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.
Had a fun trip to the ER this morning. I have a home tester for my INR and I usually test on Monday morning. This morning I tested and my INR was "more than" 8.0 (apparently, it only measures up to 8.0). So, I chugged some V8 and headed for the ER. They measured my INR at 7.8, so still way too high. A nice Vitamin K pill and holding my dose, and I'm back home again.
Just a warning for folks... I just got over the flu. A week ago, I still had a fever and I was eating very little food and was dehydrated (despite my best efforts). When I tested last week, I was at 2.2, so my INR went up FAST, even though I've been starting to eat more normal portions. The general consensus is that the flu affected my INR drastically, as I didn't take any other new meds, other than cough syrup with codeine (which shouldn't have affected my INR). Next time I have the flu (fingers crossed that won't be for years), I will be testing every few days to keep an eye on my INR.
So, just a thought for everyone out there ... if you are really sick, it might be a good idea to get tested sooner than usual (as soon as you're not contagious), just to keep an eye on things. I was really surprised my numbers were so high, but I'll know better next time. At least we found it, and I got treated, and I'll be fine.
Just a warning for folks... I just got over the flu. A week ago, I still had a fever and I was eating very little food and was dehydrated (despite my best efforts). When I tested last week, I was at 2.2, so my INR went up FAST, even though I've been starting to eat more normal portions. The general consensus is that the flu affected my INR drastically, as I didn't take any other new meds, other than cough syrup with codeine (which shouldn't have affected my INR). Next time I have the flu (fingers crossed that won't be for years), I will be testing every few days to keep an eye on my INR.
So, just a thought for everyone out there ... if you are really sick, it might be a good idea to get tested sooner than usual (as soon as you're not contagious), just to keep an eye on things. I was really surprised my numbers were so high, but I'll know better next time. At least we found it, and I got treated, and I'll be fine.
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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.
One thing I've noticed with my INR is that the amount of food I eat has far more affect on my INR than the types of food I eat. When I'm seriously dieting, it has a pretty big impact on my INR. A doctor explained it to me and it makes sense: when you're not eating a lot, you're also not taking in a lot of vitamin k so you're almost vitamin K deficient at that point.
I had the same thought as you mentioned and I tested a day early last week, just because I was in the throes of the flu and eating practically nothing. I was at 2.2, so I just put it out of my mind until this morning. The doc at the ER said it might have taken a few days for the full impact of the "little to no food" diet to kick in, which makes some sense. I wish I'd tested mid-week; I definitely would have if I'd had any idea how much impact I was going to see.