Ever had someone close who had a problem with blood clots?

[Regs]

My mother got them. Went from her leg into her lungs.

Shes been hospitalized for a few days now on blood thinners. They are now also doing a pre emptive surgery on one of her main arteries in her leg. Going to deploy a filter like mechanism to make sure no more large clusters of clots travel up to her heart and lungs.



I hope to hear a few success stories.

 

[pyonir]

My aunt had them pretty bad. But she also had hardened arteries. Sorry, I can't say she was a success story though. The hardened arteries is what caused her death, although somewhat indirectly (don't want to get into it).

She had the problems with clots, but they always seemed to be taken care of. She was in the hospital a couple times because of it though.

 

[TwinkleToes77]

i dont have a good story here.. My grandmother had blood clots in her leg and during a procedure (forget what its called at the moment) where they stick a tube/wire in through the groin to go up and look at the heart they dislodged a clot and she stroked on the table

I hope your mom gets well soon. I really miss my grandma.

 

[DrNoobie]

DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) has a recovery rate of 70% as long as the clot has not travelled into the lungs. Unfortunately, if the clot enters a patient's lungs there is a chance for a pulmonary emoblism, which has a 25% recovery rate, usually due to the doctor not correctly diagnosing the PE. The good news is that she's in the hospital, and they're taking action. I'll pray for your mother's recovery.

 

[rahvin]

Make sure you have a hematoligist on the job!

 

[Amorphus]

Originally posted by: rahvin
Make sure you have a hematoligist on the job!

Duh

:wine:

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Yeah, my grandmother has horrible blood problems due to her dealings with cancer, heart disease, cancer, emphysema, and many other disease. She is always on Kumodin (sp?) and every once and a while has to go to the hospital. she gets over them pretty quickly and easily, but when they get into one's lungs it becomes much more dangerous. I think your mother will be fine, but pray for her either way. Pray that it doesn't happen again because a lot of the time, it usually does. Good luck and stay strong.

-Brent

 

[Regs]

Yeah I understand the seriousness. The doctor's said that as each day passes by on treatment, the recovery rate odds greatly increase. Just as long as she gets passed this surgery today, then I'm hoping it's all down hill after that.

We still don't know why she got clots. They are taking blood samples off to the lab to see if it's a genetic abnormality.

But her health was never good. She was an alcoholic, over weight by 100lbs at least, high cholesterol, and smoked heavily . I'm guessing the alcohol threw her liver off wack and gave her the clots. But needless to say she has to make a drastic life style change or she'll won't make it passed the year 2008.

She will also be on Cumodin.

Thank you for your concerns and info!

 

[Bassyhead]

My mom has lupus.It causes her blood to thicken easily. She got a clot in her leg when I was younger and the docs werent able to replace the affected blood vessel with an artificial teflon vessel and they had to amputate the leg.

 

[DT4K]

My wife (now 29 years old) has been on Coumadin for 9 years.

Two weeks after our first child was born, she began having very bad pain in her leg. When it kept getting worse, we went to the hospital and she was diagnosed with a DVT and put on heparin. She spent about a week in the hospital and was put on Coumadin. None of the tests that were done showed any blood abnormalities so after a couple months, they tried taking her off the coumadin. Shortly after that, she developed another blood clot in the same leg and was hospitalized again. At that point, they decided to keep her on coumadin indefinitely.

When she got pregnant with our second child, she was switched to daily Fragmin(low molecular weight heparin) injections for the course of the pregnancy since coumadin shouldn't be taken during pregnancy. Due to the stress from dealing with our newborn's life-threatening illness, my wife neglected her medication after the birth. She had another blood clot and a pulmonary embolism and was hospitalized this time for about 5 weeks. The doctors inserted a stent in the vein to keep any more pieces of clot from moving into her lungs. After she got out of the hospital, she was in a wheelchair for several months because she couldn't walk on her leg without pain. This is not the norm, but her clot had been very large and done a lot of damage to the leg.

I know that sounds bad, but keep in mind that the 2nd and 3rd time she had clots, she had not been keeping up with her medication. As long as she stayed on her medication, she did fine.

Since then, my wife has been very diligent about taking her medication and having her blood levels monitored on a regular basis and she hasn't had any more clots. We even had two more children without any clotting complications. She just switches to the Fragmin injections when she is pregnant.

