reoccurring chest pains are pretty normal after a PE and as long as you are therapeutic on your anticoagulants then more than likely your don't have to much to worry about as far as having another PE. I too had inflammation of the outer wall of my lungs (call pleurisy), and they can actually give you a steroid shot to help with the inflammation to help make that pain go away. It's also usually OK to take a couple of Tylenol but check with your doctor first. Myself I have a prescription for hydrocodone but prefer taking the Tylenol especially with me working.
Hope you get to feeling better soon.
Hugs
ferr

It is really hard to say how long pain from clots will last.

With my first DVT, it took about two years for my leg to feel 100% again. With my second DVT (caught much earlier than the fire), I felt 100% again after about a week.

When I got my PEs last year, my husband wanted to know how long it would take me to feel better. I was like, "Um ... somewhere between a week and two years?" I don't think that was the answer he was looking for!

Anyway, every clot is different and every patient is different. I'm about sixteen months out from my PEs and I still get some pain if it is humid or extremely hot or even really cold. At this point, I know that it is just my lungs working through it and I don't really worry about it. If it gets suddenly a lot worse or extreme, I'll head to the doc, but otherwise I just take a Tylenol and go on with life.

Best wishes!

I am a year out and still hurt a lot of the time. When it happened last May I thought, okay, when summer comes I'll be better. I thought the humidity made it worse. Then summer came and I thought, okay, once fall comes I'll be better. Convinced myself it was the heat..Anyway, I have now been through all 4 seasons and am still hurting. Mornings are the very worst. I wake up in severe pain. I have also realized that when we have ozone alert days, I am totally screwed. Overall, pain isnt as bad as it was when it first happened but it still gets bad.

I am on Tramadol for it. My doc was willing to give me something a bit stronger but I am afraid of the addiction factor. Yes, I am aware that you can get addicted to anything but, well, ya know what I mean....

It's been over 2 years now, since my PE. I have pain on and off almost every day. It's become a familiar pain, so it doesn't worry me like it used to. I just notice it, and accept it.

It's hurting right now, actually.

The pain factor seems to vary for everyone. I am 5 years out from my PE/DVT and my leg still hurts every now and again, sometimes to the point that I work myself up into an anxiety bout. I only get pain in my chest now when I have a chest cold. I have freaked myself out enough to warrant a call to my doc and she is great, she checks me out, listens to me rant, and if SHE feels it is necessary to calm me down, sends me for chest xray and ultrasound of my leg. I don't know if the pain ever stops. Like Ferr, I have a PRN for hydrocodone but I also prefer to take Tylenol when I am working. If I am home, and it is just that bad, then I will take that. Otherwise, Tylenol seems to help. My doc has told me that I will ALWAYS have flare up pains in my leg and that my chest will probably always hurt if I get a bad chest cold....just one of the side effects of PE's and DVT's. But I will deal with that any day than the alternative....good luck to you.

Iam six years out after PE's and i still get chest pain every naow and then.
Mostly when i exercise but nothing major.

Been to a pulmonary specialist and the lungs look clear although its quite likely i have scaring from it.
I had a clot fours days after knee surgery and 3 days after that major chest pain.
Me being me ignored it tell she made me go the next day...lol (high tolerance for pain and large degree of stupidity).
My doctor wasn't in and i saw the knew guy who said it was nothing..nurse suggested i go to the hospital though since she didn't agree with him.
I did got a xray and tech ran out of the room..next thing i know i got 6 doctors standing around me...lol.

Fortunately i am still here and back to working out with only minor issues.
Leg below the clot once or twice a year feels like its not removing the blood correctly ( minor value damage).

I would keep regular checkups and get checked for clot factors just for peace of mind.
I also had a pneumonia shot to prevent chest infections.

You may always have some degree of pain or it could fade out after some years.

Keep checkups going and if you think its something more go to the hospital since its always better safe then sorry.
Of course in my case if i walk by a hospital not they want to stick me in a cat-scan machine...lol.

Funny, I haven't had much chest pain (and never did have an identified DVT) but I have a ton of back pain. Mostly in the middle of my shoulder blades, and then extending underneath my right shoulder blade and down both sides of my back right "above" my lungs, if I get even a minor sinus cold. I'm 5 months out now, and no idea when or if the pain will ever go away. I think some pain is totally normal, Amy.

I'm in the same boat as many of you, and scared (I just had my first PE on Tuesday 6/21/11 this week). Thank you for your responses -- the thing that freaks me out the most is that I feel the pleurisy (pain in my chest) and think I'm having another PE. Your comments are reassuring me that these types of symptoms are normal and part of the recovery process. Amy, I too get strong chest pains every now and then, and feel better in the morning after sleeping. I'm on Lovenox and take 3-4 tylenol at different times during the day, if I feel too much inflammation in the lung. This may sound goofy to some of you, but I am also using a blue calcedony crystal (it's a little crystal I bought at an art fair 2 years ago, because I thought it was pretty - turns out if you believe in these things, the crystal corresponds to the lungs). I just put hte crystal on my chest/lungs where it hurts and repeat to myself that I'm strong, I am healing, and I love my lungs. Like I said, may sound goofy, but I have a lot of time on my hands now (am a teacher, off for the summer) and figured it can't hurt.

Hang in there!

Doesn't sound goofy to me at all. If it helps that is all that matters in my book.

I'm with you Barbara. If it is working for you, then stick with it!

Don't let things worry to much.
Not my first time coming close to finding out whats beyond all this.

Just take care of yourself and enjoy life.

Worrying about what may or may not happen is pointless and a great waste of ones life.
You could walk across the street and get hit by a beer truck tom or live to 99.
Of course they would also say it was the drink that killed you after the beer truck...lol..

I am about 3 weeks since I discovered I have PE and DVT.
I actually don't have as much chest pain anymore.
I have noticed I can't sleep on my left side though. That is where I had the most pain that brought me to the ER in the first place.
But I do have terrible lower back pain that does not want to go away.
I was told that was normal although I don't see how PE's in my lungs can make my back hurt.

Lots of nerves in that area are closely connected.

Swelling and damage cause pain in areas seemingly unrelated.
It also doesn't help that the body gone through a massive trauma and it changes how you use your body.

It should fade out after a month and nice hot baths help.

Bttfly--I have pain along my spine and shoulderblades when my lungs are being challenged in some way. Don't forget, everything in the body is connected. Take it easy and the back pain should fade.

I was having the same problem with pain and every little abnormal pain I had I would get really nervous that my PE was coming back. My pain lasted about 3 weeks. I was diagnosed on May 14th and was in the hospital until May 18th. I still have small pains every so often, but my doctor said that as long and I am within range on the Warfarin that I should be fine and that it will take a while for the pains to go away since my lungs were just tramatized.
Good Luck and hang in there..