Blood clots in calf

[Susiemac1321]

Has anyone had issues with blood clots (superficial vein thrombosis) in their legs?

In April I thought I’d just pulled a calf muscle but on the advice of my Pilates teacher (!) saw my GP who immediately prescribed blood-thinning medication and sent me off to the emergency hospital clinic the next morning… I had an ultrasound on the whole leg and they confirmed a superficial vein thrombosis and I had to continue the medication for another 6 weeks. I was allowed to take long haul flights to and from the USA wearing compression socks and on my return had a checkup and was given the all-clear and stopped medication.

Last weekend I found another bump at the back of the same calf but lower down and my ankle was swollen. After calling NHS24 I was referred to the out of hours GP service and then to the main hospital clinic again. (All a bit of a saga as this involved over 4 hours on Saturday night and 3 more on Sunday morning - remind me not to have medical problems at weekends!)

The outcome this time was that the ultrasound showed smaller clots but as they are under 5cm they said no medication was necessary but gave me some ibuprofen gel. I was told that I was right to have had it checked out as if you have had a clot you are prone to getting them again - but I was concerned that it had happened so soon after the first time.

I am very active, not overweight and have never smoked so there’s no obvious reason why this has happened according to the medical professionals who dealt with me. But I’m wondering if there might be a connection with RA - or my medication? I’m on Baricitinib which I call my magic pill as it gave me back my quality of life after a miserable 2 years and I’ve had no side effects on it at all. So I would be very upset if it had to be changed because of this recent event.

I’m going to talk it over with my GP and rheumatologist but wanted to see if anyone else had had any similar experiences.

[medway-lady]

I’ve had a DV T and PE’s before taking RA meds but think the risk is higher with RA than not. Like you active, non smoker etc so I think down to luck or genes but as neither can be changed it’s not going to do anything but cause you angst as it’s simply a question with no answer. This is because my cause may not be the same as yours. However it hasn’t made any difference to my medications and I’m lifelong Riveroxaban now. Please try not to worry as these days the new generation of blood medications are simply take and forget without any problems or diet. I know you said your not prescribed any medication but trying to reassure you that these days being a clotted is treated very well,

[Karen12]

Unfortunately both RA and Baricitinib are known to potentially increase your risk for blood clots so you should probably mention it to your Rheumatologist.