36 hours, and no doubt $10k later, I’ve been kicked loose and I’m home now. I was told to take some of my meds at different levels (they kept being concerned about high BP (I’m really not, it’s always high in a doc office and I monitor at home and it isn’t), so asked me to double one of my BP meds, amlodipine, and monitor with a BP cuff duh) and of course monitor for shortness of breath and all the rest of the potential PE symptoms. They thought after 24 hours monitoring that I’m in a stable place and won’t suddenly worsen – though let’s not get too optimistic - is my impression.
My doctor recommended laying off work for this coming week and I have a letter to that effect. I’ve been trying to manage all this while working, and it’s not, um working. Dammit. Days off are for world travel, not this stuff
I’ll follow up with the original NP who sent me to ER and try to get an actual physician PCP to shepherd all this. I’ve got weeks of episodic monitoring of the clot to do.
I guess I’ll lay in butter and (white - no fiber!) toast for my Xaralto doses and cross my fingers and look handsome. You guys are either really kind or totally pulling my leg, but it was well done and thank you.
I, on the other hand, decided that that sort of remark would not be appropriate to this difficult situation and am definitely not posting this comment in order to tacitly imply agreement with it. Nopes.
I thought it would cheer him up. Hey, contrary to popular opinion, I am in possession of some modicum of couth.
If he had been on death’s doorstep, I’d have still thought he was cute but kept it to myself… for those private moments while drifting off to sleep… with only my cat for company…
Take care, @squeegee, and make sure you check in from time to time or we will worry.
I would still be concerned about arterial blood clots in the heart or arteries. If you’ve got them they’re a ticking time bomb. The reason mine went undiagnosed is because they focused on checking for blood clots in my leg’s veins and not the arteries. Put another way, I would ask the doctor if your arteries and heart have been scanned to eliminate that as a source.
And yes, you could have long term pain. When I had the clot removed physically from my leg artery the surgeon started from the top and worked down. he stopped when he got to my foot because he was afraid of pushing it deeper in and causing more damage.
The vast majority of my pain is at night when I lay down. It eventually goes away but I’m stuck with 2 hrs of discomfort and lack of sleep. There are drugs to help that but honestly the thing that helps most is coffee/caffeine. If I had to guess I’d say there’s a change in blood flow to the feet when lying down and caffeine raises blood pressure or beats per minute. It’s a significant difference in pain level.
As I said above, the symptoms of vein and artery thrombosis differ. Both are serious, the latter much more so. Often when they do an ultrasound of the legs they look for both, and an echo of the heart and carotids is indicated especially in the presence of irregular heart rhythm, history, certain specific symptoms including neurological symptoms.
When this problem was first described, I actually wondered if the “pain was out of proportion” to a soft tissue injury. Since such things are impossible to determine over the Internet, one is smarter to recommend personal assessment rather than speculate on the many possible causes.
So, tell me about blood pressure and this clot situation?
The doctors at the hospital made a (not big, but consistent) deal about my BP in the hospital, which was all over the map. I mean, of course - I’m in a stressful situation! And the equipment is inconsistent as hell.
I read up that high BP can cause lot clots, but is it a concern with an already existent blood clot? My discharge BP was 152/82, which doesn’t seem perfect nor alarming, right? I usually measure more like 120something/low70something.
Anyway, the attending doc instructed doubling my amlodipine from 5mg to 10mg/day and I am, but I can’t find my BP cuff and will have a new one tomorrow, so I am following up. So just curious if this is a general BP concern or one specific to my clot treatment. Thoughts?
Xarelto has not been reported to cause high blood pressure in clinical studies. It could result in low pressure if it causes internal bleeding, however.
No, a pressure of 152/82 isn’t a cause for alarm, but a bit lower would be better. It’s possible the stress of your diagnosis and hospitalization caused your pressure to elevate temporarily.
I would guess higher pressures probably increase the risk of embolus but would not usually cause any actual thrombosis. This is not my area of expertise, but I am unaware of pressure being a major factor causing clotting. If there is any significant relationship, it would possibly be lower blood pressures reduce turbulence and so in theory might increase clotting. How big would this effect have to be in practice, though? These are not commonly described causes of thrombosis and are unlikely to be of relevance in your case. But ask your personal providers.
Good memory! I was treated for prostate cancer in early 2018. I have no oncologist as the prostate was removed and my PSA has remained undetectable, crossing fingers as this month is my 6 month PSA blood test, wish me luck
You make a good point though. I’ve had cancer in 2018, pulmonary embolism in 2022. Maybe I don’t have much time left. I’m 60 and hoping for a nice retirement, maybe that’s not in the cards.
Meh, 6 years ago I had a heart attack after ignoring unstable angina attacks for months. I had a stent put in and I was good to go. We are indescribable. For a bit.
You sound down at the moment but consider you’re current problems are generating medical tests that provide a bigger picture. How are the arteries to your heart? If they’re relatively unclogged and they put you on blood thinners then that should greatly reduce future problems.
You guys are either really kind or totally pulling my leg, but it was well done and thank you.
