What is Deep Vein Thrombosis DVT
Deep-vein thrombosis, also known as deep-venous thrombosis or DVT, is the formation of a blood clot ("thrombus") in a deep vein. It commonly affects the leg veins, such as the femo...
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bilateral calf DVT after c-section
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Hi, everyone~~I am new here and just need some advice or reassurance. Three weeks ago I had an emergency c-section with my twins at 28 weeks. They are doing fine, thank goodness, up in the NICU and will be there until November. I did fine as well at first, but then I noticed my left calf hurting. I went to my OB and she sent me for a doppler at a vascular surgeon's. It turned out I had DVT in my left calf. The doctor was not really concerned abt it because he said it was low in my leg and was in an "inconsequential" vein, or something like that. He put me on 325mg of aspirin a day and that's it. I just had to come back in a week for a follow up. Well, this past Tuesday, I went back and they did another u/s--the clot was doing better--healing, etc. He said I did not have to come back, just continue the aspirin. The next day my RIGHT calf started hurting when I woke up. I went in to the same dr and they did another scan-this time of my rt calf. The nurses told me I had an even older dvt on my RIGHT calf! Did I mention that I had been completely freaking out this whole time anyway? They said it was in the same place as the one in my left calf. They sent me home and said stay on the aspirin. I began freaking out again today and having panic attacks from worrying (due to some lingering pain in my left leg and rt calf) even though they were not concerned about it. I went to the ER this afternoon and they scanned my lt leg and could not even find the clot at all. There was nothing there. Everything looked fine. My right leg is the one that is hurting more now. Sigh. I am driving my husband nuts over this. I know my hormones are going crazy too from recently delivering--and I am breast feeding, so I cannot take anything for this intense worry and anxiety at the moment. Not to mention the fact that our twins are going to be in the NICU for another 2 months nearly :(. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of calf DVTs and had a not bad outcome they can share w/me? How long does the pain last with them? Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Posted on 10/04/09, 12:10 am |
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In Jan 2008 I saw a dr. who in turn sent me to a lab where they dx'ed a clot in the "superficial" lesser saphenous vein, left leg between calf and skin. I could feel it as a niggle. It had already caused some swelling and much pain. Everyone in the white coats agreed that it was "superficial" and therefore not life threatening. I was sent home, advised to take some nonspecific amount of aspirin and apply heat. I did. The niggle shrank. Bouts of shortness of breath came, which I chalked up to falling out of shape, but 2 1/2 mos post dx I had to go to urgent care where they found acute pulmonary embolism that had slowly formed in both lungs.
The moral of the story is, do not unconditionally believe drs who say a clot in that location is categorically harmless; that is an outdated notion. http://www.oxygentimerelease.com/B... http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/ret... The action to take is, do not consider yourself released from medical supervision until the clots have resolved. My entire episode could have been headed off with additional doppler scans, which would have shown the spread of the clot through two successive veins, and would have brought about more aggressive treatment. It appears such follow-on is happening in your case. Do not let it stop. BTW about a year after all that, I requested they do both legs as part of a now-annual doppler scan. Evidence of previous clots in the "good" leg was found, matching area of the calf veins. I had also been found to have the Factor V Leiden mutation, which was a preexisting presisposition. Some good sites to visit include... http://www.stoptheclot.org/learn_m... http://www.fvleiden.org/recently-d... There is no need to freak but every need to take action. Just do not stop until it is gone, and then do not stop until you know how and why it happened. The sooner you deal with these things the more normal a life you can have. Good luck and Godspeed. 
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