Hi,
My ankle was huge as was my foot. I could hardly get my shoe on to go to the emergency room last November. The same thing happened with my first clot ten years ago. Had it not been for the swollen ankle, I might have just thought I'd pulled a calf muscle. The swelling alerted me to the possibility that it was another clot.

Hi Brooklin,

How long did it take for the swelling to go down?

Thx!

My swelling is better, but not normal. I was diagnosed February 8, but misdiagnosed since January 12. My clot is groin-knee. Without compression stockings I am sure it would still swell quite a bit. HTH.

Iris,

Are you wearing the stockings during the day only or at night too?

Thx!

I wear my stockings during the day only. I elevate my leg in the evening and at night if needed.

Thanks for the feedback!

You should only wear them during the day.

How much swelling are we talking? Like your ankle is completely disproportionate to your foot and calf? Because some swelling is expected, particularly the more active you become.

I think elevating your legs as much as you can is going to help with that.

I was able to walk to the ER with the swollen ankle and foot. Our local ER is about a 15 minute walk. I was able to squeeze my swollen foot into my shoe but the swelling was literally spilling out over the top of my foot.
The swelling probably took a week to subside to almost normal. This clot was not as extensive as clot #1 so the swelling went down much faster. Four months later I have no swelling whatsoever but already starting to see patches of discoloration springing up on my leg.

A lot of it depends on how much damage was done. My first DVT was 16 years ago, and the swelling in my ankle and foot has never gone down. Then again, I have PTS in the leg, so that probably has a lot to do with it. I have a lot of damage in the ankle and foot because of the thrombolysis they did.

I really appreciate the info here.......it is a bit concerning to me that when I wake up the swelling is not bad but by the time I go to bed it is 2 times the size......very painful to walk. I have pain in my calf but Dr is not worried so I guess I shouldn't be......right? Ima wimp! LoL.

My PTS is the same exact way. It's even worse when I don't get a good night's sleep. Check with your doctor, though. I have a prescription for Tramadol that I keep around for when it gets bad (which is way more often than I'd like, lol).

It's way too early to determine if you have PTS. Swelling is very normal. It's unpleasant and painful, but usually par for the course. Elevate, elevate, elevate.

Rmb, Your post there reminds me of my basketball coach 30 yrs ago.......elevate! Elevate! Guess that was before he would have been able to watch the White Guys Can't Jump movie! LoL

Ha ha! I had a coach who always said "get the lead out." That was over 30 years ago and I still can see him in my face yelling that at me. Hated it then, but it served me well in life later. So see, your coach was on to something.

Seriously it makes sense that you have swelling by the end of the day.

Also the pain from my DVT was worse after actual diagnosis, and it was insanely painful. My doc gave me some pain meds to take as needed as well. I took Darvocet. Doesn't kill the pain all together, but it did take the edge off when the pain got really bad.