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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Did Too Much

Lynnedz56
Lynnedz56
After cleaning the entire apartment and cooking Thanksgiving dinner and feeling so good, I continued doing things the rest of the week. Sunday night while changing the sheets on the bed, I got a twinge in my back. By yesterday I had intense pain in my upper back and coming around the front. I finally called the doctor and she asked me what part of "take it easy" did I not understand. She said you don't go from resting to cleaning the entire apartment. And believe it or not, changing sheets is very intensive according to her. Oh...and taking clothes out of the dryer. Anyway, I have paid for it with 2 crappy days. Feeling pretty good tonight; but I hope I've learned my lesson. I'm at 5 weeks now and went from zero to sixty. I see her next week and am hopeful I can at least go back to work by Sunday part-time.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Oh yes! I remember that! The first thing I did was help clean a rental house a month later and I paid for it big time! My experience was 2 years ago and I was attending college at the time...I went back to school 4 days after being released from the hospital...no one told me not to! Big mistake I was back in the hospital that night from so much pain! Take it easy!!!! It will pay off in the long run!
deleted_user
deleted_user
I hear ya Lynn, that's what set me down 2 weeks after my PE (went back to work and tried to be 100% normal) which also landed me back in the ER, and then 2 mo after when I tried to up my workout (another ER trip). It's hard to not want to get back to "normal" when you feel like you can, but I'm trying to take baby steps. I'm back to running again, and even though I feel good (great even!) I'm only allowing myself to add one minute per day. By the end of the month I could be back up to 30 min running, which would be almost my normal time, so that's pretty good! But I realized I can't go from 5 min to 15 in 2 days. So, with everything, in moderation :-)
Glad you're feeling better.
KS
TossNTurn
TossNTurn
Yep, I did this too. Was back to work six hours and day and one day jogged across my workplace to get back to a customer. Two hours later I was in pain and just exhausted. My boss said I looked like I was going to pass out and sent me home. Spent two days on the couch recovering!

Everyone can say "take it easy" but it isn't until you experience the pain and/or fatigue that you start to understand why. Hang in there!
deleted_user
deleted_user
I am catching up on all the topics here and wanted to comment even though this isn't one of the most recent. The night I came home from the hospital I cleaned my entire house because it was horrible from not being able to do anything for a month before. I felt pretty good the next day but took it easy for a few days after. I started back to work in 3 days, but I have a desk job, computer graphics so its not that taxing. The docs said I had no restrictions so I thought I should just try and go back to normal. For anyone new that was told the same...You cannot expect to go back to normal..I found out the hard way. It is very easy to overdo and we are by no means wusses. And yeah, taking clothes out of the dryer is very difficult as is changing the sheets on the bed! Good luck on going back to work Lynne :)
deleted_user
deleted_user
I am also experiencing the same "overdoing it then paying for it" issues. I am at 5 1/2 weeks after a thrombolysis procedure for DVT (full clotting from pelvis to toes) and a small PE. Is there anyone out there who can give me a sense of how long it takes to get back to "normal"? Perhaps someone who is at least at 3 months +? I am considering going back to work part time, but am still at the point where a shopping trip for an hour and a half sets me back for a day or two. Thanks!