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.
I had a PE and DVT a year ago. I had about 11 clots total. I have been off Coumadin since November. No real cause of the clots, another than my tests came back low/normal Protein S. They believe that when I was on birth control, my numbers dipped into the deficient level, and then a long trip....
fast forward a year
2 weeks ago, I flew to Hawaii for a vacation. Its a 9 hour flight, but I took a layover, so it was broken up, 4 hours, and then 5. I had bulk head seating. I return on Monday, 10 days later, but then had to fly out Thursday for a business trip (2 hours there) and back on Friday.
A few days ago, i started having some leg cramping. Its different than before. This is more a muscle tightness, whereas before, I felt almost like sciatica but in my calves. I had the tightness more so in the morning but it lasted a few days.
Yesterday, I started having some shortness of breath. It has gotten slightly worse today. I have some upper back pain on the right side, where my lungs would be. Shallow breathing. I do have asthma which complicates things, but my rescue inhaler did not relive the symptoms. I feel like its much worse when I lay down versus stand up and walk around. But, the symptoms are so much different than when I had my PE before. Before, I had a severe (and I mean severe) pain that started my upper back and by the end of the day, it was around the front and traveled down to my lower lungs. It felt like I was being stabbed with a knife. If I lied down, i felt like was suffocating and the pain got worse.
Now, if i lie down, the symptoms do get worse.
I don't want to be an alarmist, but could a clot really develop and travel to my lungs in the 10 day time period?
fast forward a year
2 weeks ago, I flew to Hawaii for a vacation. Its a 9 hour flight, but I took a layover, so it was broken up, 4 hours, and then 5. I had bulk head seating. I return on Monday, 10 days later, but then had to fly out Thursday for a business trip (2 hours there) and back on Friday.
A few days ago, i started having some leg cramping. Its different than before. This is more a muscle tightness, whereas before, I felt almost like sciatica but in my calves. I had the tightness more so in the morning but it lasted a few days.
Yesterday, I started having some shortness of breath. It has gotten slightly worse today. I have some upper back pain on the right side, where my lungs would be. Shallow breathing. I do have asthma which complicates things, but my rescue inhaler did not relive the symptoms. I feel like its much worse when I lay down versus stand up and walk around. But, the symptoms are so much different than when I had my PE before. Before, I had a severe (and I mean severe) pain that started my upper back and by the end of the day, it was around the front and traveled down to my lower lungs. It felt like I was being stabbed with a knife. If I lied down, i felt like was suffocating and the pain got worse.
Now, if i lie down, the symptoms do get worse.
I don't want to be an alarmist, but could a clot really develop and travel to my lungs in the 10 day time period?
[When I had dogs and horses-----I had a 'fear' of 3 day week-ends because that seemed to be the only time the animals needed a vet---- who of course was 'unavailable'!!!]
It may not feel like your first clots, but that doesn't mean it isn't clots. With me, I had "minor" asthma attacks for about three weeks before being diagnosed with multiple bilateral PEs. My inhaler also did not help. The only symptom I had on diagnosis was severe SOB.
Please go get checked out.
It may not feel like your first clots, but that doesn't mean it isn't clots. With me, I had "minor" asthma attacks for about three weeks before being diagnosed with multiple bilateral PEs. My inhaler also did not help. The only symptom I had on diagnosis was severe SOB.
Please go get checked out.
With regard to how it feels in your lungs, I had a PE in each lung. My left had amazing pain while I felt nothing on the right hand side. So, obviously, it can vary a lot.
I'm with the others, and agree that you should have it checked out. If I were in your situation, I would head to the ER. I didn't go when I had DVT symptoms and I almost didn't go when I had the PE symptoms. I hope to never make choices like that again. I was also concerned about being an alarmist, but now I'm going to put my health first next time.
Hopefully they can clear up the symptoms you are feeling.
It might be time to be more aggressive with your asthma treatment. Are you seeing a specialist? If not, it might be time to try that. The PEs might have exacerbated things to the point that your old asthma treatment just isn't cutting it.
KS