Hi. After 3 weeks of being told I’d got tendonitis, I ended up at A&E last week with diagnosis of large DVT in my right leg.
The pain is so upsetting. I’m on a full dose of paracetamol and elevating my leg when I can. When I thought I had tendonitis I took a lot of anti-inflammatories which I presume haven’t helped the situation.
Do I just need to be patient? I’m now on apixaban and waiting to speak to the anti-coagulant team at the hospital.
Hi Florrie2. That was my experience as well. I was told I had tight tendons in my calf and sent to the physio who gave me exercises. The pain is a real problem and everyone is different as to how long it lasts. The medication you are taking doesn't destroy the clot, rather it stops it getting bigger and this allows your body to break it down over time, during which you might experience pain.
The thing with ibuprofen and other inflammatories is that they can increase the risk of bleeding which is already higher for you due to the anticoagulants. Especially from stomach ulcers. (They don't cause clots). I was told that it is OK to take Codeine so I take a codeine and paracetamol tablet when I have bad pain. Perhaps check if you could do the same. Also, unless you have been told otherwise, try and keep exercising the leg too as that helps with blood flow. I hope it eases for you soon.
Hello Florrie2, very sorry to hear this. I hope the pain improves soon. My dvt was three yrs ago and for me the pain is still everyday. But everyone is different, and for the majority of people, it improves (i am told). For me compression socks really helped and I was told conflicting advice about them at the early stages so didn't wear them initially. Now three years later I wear them everyday. I just wear the below the knee kind as that is where my pain is. If you do get some it's important to measure your leg properly and get the right grade of compression. You need to speak to a medical proffessional to get advice about that. I also found elevation helped to. I agree with speedy H that keep moving is important too - but don't do too much- just in moderation. I hope they told you if you start to feel very unwell, go to a&e. That happened to me as I ended up with pulmonary embolism.
Hi, I was diagnosed in similar circumstances in 2015, ankle tendonitis turned out to be a 40cm clot in my right femoral vein.I think I'm correct on saying the apixaban is to stop further clots and prevent the current clot getting bigger. You may need additional thrombolytics (clot busters) to get rid of the clot you have now. I was initially taking Rixaroxaban but now on Apixaban, for life. No unwanted side effects thankfully. Hope all goes well for you.
Thanks all. The nurse has now given me codeine which helps a bit.
hi Florrie… yes the pain is unreal. My advice would be …..move. Even when painful. I was a regular runner and cyclist before my DVT and it killed me to stop when I had the DVT. As soon as I could I started walking every day, then I found a small hill to walk up every day and eventually within 8 weeks I was out running and cycling again. I completed Berlin marathon to the day following my DVT. Everyone is different but movement should be part of rehab. I’m very lucky….although it was my second DVT ( 22 years apart) I have no post thrombotic syndrome and I credit movement with that. In my opinion moving, exercise whatever you want to call it isn’t advised enough in the medical world as a treatment. ( I’m a nurse and I know it isn’t). So yes….it will be painful but do move. All the best.
Oh thank you. My passion is walking and I’m usually quite active. It’s killing me not doing much because I’m scared of making myself worse plus the pain of walking can be horrific.
Always check with your haematologist but I was told by Stephen Black (vascular) that 2 weeks after the DVT it’s safe to start exercise as the thrombosis is like concrete or may have dissolved. It will hurt but I just learnt to push through it, and treated the walking as a treatment. I viewed pain as good….that it was developing new pathways to help the blood flow. If you google Stephen black and thrombosis on you tube he has some videos on there.
Okay thanks. I had severe pain for 3 weeks before being diagnosed and don’t have an appointment with someone from the anticoagulant team for another 2 weeks so I’m not really sure where I’m at.
Yes..Thrombosis treatment in the UK is shocking. People are often just sent away with a packet of anticoagulants with no further advice. Thrombosis UK is a good charity for information and they also have a FB page.
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