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.
Hey All, newest problem...feels like there is always something...lol. So I found out that apparently I have been "sub theraputic" for most of my time on warfarin. It seems that whenever I go to the hospital, for whatever reason, and they check my INR through a blood draw, it is always 1.6-1.7. Then in the 2-3 days it takes me to follow up with my doctor, he pricks my finger and uses the little INR machine and my INRs come up at 2.5-2.9. I always found this weird, but I let it go. I recently went to see a vascular surgeon and he recommended that instead of putting in filters (because I have recently gotten an SVT), I actually become theraputic. I asked him what he meant, and he pulled out my chart and explained the pattern he saw. I went to see my doctor yesterday for my normal INR check and he pricked my finger...INR perfect at 2.6. He then brought up what my vascular doctor said and he wrote a script for a standing order lab draw. He said he wants to compare the blood draw to finger prick. So about 2 hours after my finger prick, I went and had my labs drawn. I got my results this morning and my INR was 1.9. While I know 1.9 is still a lot more coagulated than 1, it still makes me uneasy to know that most of these past 6 months I have not been where I should be.
Anyway, that was more of a vent, sorry, my actual issue that I have been having is chest pain. For the past 3-4 days I have been having chest pains. They seem to start around the end of the night. Chest pain is something that I have really never experienced at all throughout my recovery. On Sunday, it will be my 6 month mark. I'll experience a shooting chest pain, then be ok for about a half hour, then feel another one. I know that, through reading previous posts, that some people feel chest pains, but I was just wondering if anyone has experienced them so far out from their initial diagnosis. Currently it is 11:30 AM and I have felt nothing, but by the end of the night, i'll be ready to hit up the ER. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
Anyway, that was more of a vent, sorry, my actual issue that I have been having is chest pain. For the past 3-4 days I have been having chest pains. They seem to start around the end of the night. Chest pain is something that I have really never experienced at all throughout my recovery. On Sunday, it will be my 6 month mark. I'll experience a shooting chest pain, then be ok for about a half hour, then feel another one. I know that, through reading previous posts, that some people feel chest pains, but I was just wondering if anyone has experienced them so far out from their initial diagnosis. Currently it is 11:30 AM and I have felt nothing, but by the end of the night, i'll be ready to hit up the ER. Any input would be greatly 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.
It's just a thought. I'm not dismissing all chest pain as anxiety related. I'm just saying that could be the culprit. If it's concerning, then get it checked out.
In the early days, I used to get a finger prick and my doc's machine was always goofed up. I do lab jabs now even still for that reason.
Also, make sure you mention it to you doctor, because some heart conditions can cause short bursts of pain that go away. Those conditions though wouldn't usually be so time consistent.
BTW, I get super anxious every single time I find out I've not been in therapeutic range. Every time. So rmb could be right about that. I'm not allowed to take my warfarin for the next 3 days and just the thought of not having that safety net has me about to jump out of my skin. I imagine I would be an emotional mess if I found out that I hadn't been therapeutic for that long and then had chest pains. You're already functioning better than I would be. Good luck.
Also, I already have acid refux, and the anxiety made it ten times worse.
That's not to say it's not possible, but no one here can say for sure, but we can say that it's not uncommon to have benign chest pain start or continue after your PE diagnosis.
I spent so much time in the ER after having my PE due to chest pains - but the Doctors were very understanding and concerned as well. Every time I went, they did a whole blood work up (d-dimer, and INR), EKG, etc. They told me not to hesitate going to get checked out - chest pains should all be checked. It would give you piece of mind to go and have the doctors take a look at you...better sfae than sorry.