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.

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MASSIVE BLOOD CLOT IN INFERIOR VENA CAVA

mizkytee
mizkytee
MY FIANCE HAS A 10" BLOOD CLOT IN HIS INFERIOR VENA CAVA. HE WAS DIAGNOSED DUE TO AWFUL BACK PAIN ON THE SIDE OF THE CLOT. HE IS ON BLOOD THINNERS NOW BUT CONTINUES TO GET PAIN IN THE SAME AREA. IS THIS NORMAL? ALSO CAN HEATING PADS CAUSE BLOOD CLOTS?
deleted_user
deleted_user
Yes pain is normal, as docs for pain meds. No, heat packs can't cause this. Actually I found heat packs and hot water bottles soothing for my PE pain.
StephanoodleXD
StephanoodleXD
Pain is quite normal, as unfortunate as it is. I don't have it all of the time, but it's usually in my chest after a long day or after I just haven't stopped and rested for a while. Make sure that he gets plenty of rest and listen to the doctor(s) - only use the pain meds that they advise, as Advil and Tylenol can mess with the INR.

And as far as heating pads, I'm pretty sure that's impossible for a heating pad to cause a blood clot. Burns? Yes. Clots? Probably not. Genetic disorders, sedentary lifestyle, clotting after surgery, there are a bunch of reasons (as mine was from birth control pills), but heating pads... Don't think so.
TossNTurn
TossNTurn
The pain is very normal and can continue for quite a while. It's different for every patient because every clot is different. The blood thinners don't deal with pain, they just stop the clots from getting bigger while the body dissolves them.

I mean, here's the thing. Even if the clots disappeared five minutes after he was diagnosed, the damage they leave behind still has to heal. Some tissue was flooded with blood and oxygen and other tissue was starved of it. The heart has usually be working double-time to try to get blood past the clot. The whole body is hit hard when dealing with blood clots and you don't bounce back from that overnight.

If the pain is affecting him in very bad ways, it is a good time to check with the doc on pain meds. Some pain meds are also blood thinners (Advil and aspirin, particularly) so he shouldn't take just anything for the pain.

And, no, I've never heard of heating pads causing blood clots. I was told by my doctor to put light heat on my leg when I had a blood clot there.
mizkytee
mizkytee
THANK YOU GUYS FOR YOUR RESPONSES. IT SURE MAKES ME FEEL BETTER AND THEREFORE, I AM ABLE TO HELP HIM. I NEVER KNEW BLOOD CLOTS COULD IMPACT YOUR LIFE SO DEEPLY, SO I AM GLAD I FOUND YOU GUYS TO HELP US THROUGH IT. THANK YOU ANGELS!!!!