I am Factor V Leiden positive. Other than that, I have no idea why I actually developed a clot. I didn't even know that young people could get them until I got mine. I knew that they could be life threatening, but I thought it was because elderly people get them and they are so frail anyways. What a wake up!

JennyMay,

My first DVT and PE took place in 1992 while on active duty in the Navy. The cause of the DVT was never determined. In 1995, I had a second DVT; again cause wasn't determined. The Naval Doctors referred me to a physician at Harvard Medical School who diagnosed me with Factor V Leiden (Homozygous), MTHFR, and Hyperhomocysteine. These genetic/heredic disorders were responsible for my own clotting episode.

There are many contributing factors to the development of a DVT. Some are spontaneous, the cause is not determined. It is not sure whether this is a result of a underlying condition which hasn't been identified yet by the medical/scientific community or just a unusual episode.

Other risk factors:

Genetic Predisposition (thrombophilia)
Smoking
Obesity
Age
International Travel
Airplane Travel
Bed Rest
Surgery
Surgical Recovery
Injury Recovery
Pregnancy
Oral Contraceptives
Hormone Replacement Therapy
Sitting in one position for long periods
Cancer

The above are all risk factors which contribute to the possibility of development a clot whether you have a clotting disorder or not.

For those of us with a clotting disorders (thrombophilia), once you combine one of the other risk factors with our clotting disorder, the risk of development a blood clot increases. The clotting disorder, itself, is rarely the single cause for developing the blood clot (though there are expections dependent on which disorder you have), there usually is another risk factor associated which aggrevates our condition and leads to the DVT/PE:

Here are some links that may be helpful:

http://www.stoptheclot.org/learn_more/learn_more.htm

http://www.stoptheclot.org/learn_more/womens_health_faq.htm

Regards,
Tom in Connecticut

They thought my first DVT/PE was from birth control pill. But then I got another DVT in another location after going off warfarin. I don't have any genetic clotting issues.

I have ulcerative colitis and my GI said there's a possibility that having UC could have caused clots. But he's not 100% certain.

Mine was primarily from taking birth control pills and sitting in a car for 6 hours.

I have Lupus Anticoagulant, and was pregnant. I was prenant once before with no problems. The second time being pregnant, combined with long periods sitting in the car househunting was what did it.

Pam

I was taking Yaz...have tested negative for all clotting disorders as of yet, but will get even more tests done next week. There's probably some genetic factor for me as my mom had a PE, uncle a DVT, and grandma had some clotting issues.

Mine was caused by a problem with my IV PICC line.

Mine was caused by using Nuva Ring and then after the fact, discovering the family genetic history (mom had a DVT while on birth control, her father died of a PE, an aunt and several cousins that had blood issues). Genetic testing also showed that I am Factor V Leiden positive along with some other things that the can't identify yet so, I am on coumadin for life.

Mine was in my arm, and it was effort induced. Building and using my upper body muscles pinched my vein, which somehow causes clots.

So far the dr thinks my clotting was just due to my pregnancy. I did however find out after a few weeks that another one of my family members clotted while pregnant. So now I'm going for my first round of genetic testing on the 26th.

Jenny May
As a member of another DVT group, we have had many young members that have developed clots from the birth control pills - If you have had all the testing, it just may be because of the pill. Are you on coumadin now? Hopefully you have changed your birthcontrol - Best of luck.

Got mine from getting hit in the calf from a hockey puck..........ouch. Did some pretty good damage.

Got my PE 14 years ago from birth control... ortho 777. Do they even have that stuff now? Got my DVT now from??? I am still waiting for genetic tests to come back. Think they must have sent my blood to the best docs in ITALY or something! Takes forever!

My first DVT was when I was 20, after my daughter was born, this most recent one was attributed to being bedridden for several months after surgery complications but there is a strong family history of DVT/PE with my mother, Aunt and Grandmother all on my mothers side of the family. Waitn on the Factor V Leiden test results. Dr. told me that they can not run the others while I am on coumadin though. Does anyone know if this is true.

I am no longer on coumadin, I stopped in November 08. I had a doppler today to be certain the clot had dissolved and all looks good. So HOPEFULLY this will be the end of it. I will NEVER take the pill (or any similar contraception) again so I'm hoping and praying that this never happens again. Of course I'm at risk when I have babies, but that's where daily clexane comes into the picture