Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
Hi all,
Its been a while since i posted on this forum.
Its now been 1.5 years since the PE/infarct/pneumonia combo. Despite no cause being found, i am to remain on Rivaroxaban for the long term.
It has been a journey filled with ups and down, lots of niggling pains and sensations which are gradually getting better.
Id say the real improvement came at the year mark.
However, i still occasionally suffer from severe fatigue and SOB sensations. (though the SOB sensation seem to be less of a problem, comes and goes every couple/three months, lasts a couple of weeks)....doctors have got no real explanation for the fatigue, have had all the pulmonary function tests and on going blood tests (in fact, i have been a little to closely watched by doctors!)
My question relates to the fatigue.....
What seems to be the trigger? Stress, over exertion and lack of sleep.
Since my P.E, i have needed a lot more sleep to feel "ok" whereas before i needed 6 hours, id say i need at least 8 every single day to feel ok...couple this with the fact that i have recently (7 weeks ago) started running, and have a demanding job, my energy levels can sometimes take a massive dip. With exercise i feel as though i need 9 hours sleep, and if i push myself too hard when running (say try and set a personal best for a 5km run), il feel tired no matter how much i sleep for a few days. My latest bout of fatigue seems to have been brought on by exercising, since i have not experienced it for months and months prior.
For those of you that are past this mark, is this normal this far out?
Its been a while since i posted on this forum.
Its now been 1.5 years since the PE/infarct/pneumonia combo. Despite no cause being found, i am to remain on Rivaroxaban for the long term.
It has been a journey filled with ups and down, lots of niggling pains and sensations which are gradually getting better.
Id say the real improvement came at the year mark.
However, i still occasionally suffer from severe fatigue and SOB sensations. (though the SOB sensation seem to be less of a problem, comes and goes every couple/three months, lasts a couple of weeks)....doctors have got no real explanation for the fatigue, have had all the pulmonary function tests and on going blood tests (in fact, i have been a little to closely watched by doctors!)
My question relates to the fatigue.....
What seems to be the trigger? Stress, over exertion and lack of sleep.
Since my P.E, i have needed a lot more sleep to feel "ok" whereas before i needed 6 hours, id say i need at least 8 every single day to feel ok...couple this with the fact that i have recently (7 weeks ago) started running, and have a demanding job, my energy levels can sometimes take a massive dip. With exercise i feel as though i need 9 hours sleep, and if i push myself too hard when running (say try and set a personal best for a 5km run), il feel tired no matter how much i sleep for a few days. My latest bout of fatigue seems to have been brought on by exercising, since i have not experienced it for months and months prior.
For those of you that are past this mark, is this normal this far out?
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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 wonder if for you it's the increases exercise and your lungs and body adjusting. It's easy lose conditioning after an illness so that may be part of it. I assume your heart has been checked at some point?
The only thing i can think of is the exercise.
The fatigue is not constant at the moment. It will come on gradually over a course of days As mentioned above it has come on in line with exercise, and prior to this didnt feel anything for around 4 months.
I.e. 2 weeks ago i pushed myself really hard when running. Didnt sleep properly either for a couple of days...started to feel rough for a couple of days.
This week, pushed myself very hard on monday, didnt sleep enough, yesterday and today feel very tired.
In your case, I imagine you're just pushing yourself and your body is pushing back. Can you be more gradual in ramping up on the running? It sounds like you're on a really big swing cycle ... push too hard... spend three days sleeping ... repeat. If there's any way to move slower on these things, it might result in less of a big swing.
Honestly, though, stress, overexertion, and lack of sleep will knock down even a completely healthy person with no history of PEs. I don't know that you can blame everything you're feeling on the PEs, even though they are certainly playing a factor in the SOB at least. I have a long history of insomnia and I can tell you that a few days with cruddy sleep is enough to make even the healthiest person feel like crap.
If possible, you might spend some time/energy trying to work on your stress and also think about increasing your workout with more moderation. You might be able to bring these big swings under control.
And I agree, that not getting good sleep for a good stretch is so taxing. I'm a light sleeper and a bit of an insomniac and there are times where I feel like complete crap for a few days if I'm having sleep problems.
It is also possible that this has nothing to do with the P.Es!