Yes. You could have a bit of PTS, which usually doesn't reveal itself until well after the initial DVT. I don't know for sure if it's PTS but just that it's not unusual. I have PTS and it wasn't diagnosed until 18 months after my FVT diagnosis. I have weird pain and cramps and what not all the time in my leg. My DVT was 7 years ago.

Ok, while I don't necessarily want that to be the case, that does make me a feel a bit better about it....It just seemed really odd and coincidental that the pains have started at the end of the Coumadin treatment.. makes me wonder if I should just go back on.. Guess Ill find out more at 4:00 today!

So I saw the hematologist today, and they are running the d dimer, protein c and protein s that they ran when I first went into the hospital. She said that the c and s could have presented as a false reading while the active clotting was oxcurring. She also wants me to go get a doppler ultrasound on both legs, independent of what the d dimer shows. She said that due to the cramping it is best to get it assessed because even if the d dimer is low, the only real way to determine if there is a new clot would be through the imaging

Does that give you some piece of mind?

Yes, but I thought the d dimer would have been sufficient. I guess this kind of ties in with the whole discussion under the title "ultrasound or not ".

If I have to go back on the bloodthinner, would they just start me off on coumadin, or would they start with Lovenox until the coumdadim got to the right range?

When I went off warfarin and got another DVT, I was on Lovenox until my INR got close to being in range with warfarin. But your doc will sort the out with you if it comes to that. She may want the ultrasound to rule out a DVT so she can diagnose with PTS. That's what my doc did when I started having PTS symptoms.

I'm actually glad they're doing the ultrasounds, just to be sure. I've had doctors go both ways, check the d-dimer first to see where it is, and also go straight to ultrasound. In fact, I've had the same doctor go different directions with that, and I don't know what his criteria was, but when he just checked my d-dimer, it was normal, but then another time he went straight for the ultrasound and I did have a new clot in my "good" leg that time.

And for the record, I do consider this a different situation than the 'ultrasound or not' topic. That's talking about whether to get a routine, follow-up, just for the heck of knowing exactly what's there ultrasound. Your situation is that you have new pain you haven't been experiencing, so I consider that a different situation entirely.

If you do have to start warfarin again, they'll almost definitely start you with lovenox too. Starting warfarin can cause an odd side effect of making your blood clot too much, until you're therapeutic, and the lovenox prevents that problem from happening. I too had initially thought since I had been safely on warfarin before I wouldn't need to do the shots, but I actually was off and back on warfarin twice after my initial DVT, and each time I started again, I had to take the shots also until I got to therapeutic levels.

I hope everything is okay, though, and this is just some kind of weird, errant, temporary pain. Let us know what you find out, though.

Right. I think any new on going pain needs to be addressed somehow, whether it's a d dimer, a scan, etc. But just doing a second ultrasound when there's no obvious reason for it seems completely irrational to me. I feel the same way about any medical test.

God knows I make friends wherever I go with my opinions, ha ha!

Let us know what happens, ok?

Thanks for the follow ups. The soonest they could get me in for the ultrasound is Friday, so Ill let everyone know. She also took the blood so I should probably know 2hat the d dimer is beforehand.

Sounds like they are being ultra careful, which is nice. When I had leg pain several months after the clot (still do) they also did both a d-dimer and an ultrasound. Weirdly, my HMO has a policy to only ultrasound deep veins, so they won't ultrasound your calves. Because my pain was very specific, the tech went against protocol and did an ultrasound on the calf I was complaining about and found 3 clots in superficial vessels. The d-dimer test was negative, so I did have clots that the d dimer test didn't pick up, but they were probably formed during my original clotting event (this was about 8 weeks later when they ran this test) and were already being taken care of by the Warfarin. I will be interested to hear your test results.

Ok, so they did call and let me know the d dimer is "normal", so that gives me a bit of reassurance before the US tomorrow....cant wait for the gel and the awkward, really hard pressing around my crotch! (Jk)

Done with the doppler US today, I guess no major clots uncovered as they didnt rush me into the er like February 2014...so that's good news. Next follow up with hema on 3-30.

Yeah, with my second DVT, the tech had the radiologist review my scan while there and confirmed the clot. They called my doc right away and she had me go through the ER for a CT scan because of my PE history, so I think had there been anything alarming, they would have let you know then and there. So this is very good news for you between that and the d dimer.