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Been googling, wish I hadn't

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youngatheart1
youngatheart1

Hi, recently posted about out of the blue DVT on thigh in early December.  GP said about tests for cancer then chose not to do them when I said I was on HRT.  Bored today, so have been goolging and came across an NHS article from 2012 stating that all patients with DVT for now reason, ie flying should be screened for cancers as 1 out of every 10 will develop a cancer in the next 6 to 12 months and by catching now could be the difference between surviving or not.  I know there must be people with DVT's who do not get cancer, but I am now panicking as GP not checking me at all.  Were you all checked, if so what checks.  I have recently had age related mammogram, cervical smear and ultrasound on stomach, liver etc, all clear.  Sorry for being so drippy but not sure where to go from here.

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • grace42110
    grace42110 youngatheart1

    Posted

    Speak to your Dr if you are concerned. I just had a simple blood test to rule it out.  I would probably think they are putting your clot down to being on HRT - not that it will stop you being concerned. I am waiting to see hematologist for further tests but I am on my 2nd clot.  Everyone seems to get different info and tests so can be confusing.
    • youngatheart1
      youngatheart1 grace42110

      Posted

      Hi Grace, thanks, I had lots of blood tests in A&E whilst waiting so hopefully they will have checked for anything then.  Need to see GP about stopping apixiban and will ask then. 

  • jordi77
    jordi77 youngatheart1

    Posted

    Hi youngatheart,

    You're not being drippy, I think it is a very reasonable concern once you've seen this info on the NHS website. At any rate, please note there is a lot of people on this site that have had blood clots years or decades ago, and have gone on to live life quite normally. I have myself similar worries. Most probably, you (and me) have no cancer. But the worry can be horrible to manage, and I think that we patients are not being given proper information. Actually, when talking with my GP, I frequently feel he doesn't know much about blood clots and warfarin, he always refers to whatever they tell me in the Warfarin Clinic.

    I had a first DVT in my upper arm 18 months ago when I was 38. At the time I was living in Spain, and spent a week in hospital. At first, the docs asked me if I had lost weight and other 'strange' questions - they were checking for the cancer options. In the end, nothing.

    About 2 months ago, I had a second DVT in the same place, this time with less pain and no swelling -- which led doctors to think it couldn't be a DVT but just something muscular. After two weeks of pain, I finally got an ultrasound scan at the hospital, which showed clearly the clot. In this instance, being in UK, the hospital docs just gave me Apixaban and sent me home. The next day I had to go back, as I had a reaction to Apixaban, so it was discontinued and moved to Warfarin.

    Since then, my INR is monitored by (specialist) nurses at the "Warfarin Clinic" (whom I never see, they just call me to tell me my INR and dose), and I will get a MRI scan to check for possible thoracic outlet syndrome (a possible cause of clots in the arms). But I will see no doctor with actual training on the subject until late April... This change in patient approach with respect to what I had in Spain is very shocking, and I feel much less safe / well treated (medically) now.

    This interim period is very stressing, as you pay a lot of attention to any 'unusual' sensations from your body, or just googling and seeing all the food and drug interactions. This stress is very natural -- at the end of the day, it's an important change in our lives. The cancer link is obviously a big worry as well, which I have not managed to transmit to my GP.

    So looking forward to meeting the haematologist and finding out more then!

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