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.
Hello! I was just sent home after spending 4 nights in the hospital from multiple clots in both lungs. Tonight was my first night home and have been feeling lightheaded as I am trying to sleep. I feel like I have crazy anxiety now, but also my arm keeps almost falling asleep. Did anyone else have anxiety symptoms like that?
Backstory on my clots: I fell on ice and spiral fractured my tibia and fibula and ankle. I had a massive surgery to repair them and have been non weight bearing for a little more than 7 weeks now. I felt calf pain and spoke with my dr office, but it had been so long since my surgery we were less concerned and took it as healing pain and from being in my boot. Then I woke up to use the restroom and couldn't breathe and nearly fainted. It really scared me. Especially since I had already fainted once in the restroom after surgery and found myself in the hospital. So I waited to see my dr. Later that day and told him what was going on. My heart was racing and I couldn't breathe. He sent me over to the ER where they found an excessive amount of clots in both lungs and some were rather large. My heart looked good they said and just started on the blood thinner. They kept me four nights and sent me home only on the blood thinners. I am still currently non weight bearing on my leg and my heart races everytime I have to get up. I have never really had anxiety before and now I am just so scared. So I found this group hoping to have some reassurance and ask some questions.
So if anyone is willing to answer some.
Are the symptoms of anxiety common?
Numbness and light headedness is that a symptom of anxiety?
Should I be sleeping in an incline or did anyone seem to do better with symptoms by sleeping up some?
Any coping techniques you want to share?
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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 would try to just stay present, stay hydrated, find distractions etc.
From my experience the anxiety has been throughout and something I have luckily never experienced before but I've had to learn to deal with it and not let my mind take over
When I initially got discharged from hospital I was having to sleep on the sofa for 6 weeks as the pain was just unbearable laying down. I guess this differs from person to person but if the pain is too much then just listen to your body and make yourself comfortable
In terms of to cope with it, i'm still experiencing my pain/discomfort 8 months on, no where near as bad as the start but things do get better, just seems to be at a very slow pace. I've struggled throughout but one thing that's helped me is light yoga/meditation/relaxation and just let your mind be still. Sounds silly but it really helped me bring my anxious racing mind back to where it needs to be
I hope things get better for you, and please message me if you have any other concerns, i wish i had found this forum sooner the people here are great!
The dr diagnosed me with panic attacks. I didn’t believe it either bc I’ve never had anxiety. I still have all the symptoms except I haven’t contracted since. I’ve only taken the anxiety medication once because it makes me feel stoned.
So perhaps it’s panic attacks? According to my dr, the stress your body has gone through is enough to trigger a new disorder such as a panic attack. Best of luck to you!