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.
It's been close to four months since my diagnosis. I had some blood tests done this past week: D-dimer and other blood work. Everything came back Great!! That was a major hurdle for me. Actually, my Hematologist is thinking that I can possibly go off the warfarin in May (seven months after diagnosis), but I'm thinking to stay on it. I say this because I have factor V Leiden I. The Dr. said that because I also had some bad Vitamin B deficiencies plus the Factor V, this could have been the perfect storm for my clots to develop.
Indwen
Indwen
Did the doctor tell you if you were homozgyous or heterozygous for FVL? Reason I ask is one has a low risk factor where the other one is high risk for development of clot.
Also, in reference to the Vitamin B deficiency, normally that has little to do with clotting. the caveat to that is often people who have a Vitamin B deficiency also have a condition known at MTHFR. People who are MTHFR homozygous often have another associated condition which causes the increase of homocysteine in the blood stream. Elevated levels of homocysteine are known to increase the risk of clotting. Prior to 2005, the medical community believed that lowering homocysteine levels through vitamin therapy (Folic Acid, B12 and B6) greatly reduced the risks. In 2005, the latest research found that people who are prone to elevated homocysteine did not benefit from vitamin therapy since it did not reduce the risk of clotting (at least based on current studies that is). The medical community is often like a pendulum and often what is believed to have no benefits is found during a later study to have benefit. For right now, current research shows little value in lowering homocysteine levels.
I have the Factor V Leiden I mutation (heterozygous).
Indwen