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.
Just some various things I have been wondering about lately and figured this might be the best place to get some answers...
1) I thought I read from a few others that they felt like around the 4-5 week mark post-PE was the worst for them....like maybe they had a little set back around then. This is how I'm starting to feel being about 5 weeks out now. Have others felt this happened to them?
2) For those who are off blood thinners, did your doctor do any blood tests to test to see if the lowered oxygen levels in your body did damage to any other organs (liver, kidneys, etc.)? My GP mentioned this to me yesterday and of course it made me more anxious, so just wondering if that is normal practice or if he's just being overly precautious?
3) Does anyone know why exactly the different strange pains throughout your body happen after this? Especially in the same spot on your leg where you had a DVT? It's very unnerving to me when this happens, so I thought maybe if I understood why it was happening it would make me feel better.
4) I seem to get a headache if I eat too much salt (like a bowl of tortilla chips)....this never happened to me before so I'm thinking it could be due to being on blood thinners (Xeralto) even though there are no food restrictions with this med. Just wondering if anyone else found something like this to happen to them?
5) Does anyone else have overwhelming feelings of vulnerability like I do? I just feel so helpless sometimes, especially when I have a hard time just doing every day things like laundry, talking to someone, walking and i feel so weak and vulnerable like I wouldn't even be able to help myself if something happened to me. It's awful and scary to think about. I think that's what kind of leads to all the panicking for me.
That's all for now, I'm sure there will be more.
1) I thought I read from a few others that they felt like around the 4-5 week mark post-PE was the worst for them....like maybe they had a little set back around then. This is how I'm starting to feel being about 5 weeks out now. Have others felt this happened to them?
2) For those who are off blood thinners, did your doctor do any blood tests to test to see if the lowered oxygen levels in your body did damage to any other organs (liver, kidneys, etc.)? My GP mentioned this to me yesterday and of course it made me more anxious, so just wondering if that is normal practice or if he's just being overly precautious?
3) Does anyone know why exactly the different strange pains throughout your body happen after this? Especially in the same spot on your leg where you had a DVT? It's very unnerving to me when this happens, so I thought maybe if I understood why it was happening it would make me feel better.
4) I seem to get a headache if I eat too much salt (like a bowl of tortilla chips)....this never happened to me before so I'm thinking it could be due to being on blood thinners (Xeralto) even though there are no food restrictions with this med. Just wondering if anyone else found something like this to happen to them?
5) Does anyone else have overwhelming feelings of vulnerability like I do? I just feel so helpless sometimes, especially when I have a hard time just doing every day things like laundry, talking to someone, walking and i feel so weak and vulnerable like I wouldn't even be able to help myself if something happened to me. It's awful and scary to think about. I think that's what kind of leads to all the panicking for me.
That's all for now, I'm sure there will be more.
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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.
1) I don't know if you've ever broken a bone but when I was a kid I broke my arm. Once it was set, I was fine. except then within a week or so, it would really hurt sometimes while it was still in the cast. That's because a) I was doing more with my arm and b) it was healing. I think it's the same with PE recovery.
2) I think this may be more related to taking Xarelto vs warfarin. It's a newer drug and so he may just want to be sure everything is normal. I wouldn't get to stressed out about it.
3) Because your body is healing from damage. Your body is creating collateral veins and is working to circulate blood. Healing can hurt.
4) Make sure you're staying hydrated. I would also check with your doc on this to make sure you blood pressure is ok.
5) You survived a life threatening condition so it's normal to feel vulnerable. It gets easier with time as you start getting back to your regular day to day life. You just have to focus on the fact that your PE was caught and you're being treated. You're going to be ok.
1) That makes sense...I didn't think of it that way, but probably the more I start doing again instead of just laying in a hospital bed and taking naps, the more I will feel it.
2) Yeah, that could be...because of me being on Xarelto. Huh. I'll have to ask him.
3) Wow, I had no idea that is what is going on! Very interesting.
4) I think i will ask my doctor about this salt thing...he did say it will take a few months probably for my BP to regulate and stay back down where it was before...I have always had pretty low BP. But that's a good idea just to mention this to him.
5) I guess I need to keep things in perspective. You're right, this was a very traumatic event, and I've never had something like this happen to me before, not even close. I just have to keep telling myself it will get better.
Thanks again!! Needed to hear all of this.
Distractions are good. Once you're start filing up your time and thoughts with other things, you'll find it's easier to keep things in perspective.