Thread: Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) can happen any old place, not just flying

Fair warning FF and commiserations. It's not always obvious when you have a calf DVT. General pain in the calf can be a clot without any obvious swelling or other symptoms, my leg looked fine but I just couldn't curl my toes. They don't always disintegrate spontaneously either. A really bad sign is the pain in the chest and that you can't breath in all the way and have a little cough near the end. That time I was initially diagnosed with constipation! The Dr's saying there are no organs on the torso left side where the pain was, nothing showed on an ultrasound - must be constipation. No, try bilateral pulmonary embolism, go straight to emergency, do not pass go, do not pickup $200.

I think we need to consider ourselves lucky to still be here! Luckily there are also alternative anticoagulants to warfarin in use these days where you don't have to get blood tests every other day to check how they're working...

Yes, it's best to be aware of any weird sensations going on and try to take evasive action. Research can lead you astray though: foot pain in front of the heel lead me to Plantar Fasciitis, but it didn't quite ring true because that has a sharp pain apparently, and this was a dull bruise-like pain, strong as it was (still is, but finally receding, probably because of the thinners).

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

This is a cautionary tale for people over 60, who have a much higher risk of a DVT. It is most definitely not a call for sympathy, and I’m pretty fine, with just a sore foot for a while.

Last Saturday (19^th Aug, 2023) I woke up with three new injuries that I had acquired overnight. Very bizarre! The most noticeable was sharp muscular pain in the right pectoral region, down to the mid ribs, and up the back to more or less form a closed loop. Taking a deep breath or coughing was VERY painful. The second thing was that I had apparently strained my right calf muscle, whilst pumping out zeds. The third injury wasn’t noticeable until I stood up, and in front of my right heel, on the sole, was very sore. It not a sharp pain, but more of a dull bruise pain, and very strong, and increasing in strength and spread over the next days.

A little internet research indicated that the heel might be Plantar Fasciitis, which is an inflammation of the fascists (never hard to do ) wrapped around the tendons going from the heel to the toes.

I limped around for a few days, swearing, but with only mild satisfaction.

After ~4 days the sharp pain in the right pectoral region faded off. The calf muscle was kinda meh after 4-5 days as you would expect a mild muscle strain to be, but my foot got worse and worse, until the sixth day (Thursday) I hired some crutches.

I still had no idea how I could acquire these injuries whilst asleep.

GP’s appointments are as rare as chook’s teeth up here (Katoomba), and on Thursday (day 5) I rang my usual medical practice, knowing what the answer would be: 3 weeks wait for a face-to-face, and a staggering 2 weeks just for a telehealth. This is a practice of some 15-20 doctors. As an aside, I usually have an appointment booked for each month for the next four months, and cancel if not needed.

Thursday morning (day 6) the pain in my foot was getting to crazy levels, and I decided that I would have to go to Emergency in the hospital, which is only a kilometre away. I had taken 400mg of ibuprofen, and by 10am the pain had receded to the point where I felt I would be a charlatan for going to the A&E, so I did not. I SHOULD HAVE, but for less obvious reasons!

Friday morning was different, the foot pain was just as bad, and I decided to go to A&E at 8.30am, with no painkillers, unvarnished, so they could see the raw problem.

I needed to paint that detailed picture for you so you know how seemingly innocuous symptoms can pan out.

As it turns out, all three injuries were related. 1-2 days before I woke up with these injuries I noticed a bit of a “bzzzt” in the right calf, and dopily wondered “Jeez, I wonder if that’s what a varicose vein might feel like?”, and carried on cooking whatever it was that was on the stove. That feeling was a blood clot exploding into numerous fragments which then made their way up into my lungs over the next 4 days, and THAT was what caused the sharp pectoral pain. A CT-scan today revealed the fragments in all their cluster bomb glory. Blood thinners for me for the next three months.

It is apparently not known what causes the first blood clot – luck of the draw – and it is not particularly lifestyle or diet driven, according to the A&E doctor. The chances of it happening increase significantly as we age (yet another one of the excellent things that happen at passing your 60^th birthday).

So, if you get an unusual “bzzt” feeling in your calf or thigh, go and get an IMMEDIATE ultra sound of that area, and at a very minimum see a doctor straight away, or go to A&E. If you get sharp pectoral pain on the same side after it, skip the doctor, go straight to A&E immediately, and tell them the story in great detail – they will react accordingly. Although, you probably only need to say “weird feeling in my leg yesterday, followed by sharp pectoral pain on the same side 12-24 hours later – might have been a DVT” to jump straight to the head of the queue.

My condolences Brett

I’ve resiliently being diagnosed with Plantar faciitis (Please don’t ask me too pronounce it) no other symptoms than just a pain in the Heel.
But still haven’t found a cure that works for me.

But my mother has had DVT from as long as I can remember (52 young) an has always been on warfarin which she affectionately call her Rat killer,and my older brother as recently also been diagnosed with it.

Mum has had quite a few nights in hospital as they monitor clots moving around inside her, an we suspect one clot recently may have caused a mild stroke , tho not showing the typical physical signs

So please be careful an Monitor the signs carefully.

Cheers Matt.

The golden rule when over 60, don't ignore any unusual or out of the ordinary occurrences of your body and see your doctor or go straight to emergency.
Take care Bret