Hi I was diagnosed with blood clot on lung n in jugular vein both small and commenced on heparin last week as treatment.If anyone has had same did they have cough and shortness of breath for long after treatment started.
I feel I am being impatient but the breathlessness is a real pain and the cough is annoying . if anyone has advice I would be glad of you sharing your experiences and tips.Thanks Teresa x
Hello
Hugs for you first & sorry to hear you’ve had this happen. I ended up with clots in both lungs a week after a 6 hour reconstruction op ( after which I wasn’t allowed to get out of bed for 48 hours…this was 6 years ago & strangely enough they dont do the enforced bed rest thing now). The clue to my problem was an increasing feeling of discomfort in the car as I returned home from having a large stuff dressing removed. When we pulled up on the driveway I couldn’t get out of the car & it was painful to breath. Had some painkillers & made it indoors & rang my BCN asking ‘was it normal to feel like this’ ? She told me to go straight back to the hospital where I was admitted. At first they thought I was having a heart attack every time the pain started ( used to come & go) and I got strapped to a heart monitor. A CT scan the following morning confirmed clots in both lungs. Think I was in hospital for a week having injections into the stomach. Don’t remember what they gave me for pain. After that I was on warfarin for a good six months or do with regular tests on my clotting ability!
The pain & breathless will improve but give yourself time! I note it’s only happened recently but do speak to your Doc or the hospital if you feel the pain or breathlessness gets worse.
Hugs
Twinky x
Hi,
The breathlessness cleared up within a few days of starting on the heparin injections. I also had severe pain in my left shoulderblade due to the PE - that also cleared up very quickly. The heparin is there to stop another clot forming so your body can concentrate on its own resources to break up the clots you have already got. You will be on warfarin tablets for about 6 months now. When i had my PE I was told they either kill you straight away or you recover with no long term symptoms! So the fact you are talking about it means you must be in the second group!!
I hope things improve very soon - take care of yourself
kaj
xxx
Thanks ladies for your v helpful advice.Interestingly I managed to catch a colleague of mine this afternoon who deals regularly with younger patients with blood clots. She mentioned that recently she was aware of some patients taking between 4 to 12 weeks to be back to normal but certainly within 2 to 3 weeks of treatment symptoms start to resolve. The pain I still have is completely normal and got doc out today to give me stronger analgesia so that has made big difference with the pain on coughing.Doc thinks I have strained my intercostal muscles with all the coughing.So thanks to you both and onwards and upwards love Teresa