Hey all - glad there's a forum devoted to DVT; ironically I started on the knee1 forums for questions on ACL recon.
Well, I'm 23 and I had my ACL recon done on my right knee on May 30th this year, and all was going well until about June 7th. I developed this intense pain in my right calf which I first passed off as muscle pain due to me being out of shape. That day I had started doing at-home exercises and then the pain followed, and it felt like intense pressure, such as a charlie horse. The next day I continued with more exercise and the pain just increased. Then the morning of June 9th I was feeling better but decided to research online about any odd pain related to ACL surgery and that's when I bumped into some incidents of people having blood clots and DVT. Seeing the life-threatening risks of this, I decided to admit myself to the hospital that day, and upon getting an ultrasound, I did indeed have a blood clot.
I was kept in the hospital for 5 days total with an IV of Heparin, and 5mg doses of Coumadin. Upon discharge I was given a prescription for 5mg Coumadin and I went with the generic stuff called Warfarin, which seemingly does the same stuff.
A few days later, I find out that my calf pain is minimal, but that right behind my knee I had a pain that was tender to the touch, and made it almost impossible to straighten my leg without excruciating pain. Again, I thought this was just muscle pain, so I tried a few things, taking a warm bath or whatnot to calm my muscles, using icy hot, etc. 2 days after that, the pain migrated to my inner thigh. I did more research online and looked at a diagram of the main artery that my clot had started from in my calf. Lo and behold, the diagram was dead-on, showing how the clot migrated from my calf, behind my knee, and shifted to my inner thigh.
I went back to the hospital June 19th. The pain was unbearable (I gave it a 9 out of 10 on the pain scale)
and they gave me something called Diladed (sp?) and man, that was good painkiller! But anyway, I was back on Heparin and was released the evening of June 21st after having a couple does of Coumadin that were doubled (10mg.) The docs said that my blood level was within desired levels and to go back to the original 5mg doses. I got worried as it seemed the original doses didn't help any.
As of today I still have pain in my inner thigh and it seems the clot moved slightly, going into my groin area. As of tomorrow I have an appointment which I made myself with a vascular surgeon. I want a second opinion on all of this and I am strongly considering getting a filter installed to stop the clot. This seems to be a very rare condition as my doctors say they've never seen anticoagulants not work for this, and I feel this clot is out to kill me with a vengeance.
Post your thoughts/incidents here - I'd like to know if I'm doing the right thing in considering a filter. I'm very impatient right now and have every right to be because it seems my doctors aren't of much help right now.
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