What does it feel like when a blood clot moves through your body?
Aug 19, 2010 in
Health FAQs
I have reoccurring deep vein thrombosis, and every so often I have to soften a blood clot. When the clot softens I get a sensation that feels like muscle cramps and burning in various parts of my body, like groin and stomach. I am worried that it may progress into my vitals and want to know when I should seek professional help. I am not insured and the cost of a Hospital stay is out of the question.
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4 comments
bookshop_lady on August 19, 2010 at 3:44 pm
First of all, if you think you have a clot, you need a DOCTOR. You can’t "soften" a clot on your own. A clot that breaks lose may cause pain as it travels through the body and briefly occludes smaller blood vessels. But far more frightening is that most clots don’t have any symptoms that they exist OR that they’re moving until they stop in your heart or brain. If you can’t afford the premium for health insurance, how are you going to pay for an ambulance, emergency room and intensive care, the clot-busting drugs (REALLY expensive) and medications to prevent further clots, all the lab tests, etc?
And what if these symptoms that you think are DVTs turn out to be something else completely?
It’s far easier and less dangerous to PREVENT blood clots if you have a verified history of them. Since you don’t have insurance, you’re going to have to stick with non-prescription methods of keeping your blood flowing freely. A regular aspirin every day. Drink LOTS of water, and I mean, 48 to 64 ounces of water every single day, spaced throughout the day. The increase in water that you drink will increase your blood volume by increasing the amount of fluid in your circulatory system. Your platelets are less likely to come into contact with each other or with a bunched up group of blood cells if there is more water for all the cells to float in. And exercise. You need to make a concerted effort to be up and moving frequently. Changing your body position and moving your muscles keeps blood flowing. Cells don’t have a chance to collect in a vein and then get bombarded by the platelets that cause clots if you’re moving your body more and needing the cells moving to transport oxygen. You need to get up and walk around at least every 2 hours. No more couch potato.
Here’s something else you need to do and unfortunately, you either have to wait until you have insurance or you’re going to have to see if the nearest medical school will take you as one of their patients (they usually have a sliding scale based on income). You need a doctor to test you for abnormalities in your blood clotting factors, and you need them to determine whether these abnormalities are genetic. My daughter and I both have a particular clotting factor problem. She has never had blood clots. I have, because when I was a teenager and went on the pill, doctors hadn’t identified yet the blood clotting factor abnormalities that result in blood clots in women who take estrogen. So I got clots in my leg not long after I got married and of course had to stop taking the pill. Then I had clots in the deep pelvic veins that developed while I was pregnant (high estrogen again). So when my daughter went on the pill not long before she got married, she knew to tell her doctor that she needed to be tested for factor abnormalities and of course, there they were. Her kids, boys and girls, will need to be tested.
If you have recurring DVTs, you have something going on besides just being a couch potato. This is serious and needs a definite diagnosis. Again, the cost of the testing is far, far, far less than the cost of a hospital stay to treat DVTs.
Check with the medical school, check with the free clinics in town. Call your county’s Dept. of Social Services and ask them for resources. You can get the tests and you can get assistance with the expense, but it’s on you to find the resources. No one is going to come looking for you to see if you need help – it’s up to you to ask for it.
doomjockey on August 19, 2010 at 3:44 pm
well…im not sure about this one…but…the cost of a hospital stay is a little bit cheaper than a funeral if one of those clots decides to take a pit stop in your brain or lungs…
christina c on August 19, 2010 at 3:44 pm
i have had several strokes over the last several years. i had a very serious one in 2005 and i have to tell you that i didn’t feel any of them just the results of them after i couldn’t talk or hold things or walk,etc.
TweetyBird on August 19, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Question #1: There is no sensation. When a clot breaks loose and migrates, it’s called an embolism.
Uh…what do you mean you have to "soften" a blood clot???? What the h*** are you doing??!!! And you want to know at what point you should seek professional help? The day before yesterday.
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