Sadly, I know all too well. I've had 2 now. With the first one, my leg swelled up, at first it felt like there was a "fluttering" in the vein for lack of a better word. Then the pain came along. I was in pain, it hurt to get up and walk, I couldn't walk without help.
I went to the emergency room and they couldn't figure out what it was, because I was not in the age bracket normal for clots, I was a lot younger. Then my husband mentioned clot, and they take an ultrasound of the veins in question.
I then had to stay in the hospital for a couple days. It ended up getting infected, and I had to go back into the hospital. When it gets infected they call that sceptic.
This was one of the worst things that I had ever been through, and I still deal with it every day. There is scar tissue that causes phlebitis, so in my case, I deal with that every day.
Since I had the second clot, I have to take the medicine coumadin every day for the rest of my life.
I don't ever want another one, because in order to get to come home, I had to learn to give myself a shot in the loose skin of the stomach 2 times a day. (for about a month or so)
I hate to think about the fact that I've had to go through this, and I hate what it did with the family, they had to watch me suffer, and make sure that I never ended up with a bleed which comes from the blood becoming too thin from the medicine. So you have to be monitored for the INR and PT levels in your body, as a result from the medicine.
You have to watch how much vitamin K you take in, because that then can cause your blood to become too thick, and can in effect cause you to have a second or even 3rd clot.
I hope this helped you to understand a little more about what it is. If you think that you might have something like this going on, see if it's hot where the pain is, and also see if the foot is cold, as the blood might not be getting to the foot. If you aren't sure, then I would go to the doctor, and use very little pressure on the leg, because it's not good if a piece of the clot breaks loose, it may become life threatening. Good luck.
I went to the emergency room and they couldn't figure out what it was, because I was not in the age bracket normal for clots, I was a lot younger. Then my husband mentioned clot, and they take an ultrasound of the veins in question.
I then had to stay in the hospital for a couple days. It ended up getting infected, and I had to go back into the hospital. When it gets infected they call that sceptic.
This was one of the worst things that I had ever been through, and I still deal with it every day. There is scar tissue that causes phlebitis, so in my case, I deal with that every day.
Since I had the second clot, I have to take the medicine coumadin every day for the rest of my life.
I don't ever want another one, because in order to get to come home, I had to learn to give myself a shot in the loose skin of the stomach 2 times a day. (for about a month or so)
I hate to think about the fact that I've had to go through this, and I hate what it did with the family, they had to watch me suffer, and make sure that I never ended up with a bleed which comes from the blood becoming too thin from the medicine. So you have to be monitored for the INR and PT levels in your body, as a result from the medicine.
You have to watch how much vitamin K you take in, because that then can cause your blood to become too thick, and can in effect cause you to have a second or even 3rd clot.
I hope this helped you to understand a little more about what it is. If you think that you might have something like this going on, see if it's hot where the pain is, and also see if the foot is cold, as the blood might not be getting to the foot. If you aren't sure, then I would go to the doctor, and use very little pressure on the leg, because it's not good if a piece of the clot breaks loose, it may become life threatening. Good luck.
