posted on March 18, 2007 04:47:07 PM
We had an experience today that, coupled with Agate18's stroke post, has moved me to talk about another very serious condition that was not on my radar very much till recently. I am happy to say it turned out to be not as serious as I feared for us.
Since yesterday my husband has been complaining about pain in the back of one leg. I thought he had pulled a muscle and told him to take Aleve. Today when he got out of the shower he noticed that that leg was swollen so that it was noticeable bigger than the other and it felt warmer than the unaffected leg. I remembered something I read on line about Chaney having Deep Vein Thrombosis and a mention of the symptoms. I went on line and indeed leg pain, warmth, and swelling are symptoms. We called his doctor's office and the on-call doctor told us to go to the emergency room right away.
They did a scan of some kind on his leg. Don't know what kind because I was not allowed to go with him. They found he does not have a blood clot but has a ruptured Baker's Cyst in his knee. Now that sounds bad but it is noway as bad as Deep Vein Thrombosis. The doctor said it is a fluid filled cyst in the knee, most likely from an old injury. If it leaks it causes the leg to be painful and swell. The body is usually able to reabsorb the fluid and he may not need any additional treatment. If it does not get better he has a referral to an orthopedic specialist.
I have read about this Deep Vein Thrombosis on long airplane flights and that it killed David Bloom in Iraq but I had not payed much attention.
This is a copy and paste from a medical site.
Because blood in the leg veins travels to the heart and then to the lungs, emboli originating in the leg veins usually pass through the heart and block one or more arteries in the lungs, a condition called pulmonary embolism (see Pulmonary Embolism (PE)).
The symptoms (which are not always present) are:
When deep vein thrombosis blocks blood flow in a large leg vein, the calf swells and may be painful, tender to the touch, and warm.
These were exactly my husband's symptoms. I am really glad DVT is not what he has. I know I will pay more attention in the future.
Edited when I reread and saw that it was not clear that the description of DVT is not what my husband has.
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“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
[ edited by photosensitive on Mar 18, 2007 04:47 PM ]
[ edited by photosensitive on Mar 18, 2007 07:18 PM ]
posted on March 18, 2007 07:06:15 PM
Wow. That explains why, when our grown son's brain aneurysm burst, he had so much pain ("the worst headache in the world".
He survived, by the way. Your experience had to be scary for both of you.
A former student of mine, who's about 59 now, has had some major medical surgery in the past week. He's rich. I talked to his wife on the phone, and she says she's been trying to get him to take life a little easier. They have a condo they never use, a huge boat ditto, but she says he just can't let go of his "toys."
I told her that, as we get older, we need to simplify our lives because we'll be spending lots of time taking care of our bodies, and the clutter in our lives gets in the way. I wonder if he'll listen.
"There is more to life than increasing its speed." --Mahatma Gandhi
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[ edited by roadsmith on Mar 18, 2007 07:07 PM ]
posted on March 18, 2007 07:57:01 PM
"I have read about this Deep Vein Thrombosis on long airplane flights and that it killed David Bloom in Iraq but I had not payed much attention."
you have to wonder with so many people sitting at their computers all day,this doesnt happen more often.
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If you dont want to hear the truth....dont ask the question.
posted on March 18, 2007 08:13:06 PM
My husband returned from a biz trip abroad last year with pain in his legs. He saw a doctor in Switzerland and then our regular Dr when he returned who referred him to an Orthopedic surgeon. The ortho guy gave him a steroid shot and billed us several hundred dollars. The pain did not stop, so hubby returned to regular Dr who FINALLY decided to do an ultrasound - it was a BLOOD CLOT and they rushed him to the hospital for treatment. We were so lucky they caught it before anything bad happened!! Very strange that they didn't figure out what it was until so late in the game - he spends a lot of time traveling the globe and throughout the US.
posted on March 18, 2007 08:23:48 PM
It'll take a while to get back to normal. I had a ruptured Baker's Cyst last summer, and my leg, foot and ankle were swollen and the back of my leg was sore to the touch for about a month. Harmless, but no fun. That joint fluid from the cyst pours down thru the muscle, and the muscle doesn't like joint fluid, and it hurts like crap.
posted on March 18, 2007 11:08:41 PM
This past week, suddenly, there's been a lot on TV about the dangers of sitting at a computer for long periods of time. They're seeing an increase in these deep-vein problems and recommend strongly that computer people get up every hour and walk around, stretch their legs. Ditto for car trips. And--I guess--long movies and concerts??
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"There is more to life than increasing its speed." --Mahatma Gandhi
posted on March 19, 2007 05:43:50 AM
Profe51, Thanks for telling me your experience. My husband was looking at his legs today and saying "it is still swelled" as if knowing what it was would make it go away. I was able to tell him your comment and that he had to be give it time.
When the emergency room doctor explained what the problem was I felt a little foolish that we had rushed him in but the doctor assured me that if he noticed the same set of symptoms in himself he would have been there demanding the scan.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on March 19, 2007 05:51:21 AM
"They're seeing an increase in these deep-vein problems and recommend strongly that computer people get up every hour and walk around, stretch their legs. Ditto for car trips. And--I guess--long movies and concerts??"
I had to take my wife to a Barry Manilow concert about 5 years ago.I cant stand this guy,he makes my skin crawl.There was no problem getting up and walking around...I did it about every 5 minutes.
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If you dont want to hear the truth....dont ask the question.
posted on March 19, 2007 08:30:55 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiitake
Sorry,dont know how to make it clickable,but it mentioned Lenthionine has the ability to prevent platelet from clotting together.
You can get dried sliced ones at Costco,or whole dried ones in Asian grocery store.
Fresh ones can be found in health food and asian stores.
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Lets all stop whining !
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posted on March 20, 2007 03:49:39 AM
My 37 yr old daughter was admitted to a local hospital here in Myrtle Beach yesterday with a blood clot behind the knee in her left leg. She had symptoms since last week of leg swelling and numbness,no pain. Her leg felt as if it was asleep. Well she has three kids,4,6 and 9, is a stay at home mom who is on her feet all day,doesn't sit in front of a computer, is thin, did not injure hereself and has no past related medical problems. So I guess it just depends on your own genetics. They are treating her with cumoden (sp?) and shots of high dosage blood thinners to dissolve the clot. It becomes dangerous if it moves into the upper leg. Thats the reason for the hospitalization. She went in last week regarding the swelling and her doctor told her to go for tests yesterday. The Sonogram was the only way they found the problem. Caution is warranted for all of us with this problem. Chuck
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