried various things to stop it swelling and woke up to a purple foot the next day. My boyfriend took me to the ER and I was seen to by the triage nurse. She wrote down that I had possible sciata and gave me nurofen. (She didn't really care what I was saying or explaining to her.)

After being looked over and prodded and tested for three hours the doctors decided I most likely had a blood clot and admitted me. I was started on heparin injections straight away (ow!!) and given painkillers. In the end I had lots of ultra sounds taken and the doctors found 4 clots in my leg - One large one at my groin and three smaller ones going down towards the back of my knee. So they began me on warfarin and I stayed in hospital for 9 days until my INR was over 2.

The doctors tested me but couldn't find any underlying reasons that could have made the blood clots occur. I was on diane35 (contraceptive pill) at the time, dehydrated and always suffering from hard knocks playing soccer and beach volleyball (as well as other small things) so they think it could've just been a mix of these things that brought on the clots.

I'm looking at being on marevan for the next three months until I get more ultrasounds done. If my clots have been dissolved by then my doctor is looking at letting me talk to a chinese herbalist to reduce my risk of getting clots again. If they haven't dissolved I will be on the warfarin until they disappear I suppose. Since I've been out of hospital (nearly two weeks now) I've had about 7 blood tests and my INR is fairly stable. My foot is still swollen around my ankle and the muscles around my groin are tender, but otherwise I'm off my painkillers and able to walk now Smile

It's so nice to have been able to find these forums.. There isn't much information or support around so thanks for the great site queen
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RetiredNavy02

RetiredNavy02


Posts : 45
Join date : 2008-03-03
Age : 60
Location : Connecticut

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PostSubject: Re: My little story..   My little story.. Icon_minitimeFri Oct 31, 2008 9:04 am

Leesha,

Welcome to the group.

Do you know what blood tests they perform on you to test for clotting disorders? When you mentioned oral contraceptives and hydration I can't personally help but think they missed something during testing (some of the tests will give a false negative while on heparin).

Here are some website which have a lot of great resource information for patients. The first belongs to my good friend Deb Smith of California who created the fvleiden.org website back in 1998. Deb has collected a lot of great information throughout the years and has a Dr. Q&A section which Dr. Stephan Moll of the University Of North Carolina in Chapel Hill responds. Stephan is one of the top blood clot researchers here in the U.S.

The other website is belong to the National Alliance for Thrombosis and Thrombophilia (NATT). NATT is a all-volunteer Non-Profit Patient Advocacy Organization comprised of Patients who have either directly had a blood clot or had a close relative who suffered one. They are the only Patient Group funded by the Government here in the U.S. to raise awareness about blood clots and clotting disorders.

www.fvleiden.org

www.stoptheclot.org

Also, here's a link you may have already found. It belongs to the National Institute of Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. They have a Stop the Clot resource center (not be confused with NATT's stoptheclot.org website).

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/nics/asp/index.asp?page=programs/programs_article&cid=5263&gid=191&id=646

And since you are actively involved in sport, here is the link to the Clot Buster web blog. The ClotBuster is an athlete from Ohio (U.S.) who competes in triathlons while raising awareness about blood clots. If you search through the webpage you will see a second which has an athlete of the month. These athletes, some Olympian, are much like yourself, a blood clot Survivor.

http://clot-buster-triathlete.blogspot.com/

Again, welcome and feel free to ask questions. Dero who runs this website has been rather busy so should be posting when things slow down for him.

Regards,
Tom in Connecticut
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http://www.stoptheclot.org
dero
Admin
dero


Posts : 904
Join date : 2007-12-09
Age : 64
Location : Near Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

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PostSubject: Re: My little story..   My little story.. Icon_minitimeSat Nov 01, 2008 2:13 pm

Hi leesha and welcome to Life After DVT, as much as we don't really want to be here, we make the best of this place.
As you probably have seen from having a peek around, you will notice that many of us were and are from the sport community be it Cycling, Equestrian, Running ... One thing we are NOT are doctors, so everything that is said here on this site be it from admin, members... is to be taken as advises and NOT the mighty word. We base everything on our experiences, our doctor's recommendations. What works for one does not mean that it will work for others. My advise, always check with your doctor before taking a step that you heard of here.
I see that Tom has given you all the right places to check (Tom thank you) and get more info about DVT. You will find that the more you are informed about DVT, the easier it will be on you, this condition and it's medications can be hard (mentally and physically) on a person, what we refer as the emotional roller coaster...
Like Tom has said, if you have ANY question, please ask, many of us have been at this for a while now and by reading other's stories, you may find some similarities and may be able to ask that person for some help.
DVT is not what we expected it to be, it's not an old folks sickness, it's not more a woman then a man sickness and has nothing to do with physical fitness. DVT has no age target, no gender and has no favotite physical fitness level. It lurks in the darkness and without any warnings, it strikes and another person has DVT.
I hope I'm not scarring you, but DVT is serious business, we have to fight it seriously.
So once again, welcome to Life After DVT. I do hope we can answer any queries you have.
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PostSubject: Re: My little story..   My little story.. Icon_minitime

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