03-29-2010, 02:06 PM
I am 27 and in August of 2009 I started taking birth control which i was only on for 3 weeks when my entire left leg turned purple and blue and swelled up. I had to go to the ER where they diagnosed me with a blood clot and put me on coumadin, compression stockings and shots (i forget the drug name). I was on bedrest for 2 months from september through november unable to walk, wear jeans, go to school, work or have any kind of a normal life and i had to go on disability. I had to give up my relationship with my boyfriend because it was a newish relationship and i felt like he shouldn't have to deal with my health problems. In February, they took me off coumadin and instead of feeling better, my problems got considerably worse. Everyday my calf n foot on the left leg would cramp up to the point i couldn't go anywhere because i couldn't handle the pain and also I started having groin pain in my left leg so bad that I couldn't stay seated for longer than 10 minutes. Driving my car was almost impossible and I had started school again in january and I could barely sit in class for the hour lecture. My doctor seemed to think i just needed physical therapy so I went to see her and she showed me my ER report and also the records of my catscan. No one had ever showed me these records before, they claimed i had all the information that i needed to have but they were so wrong.
My doctors had told me I had a blood clot but no one ever mentioned to me where exactly it was. I knew it affected my left leg but I wasn't sure of the actual location. I was informed that it was in my left iliac vein which is why my left leg was still having problems. My doctor kept prescribing me new pain pills after that in hopes that it would help. I was taking vicodin which ive been on since september and now tramadol which is a non-narcotic opiate but it works as a narcotic and i feel absolutely crazy taking it. These two drugs together gave me some relief but not enough to make me stop questioning what was actually wrong with me.
A couple weeks ago I emailed my doctor and requested a referral to go see a vascular specialist. At first she wouldn't give me the referral claiming she was taking care of the follow-up care and she didn't think anything was really wrong with me. However, I knew something was wrong and would not take no for an answer and got my referral and went to see the vascular specialist where he proceeded to show me my catscan slides and showed me where my clot was and how i have May-Thurner syndrome. At first i was mortified because first of all i didn't realize i had anything else other than the clot and secondly I couldn't believe that i would have gotten something like that after i had cleaned up my life. In June of 2009, I had quit smoking, started working out on a regular basis at the gym, started eating healthy and felt great about my positive lifestyle and then i got the blood clot and was so depressed that something like that could happen to me.
However, I went home and read the articles about it and found this website and i realized that with this condition, its something that would have happened anyways even if i wasn't on birth control and even if i was already the healthiest person alive. Knowing that has made my quality of life a lot better. I am going to get the stent put in, in mid june after school lets out and i am hoping that it helps get rid of some of my pain. I hate the fact i am going to have to go back on coumadin but if it helps relieve any of this chronic pain i have on a daily basis than i am all for it. And after reading people's stories on here, I felt much more connected to what this syndrome really means so i figured i would share my story. I actually feel better having told a community of people that understand what i am going through and wont just tell me to get over it. so thank you
My doctors had told me I had a blood clot but no one ever mentioned to me where exactly it was. I knew it affected my left leg but I wasn't sure of the actual location. I was informed that it was in my left iliac vein which is why my left leg was still having problems. My doctor kept prescribing me new pain pills after that in hopes that it would help. I was taking vicodin which ive been on since september and now tramadol which is a non-narcotic opiate but it works as a narcotic and i feel absolutely crazy taking it. These two drugs together gave me some relief but not enough to make me stop questioning what was actually wrong with me.
A couple weeks ago I emailed my doctor and requested a referral to go see a vascular specialist. At first she wouldn't give me the referral claiming she was taking care of the follow-up care and she didn't think anything was really wrong with me. However, I knew something was wrong and would not take no for an answer and got my referral and went to see the vascular specialist where he proceeded to show me my catscan slides and showed me where my clot was and how i have May-Thurner syndrome. At first i was mortified because first of all i didn't realize i had anything else other than the clot and secondly I couldn't believe that i would have gotten something like that after i had cleaned up my life. In June of 2009, I had quit smoking, started working out on a regular basis at the gym, started eating healthy and felt great about my positive lifestyle and then i got the blood clot and was so depressed that something like that could happen to me.
However, I went home and read the articles about it and found this website and i realized that with this condition, its something that would have happened anyways even if i wasn't on birth control and even if i was already the healthiest person alive. Knowing that has made my quality of life a lot better. I am going to get the stent put in, in mid june after school lets out and i am hoping that it helps get rid of some of my pain. I hate the fact i am going to have to go back on coumadin but if it helps relieve any of this chronic pain i have on a daily basis than i am all for it. And after reading people's stories on here, I felt much more connected to what this syndrome really means so i figured i would share my story. I actually feel better having told a community of people that understand what i am going through and wont just tell me to get over it. so thank you