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Topic: pulmonary embollism (Read 3 times) previous topic - next topic
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pulmonary embollism
Yahoo Message Number: 47904
The seriousness of DVT leading to pulmonary embolism was brought home to me when, following my total knee replacement a couple of years ago, I ended up with a DVT right after after surgery.


 I must weigh in on this discussion.  This is aimed, particularly, at the women in this group who are old enough to be on HRT (or, even on birth control pills).
 My mother had a hip replacement several years ago -- her second.  While she'd had no problems with the first hip replacement, after the second surgery, she, too, got a blood clot in her leg.  At that time, her doctor recommended a series of blood tests to test for the propensity toward clots.
Turns out she had a blood condition that gave her an elevated risk of blood clots.  Since this condition is hereditary, she was advised that all her children should also have blood tests done.
 I did so, and found that I, too, had some of these same factors which makes me at increased risk for both blood clots and cerebral vein thrombosis (a type of stroke)..  I was advised to immediately stop HRT, since HRT can increase chances of blood clots.  I was also advised that if I ever had any kind of surgery, particularly where I'd be in bed for some time afterward, I was to make sure the doctors knew that I was predisposed to having blood clots.
 I also have a very good friend, a fellow RVer, who started HRT and shortly thereafter got a blood clot in her leg that moved to her lungs.
Fortunately, it was caught in time and she's doing fine now, but had to be on Coumadin for several months.
 Why doctors don't test women for these blood factors before putting them on HRT (or birth control pills) is beyond me.  They aren't all that expensive, but even if they were, what's the price for a person's life?

Here are the tests I had:

**Protein C Activity **Prothrombin Gene Analysis (for the Factor II, 20210G>A mutation) **Homocysteine Levels (MTHFR C677T mutation & MTHFR A1298C mutation)

Linda & Earl 2004 23.5'  Red TK From Quartzsite, AZ
Linda Hylton
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] pulmonary embollism
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47905
I'd like to thank all who contributed to this thread. I was completely unaware of the danger caused by sitting too long. You may have saved many lives.

We ate a lot of salad on our last trip and added walnuts and fruit, just because we like them. It was a lazy (Daze) way to get in some essential nutrients. I'm so glad to hear that walnuts are considered healthy again :-).

Karen - sub-freezing in jersey
 
Re: pulmonary embollism
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47912
Linda,

I went through this last year after experiencing leg cramps.  To completely rule out HRT/BCP-induced clotting, it's actually quite an extensive battery of tests and very costly to do - I had 19 vials of blood drawn (some very large), some tests have to be processed within a matter of hours of the blood being drawn, and looking a the insurance claims, it was almost $6K in bloodwork.  The doc (my GYN sent me to a hematologist) told me that most insurance companies won't pay for the testing, either. I imagine a lot of women wouldn't be able to pay for that out of their own pockets.  I guess it is a rare-enough problem for it to truly be HRT/BCP related that it isn't routinely done.  The risk from post-surgery, however, is probably a lot more common and I wonder if the tests you had aren't now becoming part of pre-admission for surgery, as DVT is getting much more attention these days.

When we travel, we swap drivers every 3 hours (roughly 200 miles).
At swap time, we'll take the dogs for a brisk walk as well.  I would imagine that single RV-ers and those couples where only one person drives are more likely to go past the 200 mile mark without stopping.

Michelle

--- In lifewithalazydazerv@yahoogroups.com, Linda & Earl Hylton wrote
 
Quote
Why doctors don't test women for these blood factors before putting
them on
 
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HRT (or birth control pills) is beyond me.  They aren't all that
expensive,