Hi,I was diagnosed with DVT in my arm yesterday.Been put on Heperin injections every day.
Alli.
Hi Allicat,
I was also diagnosed with a clot in my arm - thankfully it was a surface vein and not a deep one. I noticed the pain on Easter monday -1 week after my 4th FEC, and had to spend 3 hours waiting for a doctor at the chemo suite and then go back the next day for a scan. I have also been put on daily injections which will continue while I am on chemo, but hopefully I won’t have to have any further treatmnent. My husband is doing the injections so I don’t have to wait for the district nurse. The clot cleared within a week or at least the pain went so I assume it has cleared.
Hope yours clears soon.
Karon
Hi Karon,
Thanks for the reply.I can only assume from just the one reply, that this isn’t very common.
My arm became very sore and swollen down to my wrist and because of this I had limited movement in arm.I’ve had three injections so far and it is improving slowly.My Sister-in-law is doing my injections for me until I pluck up the courage to have a go myself !
Take care,
Alli.
Just bumping this up.There must be someone else out there surely!!
Alli.
Hi Alli, I’m having arm probs but no DVT. I had a PICC line in and haven’t been able to straigten my arm since. It had to come out due to blockage and still can’t straighten it. A week later I went to A and E as it was so sore thought it might be DVT but they said no. Is yours swollen? Mine is tender from elbow to hand but no swelling. Onc says I need physio on it. I’m concerned it may develop into a DVT as it’s definately not right. My bad arm(from surgery) is now my good arm! Hope yours improves soon. It’s not something I expected from the chemo, they don’t warn you about arm problems.
Liz x
Hi Alli - only just seen this thread. After my second FEC I got a painful arm and could feel my vein and a scan showed that I had two clots. Actually, I don’t think it is that unusual, as the nurse said the chemo is a bit like having an acid pipe cleaner up your veins!!! I was on daily anti coagulant injections which I gave myself (honestly, you soon get used to it). Took about two month’s to clear, but all gone now. Good luck to you, and also Liz, good luck to you - do pursue getting some help with your arm, I don’t think a clot would stop you straightening it, but then again only way to diagnose a clot is with a doppler scan. Hope it is soon better - as if we don’t have enough to deal with! Sarah xx
Hi everyone,
Thanks for replying.Gave myself my first injection today! I couldn’t straighten my arm because it was so swollen up and sore but I’ve got full movement back in it now but it’s still a bit swollen.I haven’t had surgery yet but they think the pressure from under arm lymph glands has caused it.I had an ultrasound in the vascular unit to diagnose it.There isn’t much information around about DVT in cancer patients.
Alli x
hello ladies,
This is my first go at replying to a post, after my third fec treatment I had really bad back pains which were worse when I breathed in, I went to my hospital as advised and was seen by my onc who suspected pulmonary embolisms.she said it is a side effect of chemo but not a common one.it was confirmed by a ct scan and I am now having to give myself daily clexane injections.the pain has now gone but I still feel discomfort in my chest and get out of breath more easily. I will have to stay on injections until the chemo has finished as chemo makes warfarin unstable.hopefully this is not permanent however I have not seen any other threads on these forums from women who have had this problem so am a bit in the dark about progress.
amberkitten x
Dear Amberkitten,
I had a Clot in my arm when on chemo earlier in the year -it was a clot in a surface vein and not as serious as a DVT. I had to have daily injections till the chemo finished, the pain in the arm cleared within a week or so. My only problem is that my tummy is still discoloured from the bruising caused by the injections, although it is slowly fading and I was not allowed to have tamoxifen as my hormone treatment. I was pre-menopausal so in order to receive arimidex I have had to have my menopause induced, currently by having monthley zoladex injections but possibly by having my ovaries irradiated.
Hope your breathlessness eases soon.
Regards
Karon
Hi everyone,
Gosh,just looked at the date of my first posting about this and it’s such a long time ago!
I’m still giving myself Fragmin injections every day in my stomach and it has just become a matter of routine now-just like everything else I’m taking! I too have a bruise on either side of my stomach permanently.
I’m going to ask my Oncologist on Thursday how long I will have to be on it for-it’s been 7 months so far!
Alli.
I got a DVT clot in my arm in June 6 days after having a PICC line put in. No one in the hospital will say why/ how I got the DVD. I have been on Warfarin since then and I will finish in January when Herceptin is finished. My veins look a complete mess now and I feel rather angry about it.
