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.
There is so much useful information to be found from fellow PE survivors on this site - thank you everyone! Can anyone give me insight as to what I should expect in my recovery from a lung infarction? I am told I have two areas in my right lung that were most impacted by my bilateral PEs. The pain was worst several days into my hospital stay, then became less acute, and 4 weeks out has returned with force and a fever. I understand the location - at the bottom of my right lobe and against my lung lining - is the reason for much of the pain, and that a "moderate level" of additional fluid has appeared there due to inflammation. The pain is currently in my lower lung area and shooting up my right shoulder and into my neck.
My biggest question, is the presence of this pain an indicator that I need to reverse my slow progerssion towards being more active and do less? rest more? or will the pain occur no matter how active I am? I am doing my best to transition back to work part time as staying at home is doing little for my mood! At the same time, if doing nothing is helpful to the healing, I can commit to that a bit longer too.
Thanks!.
My biggest question, is the presence of this pain an indicator that I need to reverse my slow progerssion towards being more active and do less? rest more? or will the pain occur no matter how active I am? I am doing my best to transition back to work part time as staying at home is doing little for my mood! At the same time, if doing nothing is helpful to the healing, I can commit to that a bit longer too.
Thanks!.
I actually had no pain at all when diagnosed. I didn't get pain until about four weeks in when I was just pushing too hard to return to "normal" and wound up walloped with exhaustion and with a mild pain between my shoulder blades.
I mean the pain has never been more than about 3-4 on a scale of 1 to 10, but I never had it before PEs and I associate it only with pushing my lungs too much. I'm two and a half years out at this point and I still get that pain pop up every so often if I've been pushing myself really hard, hiking at altitude, or out in really hot/cold/humid weather.
In my experience, you take it easy when symptoms like this recur. A day or weekend watching a little more TV and doing fewer errands. I was usually find after giving myself a couple of days off and then going back to where I was.
Of course, everyone is a little different in how much they can push things and how long it'll take them to recover from that. You'll have to go through some trial and error to figure it out. Over time, though, the symptoms tend to subside and you have to do less and less "recovery" when you push things. It just takes time and you'll have to figure out what works for you.
i had bilateral PE,s in june this year and i had a lung infarction, so i know what you are going through, i still have the pain in the lower part of my lung and i still have to sleep sitting up as i can not lie down.
the pain is worse when i am tired, so take your time the recovery is really one day at a time and it does take a long time, i am 5 months down the road and i still feel ill, very tired and unwell and stressed too, but i am better than i was at the end of the 1st month. so just accept that the progress will come but it will be slow
love sharon
I just found out later from the paper work that I had bilateral infarction too, they did not told me.
1,5 year later, still feels weird when I'm on my back. No sharp pain, but uncomfortable, and bubbling sensation while breathing in.
But much much better than before. Still unbelievable how slow lungs can take to heal! But eventually you'll get better!
- Amy
I have days now where I get pain and fatigue. Not like it was back then but a dull ache and shortness of breath with incredible fatigue. It's usually when I've been pushing myself. and I have only recently had pneumonia.. that was painful and very worrying.
My last lot of lung function tests a couple of months ago, showed I have the lung capacity of a 70 year old! And was told I have "moderate" lunge damage. There are really good days and really bad days now. Hope this helps.