I had a doppler in the course of attempting to leave Warfarin and was disappointed like you. Since I had a mild amount of trouble in going off Warfarni for an outpatient procedure, I shall have another one 3 months later. I believe after that, given that my FVL situation keeps me on Warfarin, I will have one once a year or so. At least one participant here saw marginal improvement between 1 1/2 years and 2 1/2 years out.
I prefer to think I am on the Warfarin indefinitely, it is not guaranteed to be lifelong. It was deflating to not be able to leave the stuff, and it will never be the same as not needing it, but the news does get a little easier to deal with over time.
Again, I strongly recommend a blood workup for genetic conditions. At the very least, the hematologist could test for FVL and Factor II while still on Warfarin.

Hi Hattie,
I have FVL but the doc reckons my clots were due to the pill which is a removable factor (like surgery). They've told me I'll be on Warfarin for a total of 6 months and will then stop. I never had an ultrasound as a CT scan confirmed a PE. They don't plan any follow up tests before stopping the warfarin so I was wondering how your ultrasound was disappointing and how that determines whether you stop coumadin or not?

Thank you all for sharing your experience. I haven't heard of FVL?? I will remind my doctor about the need for a genetic test, and a referral to a hematologist and back to the vascular surgeon who was going to do my varicose veins before all this.
Pippalippa, it was disappointing to get the (tentative) results of the ultrasound because the clot hasn't resolved and I think my GP is going to want me to continue with warfarin. And at this point, knowing the clots ar there, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable going off in any case.
What I wanted to hear was "oh my goodness! You'd never know you ever had a huge nasty clot in that femoral vein. Congraulations!"

FVL gets a lot of mention in the PE and DVT groups. In either of two forms it is a mutation carried by 6% of the caucasian population. It was discovered in 1994 so it is still relateively new knowledge. Drs who are on the ball will test for it, for any caucasian affected by unusual clotting activity. There are many other hereditary clotting mutations but by far FVL is the most common. For more information see www.fvleiden.org . That page has a more comprehensive link to other conditions at http://www.fvleiden.org/recently-diagnosed/what_test.html .
I too did not want to hear hit after hit of bad news, but if sometime you would like me to share the coping experience I would be glad to do so.