My “good arm” and hand is more swollen than my other arm.
Hi Amberkitten
I had the same as you - back pains which turned out to be a pulmonary embolism. I was also told that it was caused by the chemo (and also that having cancer can itself predispose you a bit towards clots). I did read somewhere that one in twenty women with early stage breast cancer having chemo will get a PE, but like you I haven’t come across many others. I gave myself daily fragmin injections for 4 months or so until the chemo had finished, then had warfarin for another 18 months. I remember having to psych myself up each day before sticking the needle in, and also having enormous bruises all over my stomach! Still it was worth it, to make sure I was all right. They did warn me about the possibility of a pulmonary embolism when discussing possible side effects of chemo, but you never think its going to happen to you, do you? It has left a bit of a legacy - I had more surgery last year and they warned me I was a high risk for pulmonary embolism having had one already (but fortunately they took precautions and I was fine). I am also a bit worried about flying now I am off the warfarin. Like Karon I also had to have arimidex rather than tamoxifen, but I was quite pleased about this because I think research shows it has slightly better outcomes.
Hope you are feeling better soon.
regards
Gwyn
Hi All,
I’m one of those one in twenty women who gets blood clots due to the cancer, I firstly got multiple pulmonary embolisms in both lungs, then a couple of DVT’s in my legs and recently had a mini stroke (TIA) It has been explained by my oncologist that the presence of cancer cells in the blood sometimes causes the body to switch on a defence mechanism which thickens the blood and makes it more sticky, apparantly once this mechanism switches on it often doesnt revert back to normal.I started out on 100mg clexane injection daily, I am now up to 250mg (2 injections) daily which goes up to 400mg daily when a clot is discovered, At first I couldnt bear to do the injections, my hubby did them, but now its just to inconvenient so I do them both myself, one each side of my tummy every day, so you can imagine how green and black my stomach is! and mine will be for life.
I shouldnt think that the DVT#s in your arms is anything at all to do with this condition as they usually form in the deeper larger veins of the legs and trunk, not the arms, it does sound like they are to do with disturbance of the veins due to the chemo and will therefore clear up pretty quickly once the veins heal themselves, please dont worry heparin(clexane) is an excellent treatment
Xinte
Hi xinte,
I’ve got a subclavian DVT in my left shoulder due to the cancer on that side.It is very rare to have DVT in the arm but it does happen.
Hi, I am worried aboutthis as I have had an extremely painful sore wrist after each chemo, am taking antibiotics for it at the momen (as I did on FEC2) - it is very painful. How can you tell the difference between phlebitis and DVT? can’t straighten my arm at all.
Hi everyone
I read an interesting note in the Sun last week to say that they had increased hospitals awareness of DVTs and that people that people should be routinely checked where they are a high risk such as over 40, cancer treatment, over weight, smokers, those that were immobilised and a couple of others that I can’t recall. I had a pulmonary embolism which was found as due to the nature of my BC I was scanned after my chemo stopped.
Given the info in the article I was very high risk - over 40 cancer treatment immobile (towards the end) and whilst not over weight thanks to the steroids I had put on a stone so was over weight for my “norm”. Not once to my knowledge did the hospital check and I wonder how many DVTs go undiagnosed. I am concerned because chemo does make your blood “sticky” and so more prone to DVT but I was only told this after they found it. They told me off for not reporting the fact I had got out of breath walking up a hill the day before - but as I explained over the previous 18 weeks my exercise level had decreased almost to zero my weight had increased and so I was not surprised I was puffed - I said to the doctor if I told him about everything that was odd during chemo I would never leave the hospital.
I had three weeks of injections and I am now going through the six months of warfarin.
Hope you all take care and if in doubt ask - even if they think you are being a nuisance DVTs are not something to ignore
Regards
Helen
Hi Irena,
My arm started to swell one day and within a couple of days I couldn’t straighten it out.My Onc reg sent me down to the vascular unit where an ultrasound confirmed I had a subclavian DVT(left shoulder).The swelling went down after a couple of days of being on the Fragmin injections but my left arm is still bigger than my right one now.
You should ask your Oncologist about this next time.
Alli x
Thanks Allicat,
I can’t straighten my arm and it is bright red compared to the other one. The antibiotics have seemed to help. I willl definitely mention it to the oncologist next time.
Irina x