I am taking apixaban (5 mg x 2) and metoprolol (25 mg x 2) for my afib, which I have had three or four times a month since officially diagnosed in May 2024.
Around 3:00 a.m. one morning, I awoke with a medium pain in my lower right leg.
I saw on that leg a dome-shaped red swelling, about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter.
It was over the "shin bone," about half way between my knee and ankle.
My first thought was that this thing was a bruise, but I could not recall any impacts on it. However, I had done some rather athletic work on my car (under the dashboard on the a/c), so maybe I hit my shin or dragged it over the door sill. Also, of late I often get bruises with no recalled impacts, or with incredibly small impacts.
I had bleak visions of DVTs and so forth, and was able to see my GP a day later.
The GP thought it was a bruise, and a week later, he said the same thing. In that week, there was little reduction in swelling, but the bottom edge of the foot was taking on some bluishness.
The GP says that this bruise will last a month or two. He thinks it is the result of an impact, followed by internal bleeding that took a long time to clot on account of the apixaban. He says that the bluishness in the foot is the result of slowly leaking blood from the "hematoma."
He says that there's nothing to do except wait, and to take it easy. Any walking should be moderate and gentle.
The GP is in his 60s, very experienced in front-line rural health care. In my 12 years with him, he has always been attentive and reactive, as opposed to dismissive, even though I am "old" (76).
Has any one of you on "thinners" experienced such a "bruising event" -- an alarming swelling after a minuscule impact? (Again, I don't recall an impact, but I did deploy muscles not often used.)
Thanks for any input!