Ditto what @rmb said. Ridiculous that you're supposed to sit on your keister for six months. I'd find another doc pronto.

And another ditto of what rmb and TossNTurn said

This advice of not doing any exercise for 6 months is based in old and outdated science. It has been shown in number of studies that excercise does not make any harm at all, and in fact, several studies have found excercise to be beneficial and does reduce DVT and/or PTS symptoms. Interestingly, it has never been shown that streneous excercise shortly after after anticoagulation treatment for DVT does cause PE. However, probably all doctors/scientists suggest to avoid streneous exercise shortly after DVT discovery and anticoagulation treatment, to play it safe.

In my opinion, I would think it would be safe for you to start exercising and dancing as much as you want to, but naturally you need to get this confirmed by a doctor that is hopefully more "up to date" on DVT matters than the one you got now. As a general advice, listen to your body and stop if you feel pain (but you probably know all that).

Too, wasn't part of the reason you may have clotted was because of bed rest? I mean, how counter-intuitive is that to tell you to sit around and elevate your leg. Yes, rest your leg. I mean, of course, especially if you're using it a lot or having swelling. But not all day for 6 months.

The only thing I can think of is that there's concern with the procedures you've had with your leg and maybe that's cause for his concern. I don't know. But if you've had other docs tell you it's ok to be active, I'd follow that line of thinking.

JaesFire,

Pg 23 of the following link will help answer some of the questions regarding physical activity:

http://files.www.clotconnect.org/DVT_and_PE.pdf

Another article regarding activity:

http://www.clotconnect.org/patients/faq-frequently-asked-questions/faq-when-can-i-resume-physical-activities

R/
Tom

Thanks all. It's really frustrating because everything I've read, and heard here, says that physical activity at this point is not only ok but beneficial. But they also say to 'consult with your doctor.' I've never had much trust in him anyway: he's good for providing referrals but not much else. He contributed to the death of my uncle and has misread reports several times. It's just that I never really needed to see him before and relied on my endocrinologist and gyno (unfortunately now retired) for care.

You're definitely not the first person to discover that their doctor is kind of lousy when push comes to shove. I've seen a lot of people on here switching doctors because the care they get with clotting is just substandard.

If you have a doctor that you DO like (like that endocrinologist), I would check with him/her first to see if they have recommendations for a new primary. A lot of my best docs were recommendations from other docs that I know and like. And, it always helps coordinate care if your doctors know each other. Sometimes you can just call the front desk and ask; some doctors offices just have lists of recommended providers that the receptionist can give you.

I've had the same problem with doctors. The dr. I did have was okay but I only had reason to see him once every few years. Now that I've needed him he really didn't do the job he needed to do. My endocrinologist didn't last long. I'm not into having an 8:00 appointment and sitting there for four hours. Like this hematologist I was referred to he had an attitude. This hematologist isn't going to last long with me but I found out what I needed to know so I will find a new one if needed.

I'm finding a lot of local doctors all have a different opinion about xarelto and how long to take it. From the hospital to the local dr offices. I was told nothing when they sent me home from the hospital. Just to take my meds and they didn't tell me that the dose needed to be changed at three weeks. So I had problems with that.

You have to do your research and if the answers you get don't make sense then look somewhere else. Except for the ER doctors I only saw one dr long enough to tell me my heart was okay and that was the end of drs while I was in the hospital. But I was only in the hospital for 48 hours.

I agree with Toss on asking a doc you like for a recommendation. I dumped my GP after a while because things were kind of going south with my warfarin management, and so I asked my GI doctor, who I'm crazy about, for a couple of recommendations. It worked out really well for me.

When I say "consult your doctor" is because Im not a doctor myself so I cannot provide you with some affirmative plan on what to do.

However, looking at the scientific literature (see links below), then there is a strong scientific support for exercise either being not harmful and in many cases actually beneficial. Whether you need to see another doctor to evaluate whether you can start exercising or not is your decision. A doctor will be able to evaluate what and how much exercise you can do with respect to your DVT symptoms. In the end, this is a bit of trial and error, where you listen to your body and stop if you find pain or unwanted symptoms. Purely, after looking at the literature, my view is you can do all exercise you want to as long you are not affecting your body. But then again, this is simply my opinion...

Here are some papers that I had downloaded some time ago on exercise and DVT. I can send you the Pdf of these if you want to if you supply me with an E-mail address. Many of these have demonstrated the benefits of exercise. By the way "ambulate" means "move about"..All of these recomend that patients with DVT should start with gentle exercising (early ambulation), e.g. like walking.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18691773
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14984299
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787576/

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0041603

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18078981
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16168890

Found few more, including papers concluding that the risk of PE was not increased after early ambulation, or that further studies were needed to verify that...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19898077
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17186396
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19078912
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18388030

The 'consult your doctor' thing wasn't aimed at you, Stefan (btw, thanks for the links)everyone and everything says the same thing. Sucks if you don't have a reliable one. I'll ask my endo if he has any suggestions for a new GP when I see him Monday.

The exercise ship has sailed in any caseand, as I said, it's making me feel better and I'm very conscious about taking it easy (well, easier).

You're doing the right thing by finding someone else. Hard to partner with a doc when you don't trust or respect them. Everything and everyone says to check with a doc first because there are general protocols but then individual situations where general protocols may not fit. But yeah, of your doc is a tool then you don't trust their judgement anyway.

Keep doing what your doing. Seems to be working for you.

Hi JadesFire

With respect to the 'consult your doctor' thing, then I was aware of that it was not directed to me. I was also aware that everybody else had mentioned that a confirmation by a doctor was needed. I guess I did not want to reply on the behalf of the other members on this forum. Perhaps I could have worded the sentence better :)


Good luck.....