It really does take a while to get this kind of thing sorted out. What is a normal feeling? What is a bad feeling? What should take you to the ER and what shouldn't? It is really challenging.

The negative d-dimer is a really good sign. False positives are really common, but not so the false negatives.

Even if you don't really "have" your kids' cold, your body could still be fighting it off, which is why you could be feeling weird. Also, too, once the anxiety hits, it can really take some time for it to run its course and it can drive you nuts in the meantime.

If it is easy, it might be worth going into your doc and getting the once over. If you can spend a couple hours and wind up reassured that you really are doing OK, it would probably be time well spent.

Also, if it is anxiety, try the breathing exercise my asthma/allergy doc gave me. Once an hour, on the hour, take a deep breath, hold, let it out, hold. Repeat, but don't do more than twice to avoid a hyperventilation feeling. Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves that we're in control if we need to be.

Hang in there!

This issue is one of my least favorite things about life post-PE, the fact that you feel like you have to evaluate everything you feel out of the ordinary, when before we never gave it much thought if we got a pain here or there. Like Toss says, it takes awhile to get sorted out what is normal now, what we have to seek help for, etc. And that's hard, because quite literally, so many things do feel worse after PE, such as a stupid cold. I mean, a bad cold is always miserable to deal with, but before PE I didn't get pain in my chest every time I got a cold. Now, yeah, I pretty much do, for me (and I'm not saying it's the same for everyone) anything that makes me work harder to breathe causes me some increase in chest pain.

If it's any consolation, my family has been dealing with a cold also the past few weeks, and actually I was the first one to get sick, I spent one day feeling really terrible from it, but the next day I kind of felt alright. I didn't get as sick as I expected. Then my kids got sick, my mom got sick, and it's just like this cold is kind of strange. It's not letting go of us all that easily, and for about three weeks now, our family has been dealing with this cold. Because although I never got horrifically bad, I've had some irritation in my throat and sinuses, and it's like I'll feel better, then I'll feel worse again, and I've had some real stabs of lung pain on bad days while I'm dealing with this.

Now, I can't know if you're going through exactly the same thing or not, but I'm on warfarin for life so I'm quite confident I'm not experiencing clots. You are much earlier in recovery than I am, though, and recently off warfarin, so you may just for the sake of identifying what is normal and what isn't for YOU post-PE, want to see the doctor. I just made an appointment with my doctor far more often than I went to the ER, and for me that was a strategy that worked, and my doctor's office was always very kind and said that of course it made sense to be checked out when I didn't feel right, having been through what I had. Even if you decide to go to the doctor and it's a 'false alarm', don't consider it that, but rather just part of educating yourself about what is within the parameters of normal discomfort, pain and SOB for you now.

I hope you figure things out and start feeling better soon!

After posting here, obsessing some more, talking my husbands ear off, crying a bit and taking an ativan, I went in to be seen at my regular doctor. Thank god for Sunday hours! She was very nice and understanding. They did a d-dimer and also a liver enzyme test (at the same time that they found the blood clots they also found out I had an active case of mono). Double whammy. So we're checking it all out to give me peace of mind. My o2, heart rate, pulse were all great - but that wasn't a surprise - it was fine when I had my PEs.

You guys are so great. And you're right, figuring out what is normal has been the name of the game for the last year. I'm actually going to look into getting into therapy to have someone who is paid to deal with my anxiety about all of this. The poor person!

My doctor will call me tonight with the results.

Sounds like you did the right thing! Seriously, with this visit under your belt, it'll just give you more data for figuring out what is "normal" for the future. Every little bit of data helps us get through this and helps us figure it out.

Hope your test results look good!

I was a MESS right around the time of my first clotiversary. I constantly felt like I was having trouble breathing, anxiety was sky high, heart rate was very high and I felt just awful. I went to the doctor, they ran a d-dimer which came back slightly elevated. Off to the ER for a CT scan, and absolutely nothing was wrong aside from fighting a virus (probably causing the elevated d-dimer). All anxiety. To this day I still have moments of extreme anxiety, but they're getting better and it is getting easier to sort out what is and what isn't really serious. Bet of luck!

Thanks so much for the emotional validation. All of my tests came back normal. I'm so glad. Now to figure out how to get my head around all of this and you're right...new data to add to what "what is normal" side.

It's been 5 years for me, I'm still on warfarin, and even still get weird pain and symptoms that I suspect are PE. I guess it takes a long time to heal from this kind of wound.

I'm glad to know that everything was okay, but I'm so glad you went considering the level of anxiety you had. I think sometimes we do have to go through this exact process just to learn what's okay in the new version of our life. That said, you will continue feeling physically better over time, plus you get more confident analyzing what is and isn't okay, so things will still get better than they are right now all around, both physically and emotionally.

I think sometimes anxiety is almost like a habit. I know for me, I have anxious tendencies anyway, and after my PE, it kind of exploded. I did manage to get it under control, but I did find I had to constantly pull myself out of going there because it became my default position.

I know the further out I got from my PE, the less anxious I'd feel and I'd find I could just go about my day without thinking about it, but every once in a while, I'd remind myself of my PE, and it's not so much that I'd feel anxious about the PE, but anxious about why I wasn't feeling anxious about it, like I'd think, hey, you aren't treating this with the vigilance it deserves; a PE is going to come out of nowhere! But that's just crazy talk.

You have to really fight the urge to let it take you down. For me it got easier with time and with what I call practice... practice not feeling hyper vigilant, practice mindfulness without hyper awareness. It's hard. But it can be done.

I'm with rmb. My anxiety was through the roof for the first month or so, and I had to take my anxiety meds just to calm me down. I'd say with time it gets better, and I'm not hyper-fixated on something like I constantly was for the first few weeks. Although it does creep up on me sometimes, even when there's nothing wrong. It's like I psych myself out because I am feeling perfect and nothing is wrong, why is nothing wrong? That's really only when it hits me and I really need to just take some deep breaths and rest for a bit to compose myself.

It's hard... Anxiety is cruel and it can be there whether it's got a justified reason or not. I feel like if it's bothering you that much, go and see the doctor for another appointment to discuss options, whether it's medicated or not.