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.

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3 months out from PE - blood in cough mucus

tesssunny
tesssunny
Another new symptom to ask the group about.

I seem to have come down with a cold/flu-type bug the last few days. Feels a little like bronchitis. No fever, just feeling bleh.

Just took my first business trip last week since initial PE diagnosis in June, which ended up being a rather long train trip (4 hours one way; 5 hours the next day back). I'm on Xarelto I got up a few times, pumped my feet, moved my legs etc., as a precaution.

This morning, my chest mucus has blood in it.

I actually went to my new hematologist yesterday. She listened to my lungs and thought I was fine. She took a d-dimer blood test so I'll be able to check those results.

I plan to call her this morning when her office opens, but wondering if anyone has spit up blood 3 or more months after PE?
ShilosMommy
ShilosMommy
If you've been coughing a lot from your cold and it's a relatively small amount of blood, then the it is probably not really related to the PE itself, but more due to the blood thinners you're on, and I think most of us have had this happen when we've gotten sick. When we cough a lot, it's easy for small blood vessels to break; some blood gets caught up in the mucus and because of the thinners, there's just more of it than normally there would be. If what you're coughing up is light-colored and a little bit of bright red, my guess is that's all it is.

However, if what you're coughing up is dark colored and/or you have large amounts of blood you're coughing, then you should probably see the doctor.

Hope you feel better soon!
rmb
rmb
Yep, I agree with ShilosMommy that it's likely related to the anticoagulants than the PE.

Last week, I had little reddish streaks of blood in my mucus as well. I've had a chest cold that I can't shake and I'm doing a lot of coughing.
tesssunny
tesssunny
Thanks for your responses. I'm not coughing a lot, kind of dry-ish intermittent cough (like you are clearing your throat). Post-nasal drip with bloody globs/streaks that look bright red. Sometimes what comes out is perfectly clear.

Hema's nurse said that because my d-dimer from yesterday was negative (yay), and I don't have SOB, they want me to just monitor it and perhaps see a pulmonary specialist.

I feel lousy, but more like i have a virus/bug. Seeing the blood freaked me out though. First time after 3 months, but perhaps I've got some bronchial irritation going on. Chicken soup, OJ, tea for now. Thanks again for sharing your experiences.
tesssunny
tesssunny
If you don't mind me asking, how long did your blood in mucus situation last? My cough isn't that bad, but I'm still bringing up bloody in mucus late this afternoon.
rmb
rmb
A couple of days but not every time I coughed.
tesssunny
tesssunny
Thanks for the support. The blood was there again this morning, but seems to have stopped now after 3 days (thank goodness). It was kind of like having a nose bleed in reverse. The blood came out in the post-nasal drip mucus in my throat (not nostrils). Very strange. Hope I'm over this one now.
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