Other than some occasional swelling in her leg when she walks too much (like spending the day at Disneyland) and the fact that she bruises easier than most people, she is doing fine now. But unless some new test comes along that can determine why she gets blood clots, she will be on Coumadin or some other medication indefinitely.

I wish the best for your mom. Now that she is being treated, I'm sure she will be fine. Just make sure that once she gets out of the hospital, she is very very dilligent about taking her coumadin and having her blood levels monitored on a regular basis.

EDIT: I believe smoking increases the chances of blood clots. So do things like birth control pills.

 

[pyonir]

smoking and high cholesterol are two major contributing factors in my Aunt's case.

 

[Regs]

Well she got a good head start by quitting smoking. Been 2 weeks now. And I'm sure she's scared enough not to go near another cigarette. Not to mention she all ready saved 180 dollars by not smoking at all this month. .

 

[pyonir]

Originally posted by: Regs
Well she got a good head start by quitting smoking. Been 2 weeks now. And I'm sure she's scared enough not to go near another cigarette. Not to mention she all ready saved 180 dollars by not smoking at all this month. .

That's great to hear. My Aunt quit for a while after her first time in the hospital. Sadly she started up again. Give her enough support she keeps it up!

 

[Nanotech]

Wow, this is exactly what happened to a friend of mine. He was in the military and on one of his assignments he was runnning up a muddy hill, slipped and did some damage to his leg. To make a long story short, the military mis-diagnosed him and soon thereafter he had a blood clot go from his leg up to into his lung. They performed the surgery you are speaking of and placed a screen in his artery to keep the blood clots from making it that far again.

Unfortunetly, now he has a lifetime prescription for muscle relaxers (which act as blood thinners) complaints of the government. I forget what they are called but they are pink and quite potent. He gets about 3 months worth at a time and he use to give them to me quite often but I no longer see him anymore.

Sorry to hear that about your mother!

 

[Regs]

Yes, accidents like that could cause blood clots. I don't know why they give him blood thinners when they knew the cause was from the accident. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Mark R]

I don't know why they give him blood thinners when they knew the cause was from the accident. Better safe than sorry

Blood clots (DVT) always need treating. Untreated there is a high risk of the clot breaking up and entering the lung (a potentially life-threatening condition), and of the veins in the leg being permanently damaged leading to long-term swelling, discolouration and even development of ulcers on the leg.

The mainstay of treatment is medication to thin the blood - usually tablets, although initially injections are required. Recommendations on treatment vary, and there may be complicating factors in individual cases, but here are some simple examples of treatment: typically 6 months is regarded as sufficient for a first blood clot. A 2nd blood clot (once off treatment) generally means life long medication. A blood clot while on medication needs specialist treatment, possibly with a filter inserted into the lower body's main vein. Most filters require the long-term use of blood thinning medication (because they can clot up) so are not usually recommended for a first clot.

Major risks for getting a DVT include pregancy, smoking, immobility (e.g. illness, injury, recent surgery, long haul travel), previous blood clots, relatives who have had blood clots, cancer (particularly gynaecological or prostate cancer), lupus or similar condition and use of hormone containing medications (HRT or contraceptive pill/implant). Testing for blood disorders may be carried out after a clot to look for common genetic disorders. This does not have to be done immediately, and some haematologists recommend that these tests are delayed for serveral months because the presence of a big fresh clot in a vein interferes with blood clotting anyway.

 

[v3rrv3]

I have, my mother had a blood clot maybe 7 years ago in her arm. It was decently big but because it closed off the circulation, her body made a new vein so to speak around it and the doctors felt it was safer to leave it than to try and operate as it was a small jump away from her heart. All in all she doesn't really notice it although it is at times hard to feel her pulse in that arm.

- Kevin

 

[Regs]

I know a clot needs treatment, but when the clots go away what the need for thinners? Precaution?

Everything they say filters "life and death" in my head. Like she has AIDS.

 

[MikeMike]

ok here are my stories.

