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.
Hi all I'm new here, diagnosed with a saddlebag PE .. in hospital for 9 days and home for 10 ! I feel totally isolated and alone !! Terrified of every little twinge I get anywhere in my body ! On Apixaban.. I've read lots of your posts and they have given me some comfort,but I still worry that something terrible is about to happen ! I suppose it's early days for me yet and I can't work out why some days I feel better than others .. my husband seems to think I've just had a cold and just need to be thankful I'm still here and I should just get on with things !! Easier said than done ! I'm hoping that it's a matter of time and getting my confidence back and not thinking that every small niggle I feel somewhere is about to kill me .. I live in uk and there doesn't seem to be much back up or support once home from hospital ! I'm due a follow up heart scan in 3 months and a check on clot in 4 ! What happens in the meantime ? When do I go back to work, drive etc ?
I'm so sorry to ramble but I'm just ridiculously scared of everything
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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.
It takes some time to sort of get back to normal. If your doctor didn’t give you any specific restrictions, you probably have none. The usual advice is listen to your body, try to be active but start really slow. Rest as needed. My doc told me it was ok to go back to work if I felt up to it, because I had a desk job. So a lot of it depends on what you do. But you may want to ask your doctor, just for peace of mind on what you should do. I was in the hospital for 7 days and that alone really depleted my stamina, let alone the PE.
You spouse doesn't understand. He can’t, right? So I would try to not get too worked up about him not getting it. My spouse was the same way. They experienced our situation from a different side so they have their own perception and things to sort of get their heads around.
You’ll be ok. Try to manage the anxiety. For me that was the hard part. The body heals but the mind sort of gets lost in the equation a bit. The more I tried to start doing some things the more distracted I got which helped me not get in my head too much.
And to read of others experiences.
I just don’t like being afraid all the time.. however you are right about getting distracted.... we moved house while I was in hospital!! Terrible timing !! So I’m trying to get little bits sorted in the house and it does help a bit to not just be sitting here waiting for a twinge or too get out of breath !!!
Really do appreciate you replying thank you
We get kind of hyper vigilant about everything after a PE and so everything feels amplified. I had more chest pain and discomfort after I got home so it really messes with your head, feeling like you are not improving. But you are healing.
Hang in there!!
I seem to have a good day then a not so good day !!
You don't have to sit down though, it works well anywhere any time you need it
Body scan meditation can help when you are anxious as well. I did this quite a bit to help slow down my thoughts when I they were all consuming.
https://www.verywellmind.com/body-scan-meditation-why-and-how-3144782