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.
Im 49 year old man who WAS very active in weight lifting, jogging & playing basketball. But I'll that came to Halt on May 30th of this year. The day after Memorial day I started feeling sick like I had pneumonia. I figured I had pneumonia because I had it twice before. So I made an doctors appointment just to be safe. I seen the doctor that Thursday and I did some blood test & she listen to my lungs and she said it doesn't sound like you have pneumonia but still take some antibiotics & get a chest x-ray. Got the medicine but I didn't take the x-ray because I didn't have time. That Thursday night I went to the gym and I started working out and all of a sudden It was hard breathe, I couldn't finish my routine without breathing heavily. I was doing steps up on a bench holding 35lb DB's and I just did 20 reps 3 days before, but now I can only do 6 reps without being out of breathe. I brushed it off thinking I was just tired. Got on the treadmill and usually I would do a run/walk for 12minutes, after 3 minutes I was breathing so hard like I just ran 100 yard dash at full speed. Again, I just brushed it off....I got back up the next morning to workout again, I started to warm up doing a light weight of squats, no problem...275lbs I got to 8 reps and I had to lay down, I couldn't catch my breathe & I can actually see my heart beating thru my chest because it was beating so fast. So I pushed my self thru the workout, Deadlifts, shoulder press, etc. I commute to work so I catch the bus and then walk a 1/2 mile to work and then up four flights of stairs. I got to the 4th floor and I was breathing harder than I was at the gym earlier that morning. I had to sit down so I could catch my breathe. Made it through they day and I finally got home. Took a nap, woke to use the bathroom and I had to cough and when I did I spit up a 'blood clot' Im like WTF?! Im still thinking its just the pneumonia. Told my wife she said you better go to the doctor and me being stubborn said, Im cool. I coughed up another blood clot later that night and again the next day at work. So I decided to go to the Emergency room. I was there for about 3 hours taking blood test, CT scans, EKG....nurse came in and closed the curtain and said...Your not leaving here tonight. I said why and she said the doctor will be in to tell you. He came and said, sir you have a 'Pulmonary Embolism', I said a WHO? My wife looked and started crying. Im like what is that? Doctor explained that if I would've waited another a day or two it could've killed me. Im still in shock because I didn't know it was that serious. He ask if I have been flying across country or taking long drives, any surgeries lately? Im like no. Any swelling in my legs & arms and I said no. I told them im working out 4-6 times a week. All the dr's are puzzled on why/how this could have happened. SO I had to stay the night in the hospital and Im now on Xarelto. Im been in & out depression because of this, I cant workout, I cant play basketball, its depressing...but I am ALIVE! I just seen a Blood Specialist on Friday to give some blood for some testing. Most of them came back normal but Im still waiting for the 'Factor V Leiden' results to make sure its not genetic. Today I plan on going to the gym just to see how I feel with a light workout, nothing near what I was doing 2 1/2 weeks ago. I walked the 1/2 mile to work and finished it off with the 4 flights of stairs. A little outta breath but nothing like it was 2 wks ago. I now sit and read about 'PE' everyday so I can understand more about this. I found out it kills more people than AIDS a year! Every person that Ive told tells me, 'Man your a very Lucky to be alive'... I hope I didn't write to much...
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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.
LUPUS ANTICOAGULANT Not Detected SEE NOTE
Note
A Lupus Anticoagulant is NOT DETECTED.
Common causes for a prolonged screen and negative confirmatory test
include factor deficiencies or interfering substances such as
coumadin.
FACTOR II ACTIVITY Neg Neg
NEGATIVE FOR G20210A MUTATION
DNA testing indicates this individual is negative for the Factor II,
Prothrombin G20210A polymorphism.
FACTOR V ACTIVITY Neg Neg
NEGATIVE FOR 1691G>A (R506Q) MUTATION
DNA testing indicates this individual is negative for the 1691G>A (R506Q)
polymorphism in the Factor V gene.
Hand in there- this whole situation will mess with your head. Take it easy and don't rush too much. Best to you!
I, like yourself, am a regular gym user. I do weights three times a week (well, did) and run every day almost, between 5k to 10k.
I was running one morning and found after 3k I was completely out of breath. Like my legs wouldn't take me another lap (I was indoors at my local gym as it was raining... I hate running in the rain). I came home and fell asleep for two hours, woke up and it felt like I had fallen asleep on a brick and my side ached. It got worse until my housemate took me to hospital at 3am, about 12 hours later (I stupidly assumed I was badly winded or had pulled a muscle until I found I couldn't walk or talk).
So, like you I had a PE and had no idea what it was. The Doctors couldn't work out what had caused it - no long flights, healthy lifestyle, and 36 at the time.
My GP, however, was outstanding with her research. She found out that running may have been the cause. I wasn't hydrating myself enough when running and only drinking protein shakes with milk. My blood was then thickening due to sweating and we think this led to the clot.
That was on April 9th 2015. I still can't do weights or play football (soccer) - it's driving me up the wall. My housemates have been very cool but I won't lie, it is really tough, so I get it man.
I started running again two weeks ago simply because I had to do something. I only started off by doing 2k runs every other day for the first week, I managed a 3k at the weekend and did my first 5k today, which will be my limit until November. It's not great, but it helps. The biggest change is I am only drinking water when running. My times are terrible - from doing a 5k in 276 to 27 mins now it is taking me 35 to 40 mins. But it is getting easier.
We are lucky to be alive, and for that I am sure you are as grateful as I.
I don't know how you manage your fluids when working out, but I am no longer having shakes with milk after and will only drink water before, during (lots of, regardless of how much more difficult it makes the running... which to be fair is now a slow run) - but due to the similarities I thought it might be worth mentioning.
I really hope you get back to your basketball soon.
Looks like a lot have had their first recently. including myself on June 30. I rode 20 miles on my mountain bike the day before. Go figure eh?
rickb3, how are you doing now??