Aunt 1: Went into the hospital to have a cancerous cyst removed. Removal went fine, but after she got home, she started throwing up. She became dehydrated, so my mother took her back to the hospital. Her bladder (i think) had gotten twisted around itself. So they opened, her up, and her intesting was infected, and a blood clot had formed. They removed some of her intestine, and got her "fixed up" Well, they went to close her up, and a blod clot had formed again, she is now down to somewhere around 60" of large intestine, while the average human has over 150" iirc. She no longer can digest food, she can taste it, but she can not get nutrients from it, so she has to take an iv to get nutrients. This is still ongoing, she will be released from the hospital next week after they get all of the tubes removed from her, except the IV, she will still be "opened" where the intestine is, from what i know.

Aunt2: (ill make it short) Blood clots in knees, misdiagnosis by first doctor, she loses both legs above the knees

Uncle: Had blood clots removed a year ago, he had gotten some in the same place under a year which isnt normal. is now on thinners. (same side as aunt 1)

Uncle2:Had blood clots in knees, was on blood thinners, he got bad knees, and now has fake knees in both legs (same side as aunt 1)

MIKE

 

[Mark R]

I know a clot needs treatment, but when the clots go away what the need for thinners? Precaution?

Treatment is usually given for a few months in the first instance - which should provide time for the clot to dissolve or stabilise, and hopefully for the risks to go down (if pregnant - baby born, if smoking - stopped, if a broken leg - healed).

If the risk of another clot is very high, or the risk is not going to go away on its own (genetic risk factor, more than 1 blood clot before) then many doctors would recommend life-long medication as a precaution.

From what I've seen the use of filters is relatively uncommon - and is reserved for people who have blood clots while already taking blood-thinning medication or have some other special risk (e.g. a large blood clot on the lung which never dissolved).

 

[DT4K]

Having a blood clot can cause scar tissue to form in the veins. This scar tissue can make it more likely for another clot to develop at that same site. I guess it gives the blood something rough to stick to.

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: Shanti
Having a blood clot can cause scar tissue to form in the veins. This scar tissue can make it more likely for another clot to develop at that same site. I guess it gives the blood something rough to stick to.

yup. i see see DVTs all the time. SUCKS.

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: DrNoobie
DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis) has a recovery rate of 70% as long as the clot has not travelled into the lungs. Unfortunately, if the clot enters a patient's lungs there is a chance for a pulmonary emoblism, which has a 25% recovery rate, usually due to the doctor not correctly diagnosing the PE. The good news is that she's in the hospital, and they're taking action. I'll pray for your mother's recovery.

those numbers sound awful low. DVT is not a serious condition and not life threatening unless embolism occurs, why only 70%? and 1 in 4 survival for PE sounds far too low, lots of people have PEs without even knowing it. got literature?

 

[rahvin]

There are numerous people in this thread that have commented with family histories of blood clots and Shanti's tale of his wife developing severe blood clots while pregnant. I want to bring to the attention of these members that about 11 years ago now a genetic marker was discovered called "Factor V Leiden". If you have this genetic mutation you much more likely to develop blood clots. In particular, women that have otherwise no known problems will develop blood clots during pregancy if they have this condition.

Factor V Leiden is the most common hereditary blood coagualtion disorder in the United States. It is present 5% of the in the Caucasian population and 1.2% of the Afro-American population.

Factor V Leiden increases the risk of venous thrombosis 3-8 fold for heterozygous (one bad gene inherited) and substantially more, 30-140 fold, for homozygous (two bad gene inherited) individuals.

http://www.fvleiden.org/

If you have had, or have a family member that has had stroke, DVT, thrombosis or another clotting disorder you should read the information I linked and ask your doctor to test you/them. It is ESSENTIAL that if you test positive for it that you consult a hematoligist. In my experience (Hetrozygous Factor V positive) General practitioners and many other doctors do not have clue what his genetic marker is or what it means. Knowing you have the genetic mutation is the most important step because you can take simple precautions to avoid developing a clot (such as walking the aisles every hour or so on a long plane ride).

Remember this is hereditary, if aunts or uncles have it everyone related to them should test for it to know they have the potential to develop clots. Knowing the posibilities is often 90% of the way to a diagnosis when you have unexplained symptoms of a serious problem.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

My fiance's grandmother just was hospitalized. Initially they thought it was blood clots in her lungs, and possibly her heart. Upon further testing they found fluid in there (where it shouldn't be) and no blood clots. They suggested that the clots passed, but there is no way to know.


And upon even further testing, her heart medicine is giving her kidney trouble. But upon taking the doses back a bit she was able to come home.