Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) Support Group
Deep-vein thrombosis, also known as deep-venous thrombosis or DVT, is the formation of a blood clot ("thrombus") in a deep vein. It can be caused by something preventing blood from circulating or clotting normally. Join the support group if you are coping with DVT and find others who are going through the same challenges.
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this group - have been on several others for some time now. I have been very ill recently and one complication I've come up with is a blood clot in my right upper arm probably from having a PICC line there. It is causing a lot of pain in the entire arm from the wrist to the armpit. The clot itself is in the basillic vein I believe. My doctor didn't do much initially, but she finally consulted a vascular surgeon and they got me on lovenox. She doesn't seem overly comfortable treating this and I'm worried about that. I rest it, heat it, elevate it when I can. Any use of the arm really hurts. My veins into the lower arm are all hard, like cords, very tender to touch, and full of knots, some of them quite big. I have been researching this condition and treatment and it seems there is no clear guideline on it for the upper extremity. One of my major concerns is how much should I be doing, or not doing, with the arm? I really need to get back to work. I have been off work going on 6 weeks now with this illness and I have no income. I don't know if this arm needs to be rested, if I should just plow through it and go to work, or what. Does anyone have any feeling for that? I have no idea how long I should be off work for something like this? Its bad enough with my other issues trying to get back to work. Any help would be appreciated.
I'm new to this group - have been on several others for some time now. I have been very ill recently and one complication I've come up with is a blood clot in my right upper arm probably from having a PICC line there. It is causing a lot of pain in the entire arm from the wrist to the armpit. The clot itself is in the basillic vein I believe. My doctor didn't do much initially, but she finally consulted a vascular surgeon and they got me on lovenox. She doesn't seem overly comfortable treating this and I'm worried about that. I rest it, heat it, elevate it when I can. Any use of the arm really hurts. My veins into the lower arm are all hard, like cords, very tender to touch, and full of knots, some of them quite big. I have been researching this condition and treatment and it seems there is no clear guideline on it for the upper extremity. One of my major concerns is how much should I be doing, or not doing, with the arm? I really need to get back to work. I have been off work going on 6 weeks now with this illness and I have no income. I don't know if this arm needs to be rested, if I should just plow through it and go to work, or what. Does anyone have any feeling for that? I have no idea how long I should be off work for something like this? Its bad enough with my other issues trying to get back to work. Any help would be appreciated.
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Look at what my best friend did with my picture!
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We all have 24 hours in a day. How we spend these hours is important. Watching a little bit of a video about how sitting affects us made me aware of how much sitting and laying down I do. Gonna have to work on that.Your turn. Tell me another truth.
I also have clot affecting my right arm, the actual clot is in the vein below my clavical (collar bone). My diagnoses came at the end of October '09. I too have had a lot of pain & swelling with this, all the way from my fingers to my shoulder. It was so bad for the first few weeks my arm was a good a useless. I could not stand my arm to be touched at all it was just too painful. It has got gradually better with the help of some physiotherapy which I am sure hleped with my movement and swelling.
I got back to work after a week but then I have a desk job. I did have to adjust my desk, move my mouse to the left side (still can't use it on the right) etc to get by and I did have to type only one handed for a bit but I have got used to the new arrangement and I can now type 2 handed again. You don't say what your job is?
I found with my arm it is better to push it a little, going through what is painful for a while. I often suffer for it later but I find this helps more than keeping it still all the time. It is quite hard to balance between inactivity & movement with the resulting pain.
Do you have a compression sleeve? I found wearing one has really helped my arm.
Louise
Thanks for the reply. I am just beginning to deal with this clot issue. It is only a week old and my doctor is an infectious disease doctor and doesn't really want to deal with the issue. I think she is going to punt me back to my regular doctor for ongoing care for this.
I am a Nurse Practitioner and I work in a long term care facility. I run around and see patients all day and do a lot of writing/charting. It is not real strenuous on the arm, but definitely will put it to use. The pain has subsided some from last week. It was about unbearable then. Now I have to aggravate it to make it hurt enough to need any pain medicine. I don't have any compression sleeves or anything like that so far. My clot is in the upper arm and so far the swelling is not excessive but the lower arm and hand do puff up. If I hold my arm over my head, it helps drain the arm and the swelling goes down. I don't know what it will be like to try working with it.
How long have you had problems with the clot? Do you know what caused it? From what I'm reading on this, it is not something that is going to just get better and go away.
Vanyel
I got my clot 3 months ago but as yet we have no idea what cuased it. When I am off of the coumadin in another 3 months I have to ge blood tests done to try to figure it out. My pain and swelling has gradually got better as time goes by so it does improve.
From a personal point of view I found it good to go back to work, it helps to take my mind off things. It also got me moving as I don't think it is good to be lying around with blood issues going on :-)
I can kind of understand why your infectious diseases Dr would want to pass you on to another Dr, it is not her speciality and she will be way outside her comfort zone trating you. Could she refer youto a heamotologist instead?
Do consider a compression sleeve though, it really helped me especially when I went back to work.
Louise
You should follow up with a doc or find a regular doc to help you manage this. Even a general practioner or internist has some degree of understanding on what the protocol is for DVT treatment.