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.
Hi everyone,
I know this topic has been brought up before on the forum, but I'm *once again* freaking out a bit, this time because I hit my head pretty hard on the edge of a kitchen cabinet when I raised myself up from scrubbing the floor. I didn't pass out or develop a big headache, but took myself to the ER right away. They didn't do a CT scan, saying all my neurological signs were good and a CT probably wouldn't pick anything up anyway. I wasn't very reassured because they sent me away saying they weren't worried, but to know that sometimes bleeding in brain can happen after hours, days or even weeks and to remain vigilant. Great. As if my anxiety wasn't bad enough. I was afraid to go to sleep last night, but managed ok, and woke up feeling pretty good. But I went out to start the day, and developed a feeling of heaviness/stiffness in my head, neck and jaw, and the familiar panic symptoms came back. I went to see another doctor who once again said all looked fine since I'm alert, not vomiting, speaking and responding normally etc, but once again he said anything could happen at any time! I'm going on a long train trip tomorrow and I'm scared to be in transit and far from my doctors and all. Do you guys think I'm being too paranoid? I know it's fairly rare for brain hemmorages to become apparent than 24 hours after the fact, and I'd imagine that since I'm on an anticoag, the symptoms might even show up earlier than usual. But I can't get it out of my head that in days, weeks even something awful might happen. I'm so vigilant that I'm getting myself really scared. Anyone experience this or have any advice? Should they have given me a CT scan anyway? Thanks so much again. I'm so glad I found this forum.
I know this topic has been brought up before on the forum, but I'm *once again* freaking out a bit, this time because I hit my head pretty hard on the edge of a kitchen cabinet when I raised myself up from scrubbing the floor. I didn't pass out or develop a big headache, but took myself to the ER right away. They didn't do a CT scan, saying all my neurological signs were good and a CT probably wouldn't pick anything up anyway. I wasn't very reassured because they sent me away saying they weren't worried, but to know that sometimes bleeding in brain can happen after hours, days or even weeks and to remain vigilant. Great. As if my anxiety wasn't bad enough. I was afraid to go to sleep last night, but managed ok, and woke up feeling pretty good. But I went out to start the day, and developed a feeling of heaviness/stiffness in my head, neck and jaw, and the familiar panic symptoms came back. I went to see another doctor who once again said all looked fine since I'm alert, not vomiting, speaking and responding normally etc, but once again he said anything could happen at any time! I'm going on a long train trip tomorrow and I'm scared to be in transit and far from my doctors and all. Do you guys think I'm being too paranoid? I know it's fairly rare for brain hemmorages to become apparent than 24 hours after the fact, and I'd imagine that since I'm on an anticoag, the symptoms might even show up earlier than usual. But I can't get it out of my head that in days, weeks even something awful might happen. I'm so vigilant that I'm getting myself really scared. Anyone experience this or have any advice? Should they have given me a CT scan anyway? Thanks so much again. I'm so glad I found this forum.
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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.
I've whacked myself several times with kitchen cabinets, car hatches, garage doors. I used to worry about that stuff a lot but the world is one big accident waiting to happen and if I spent all that time worrying, I'd make myself nuts. If you're still concerned call your doc of course, but really what else can you do, right, except keep an eye on it and try to trust your instincts, which I assume are telling you that you're probably ok.
Hyper vigilance is very common after a PE. I was like that at first too and it takes a while to learn to relax and sort out stuff. Not that a hit on the head isn't worth concern, but you'll get to a point where you don't feel so scared about everything.
I know it's not easy but try to relax and you will probably find the symptoms lessen.
Have you noticed how often you hurt yourself since your PE? Its mad isnt it!!!!
Take care and try to relax - you have done all you can x
rmb, you are so right, the extreme worrying after a PE gets better. I used to wear gloves when reading any thing because I kept getting paper cuts. Now I can care less and it has only been 3 months. I had meds to help me out with the anxiety:)
And Heidi, it is crazy at how much you get hurt after a PE. I think it is because we are so worried and try to be careful.
I hope you have fun on your trip, feel free to write if you need to vent!
Carrie