Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Support Group

Jonathan

It will get better. Are you on Coumadin? Did the doctor tell you to get compression hose? I wear 20-30 mmHg compression toe to waist hose. Check with your doctor to see what he recommends. They are prescription strength. My insurance pays 80% after the $100 deductible. I would not start any exercise until you get your stockings. That's what my doc said. Then you can start out very slowiy. I started out with breathing, stretching, and walking. It takes time. I am about 6 months post diagnosis and I am still not 100% yet, but I am at least 80% better than I was 6 months ago.

This is a serious thing. Did they tell you to watch for signs of PE...chest pain, shortness of breath? If you get that go to ER immediately, tell them you have a DVT and suspect pulmonary embolism. Once your INR is therapuetic and your clot is older the chance of PE goes down. Don't do anything as far as exercise until your IINR is therapeutic and you have your compression stockings.

Hang in there, drink lots of water, take your blood thinners, eat the same amount of Vitamin K foods every day (green vegetables), wear your stockings, and before you know it a few months will have passed and you will feel much better. You have come to the right place. There are many wonderful people here with inspiring stories. Feel free to ask questions, and read previous posts as well. I learned a lot from that, too. Welcome!

exercise advice varies from case to case per the individual's medical advisor. Go with what yours says.

Activity is good for the spirits if that activity can be tolerated. Depending on the specifics of the case it may be recommended or not. Different views for differing cases may include that activity may jar a clot loose to embolize, or that activity in some circumstances keeps the blood moving (and not pooling) and therefore may retard further clotting.

In my own case the damage had already spread through the lesser saph, popiteal, superficial femoral, and on to the lungs; so maybe the drs at the time figured may as well give it all a top to bottom workout as the meds allowed bringing down the clots.

Indeed be mindful of PE symptoms. My drs did not realize the potential seriousness of the situation and sent me home untreated when the clot was small, so I was on my own to figure out what was going on from there. The best possible outcome would be that you can have follow-on scans to ensure that what you have is stable and hopefully resolving.

So sorry to see you join the DVT club. Its not a club I ever wanted membership in!

Reading your post brings me back to my own experience 8 months ago. The pain can be excruciating. My own situation was like this: The first 2 weeks - intense pain. Couldn't walk. Was actually given crutches. After that the following 2 weeks (approx) I couldn't stand on my leg for more than a minute or so. I did everything sitting - including showering or preparing food. I crawled around the house when tired of the crutches. After a month or so I started to regain strength. I am 8 months or more past diagnosis and have no pain whatsoever. Other than my daily dose of Coumadin and occasional trips to check my INR levels - I feel perfect.

It will get better, but it isn't an overnight miracle recovery. Good luck!

I can't thank you all enough, It moves me to get these replys and I find it difficult to type this, without soaking the keys through.

Thank you all every last one of you.

I was given little to no post interventional information. I someone to give me there post op DVT hosiery as an emergency thing for last night, The pain has rease 70% (unberleavble). I can now wobble around on one crutch for 20min stints. It still becomes un-bareable at times, and I do as well dealing with it.

All this has helped me so much.

Monday i am going to have made to mesure compression Hosiery as what i have done so far has helped greatly.

My Condition is a 90% obstruction back of right knee which has caused ferther obstructions lower down the leg towards the foot.
It has been relayed to me as Acute/Cronic. That translats as not to clever.

Thanks to all of you, even though the standing shower this morning was the most painful thing I have ever had the misfortune to to endure, I am im a better place in my self, which is good.

What foods should I avoid, or restrict ? I know cranberrys dark green veg, Grapfruit. (I think I spelt that wrong. Joy of being 'dyslexic')

Thanks again so much.
Jonathan

My presumption is that you are on warfarin or coumadin, which impedes vitamin K's effects of promoting the liver's production of clotting factors.

Most doctors currently advise to go ahead and eat vitamin K rich foods, such as leafy greens and especially spinach, but eat the same amount from week to week. As the coumadin or warfarin dose gets adjusted, that adjustment would incorporate your normal intake of vitamin K.

For your question about specific exercise, again your doctor is the arbiter. When I was recovering from the worst of DVT/PE, I found it most suitable to get outside and walk as soon as I could. When sitting around the house the four walls have a way of echoing and amplifying the negative thinking that can go along with having a dangerous condition. The fresh air and variety of the outdoors promotes enjoyment of continued living.

You can then decide on future activities as your treatment progresses under a doctor's advice.

Hi Jonathan,
My DVT (and PE) was diagnosed when the whole country shut down due to a bit of snow so I was not too tempted to go outside. I didn't notice the pain in my leg so much as the fact that it didn't want to move as I wanted it to and I was limping for a good two weeks (no crutches provided to me, though). Since then I have been fine on the leg. I noticed some swelling over the next couple of months, mostly at the end of the day but not any more.
You are doing the right thing in wearing your hospital fuglies and ordering some proper stockings to wear more long-term (2 years is the norm).
Since you are in the UK, you should make sure that you are covered by a pre-payment certificate for your prescriptions. Otherwise those stockings and warfarin prescriptions could get costly at £7.60 each or whatever the current going rate is!
If you are still on the heparin shots and have not yet started the warfarin, you can eat and drink what you like.
Once you are on the warfarin there are restrictions like no cranberry, no grapefruit and no herbal teas. Some people on here have said no black tea, either, but I don't think they live in the UK where cuppas are our daily bread. My warfarin clinic here has said not to worry about normal tea. I'm just banned from green tea, camomile (!) and all the other non-typical teas. Alcohol is to be drunk in moderation, i.e. same amount as would be allowed to drive. I tried pushing this a while ago as I wanted to drink more at my wedding and the clinic got really worried and made me switch back to the heparin injections for a while. I didn't mind. I had some green tea that week, too! Ha!
You have to watch any other medication you might want to take. You can have lempsip, for instance (vitamin c and Paracetamol), but not lemsip max as there is an additional ingredient in there. If you have pains, you can take paracetamol but not ibuprofen or aspirin. No vitamin pills as they may contain vitamin K and upset your normal balance.
As for greens, I was told to keep them constant. At the beginning I was super careful but now my general rule is that as long as I don't avoid greens all week or pig out on them (like a whole plate of cabbage or gigantic rocket salad) I should be ok. My INR, luckily enough, has been relatively stable so whatever I am doing is not that wrong for me. If I were you, I would not worry too much about the vitamin K unless you tend to do the extremes on an irregular basis (like vegetarian one week and no greens the next). See how your INR is and go from there.
In the meantime, put your leg up, take some paracetamol and try and relax as best as possible.
I hope you feel better soon!

Hi all. I am back from a stay in hospital, due to what is thought to have been a vascular restriction on the brain, it's not known if it was due to the DVT as there are no cases to compair with.

Things are good, I feel OK now, and I must thank all of you on here for your help and unconditional support through this chalanging time. you are all incredable indviduals. Thanks.

Regards Jonathan