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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Hboyd 07/12/2016

Hi everyone, So glad I can acorss this forum. Saturday night I woke up with shortness of breath and some pain in my arm, it continues off and on for the rest of the day and I finally went to the ER. They did the ekg and it was fine, most tests came back fine, chest X-ray came back on but the blood test they do for blood clots did not come back ok. I then went for a ct scan and they said they found the tiniest clot on my lung. The did sonograms in my arms and legs and didn't find anything else, my echo came back good, all my Vidals were good. They had me stay overnight for observation and gave me a shot of lovenex and a cumadian pill. They released me the next day and sent me on my way with my shots to do twice a day for 5 days and my cumidan and appts daily to get my blood done. It's my first night at home and I am terrified to go to bed. I already suffer with panic attacks and I am scared I won't know the difference

TossNTurn 07/12/2016

Hi and welcome!

Well, if they didn't find any other clots, there shouldn't be anything else to travel and get stuck in your lungs. Also, once the clot is in your lungs, it doesn't have anywhere else to go. The blood vessels get so narrow there that only one blood cell at a time can get through, so a clot can't move.

It sounds like you have gotten great care so far. I'm glad that they diagnosed the clot as quickly as they did; for many people the diagnosis alone can be a struggle. In my experience a faster diagnosis tends to result in faster healing.

I will tell you that the mental recovery from PE can be a lot harder than the physical recovery. Make an appointment ASAP to go in and see whoever helps you with your panic attacks and make a plan. This might be a good time to really think about additional meds, meditation, journaling, or whatever else helps keep you calm. Make a plan for how to help yourself mentally ... don't just tough it out. This is definitely a good time to ask for extra support in this area.

Deep breath! You're going to be fine!

Baylady 07/14/2016

This seems to be what we all experience with PE's. I too was panicked when i left the hospital but quickly educated myself on what is to be expected. Blood clots and PE's are not are bad as they used to be because if caught early there is a good chance all is good. This site also was a god send for me and calmed me because there are people here that can give you their experiences. I'm sure if you ask family and friends you'll find quite a few who have had blood clots and/or PE's. My doctor told me that panicked and stress is is not good for recovery from blood clots. I agree with tossnturn, check with your doctor and see if you need an additional plan for the panick attacks.

Hboyd 07/14/2016

Thank you guys so much for the responses it's been so comforting to read them. I did reach out to my doctor for some help with my anxiety. Having these anxiety attacks makes the process seem worse because I get chest pains, short breath, fast heart beat and I don't know how to separate if it's anxiety or something wrong with the clot. So far all the doctors have said that it's very tiny and not in the main Lung but in one of the branches?

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