Worried About Pulmonary Embolism

No, but my mother has it, so don't know what that counts as anything?

Hi, yeah, no sharp pains just a slight catching in my chest and throat, mainly at night, so it might be beta blockers, I don't know.

Thanks for reply.

Hi, I haven't taken the pill in many years. 

Thanks for reply!

Even if you haven’t taken the pill in years you can have small clots for years without realising. Also you said you had a sedentary lifestyle that is a big risk factor. Beta blockers can sometimes mask the symptoms of PEs. How long have you been on them?

I don't know whether you mean it or not, but I suffer with severe anxiety and the way your wording it is making me incredibly panicky and upset. You might not mean too, but it's kind of scaring me.

Also, I've never heard of that about the Pill, considering it has been at least 4 years since I had one, never heard it being in the system that long. Also, when I said sedentary, I still get some form of exercise a day, from walking my dogs for 30-60 minutes. I also do chores around the house, so not completely sedentary in the sense you may be referring too. 

I've also never heard of Beta Blockers masking symptoms of PE, which now has scared the s**t out of me to be honest.

 

What I meant by it masks the symptoms of PEs is it slows the heart rate down, because I was taking beta blockers when I went to A&E with my PE symptoms and they missed it, so did my GP and the ambulance guys who all told me I had anxiety. I wasn’t trying to scare you, I am sorry. I had my PEs for years before they were finally diagnosed and I would hate for someone else to suffer for years in the pain, breathlessness and fear I had with everyone saying it’s just anxiety and musculoskeletal pain. I said it more out of concern that you make sure you get the correct tests that can hopefully rule out that diagnosis. I can sometimes be a bit clumsy with my words, so I apologise again.

It's okay, I've just posted stuff in the past, and people have commented to scare me so I get paranoid now. 

Well, I don't know if these count, but I've had several ECG's over the last few months, a special ECG as well (I don't know what it is, but they attach them everywhere? Then I've had about a month ago, a 24 hour heart monitor. Would the doctor not pick up sounds or irregularities? I read that most PE's almost always occur with a DVT from the legs? Is that not true? Can they just appear for no reason? Is there no underlining condition that can cause them?

I'm very confused. I also suffer from a constant stuff/congested nose that makes me feel very short of breath or contributes to it, not sure. I've no chest pains at all at the moment. My should blade pains I've had for months. I also have had a lot of blood tests over the last few months, they were normal. 

I'm not as short of breath today, it comes and goes from time to time. Last couple days it's eased off, and doesn't cause me any problems when walking around or going upstairs, nor when I'm out and about either. It tends to flare up at night sometimes, but not to the point where I can't breathe, and when I take a deep breath in, theirs no pain at the moment or when it feels tight or a little restricted.

Best explanation I can give of it. I don't know, I'm very scared of everything.

The best thing you can to to ease your nerves is ask your doctor about a D-dimer blood test. If you have a PE you can get treatment and if you don’t, it’s a fear you can get rid of. 

I never had a DVT just lots of little clots. The pain and breathing problems I had weren’t constant, they would come and go, but they got worse the longer I had them. I took lots of different medications for pain, anxiety and palpitations which would help with some of, but not all the symptoms. 

Don't let fear come between you and your health. Go to your doctor and say you want a D-dimer because it will put your mind at rest if nothing else.

A lot of people have been saying that test is very unreliable? My symptoms were worse a few days ago, but have improved the last couple of days, only mild feeling of tightness/ or short of breath (best way to describe it is the feeling of your throat being slightly constricted, and your chest) so not sure what that means?

Symptoms can get get better and worse day to day. It could be the feeling in your throat is globus pharyngeus maybe. It maybe another respiratory problem.

A D-dimer test is more reliable than nothing, it is more likely to give a false positive than false negative. In which case if it gives a positive, then your doctor will be more likely to give you the more accurate CT scan with contrast, which is what I would really recommend. If you live in the UK it is hard to get this kind of test on the NHS, I had to pay for mine privately.

I live in Ireland, we have the HSE, very much the same as the NHS, so I don't know how much it would cost me or not. We have medical cards here, if you have one everything is pretty much free up until a certain point I think. I'll have to double check about it though.

Hi moon,

I am surprised you had to pay for a CT scan, when I asked the GP for a D-dimer test last friday and he said it is not worth it, he said could send me for a CT scan if I wanted, I am in north wales. I declined that as I do not think too many x-rays are good for the body. I am due an echogram this month.

I am talking about before diagnosis, if you don’t fit in their stereotype of a PE sufferer, they don’t want to waste the money. I am sure this differs in different areas though. I was seen by a doctor in a&e who checked to see if I had a DVT and I didn’t, but didn’t think I had anything wrong with my lungs because my chest X-ray was normal and that unreliable pulse oximeter thing! My GP was the same, she put the pulse oximeter thing on listened to my chest and insisted there was nothing wrong. 

I'm getting very confused by the time showing when a comment was posted.

Anyway, I wanted to ask about the Pulse Oximeter. Would your oxygen level not show some indication of a blockage somewhere? Or Is that solely related to the clots only being in the lungs. 

Can I ask, did you have a predisposition to clotting? Any factors beforehand? Any blood disorders or lifestyle choices? They don't just pop out of nowhere do they? It says most common cause of all PE comes from a DVT, pregnancy, elderly, genetric predisposition, blood disorder, hospital, injury, surgery or long distance travel. So a PE can show up out of nowhere without anything to predetermine it?

Sorry, I just feel like I need more information on PE's then chest pains, or shortness of breath or back pain because that is very vague for me to understand (obviously doesn't help online lol!) But some people have said that if I had one, I'd know about it, and that I'd be in a lot of pain, or I wouldn't be able to take a breath in without a sharp severe pain? 

If anyone else wants to add anything to this comment to help me about Pulmonary Embolism, please do, I'm just very very scared about it, I suffer with horrendous anxiety and I worry about blood clots and Pulmonary Embolisms.

I was replying to a message from Jen86183 that is probably why you got confused.

So first of all a pulse oximeter isn’t 100% accurate. I have bought a good quality one and it can say my oxygen level is 89 on one finger then I take it off and put it on the finger on the other hand and it is 96! If I leave it on my finger for about 5 minutes it can change from low to high over time.

I was on a high risk contraceptive pill (Dianette) which is banned in a lot of countries, I also have PCOS which I have just found out puts up your risk when you are on the pill, I also smoked on and off when I was on the pill, I also consumed a lot of second hand smoke when I wasn’t smoking. 

Originally with my breathing I struggled taking a deep breath in and I thought it was allergies, but when my heart would race, I would get out of breath like I had been running but a lot more unpleasant. I had multiple small PEs and I knew something was up but as I had never heard of them before, I obviously didn’t know that is what I had. The feeling of one big PE is probably different to lots of little ones. I also get this dull ache all around my lungs, that maybe inflammation I don’t know. I also get little sharp pains that go into my armpits and when I cough it feels a bit gravelly on my right side. 

Another thing I would get was an electric shock feeling waking me up and sometimes pins and needles in my hands and feet and cramp in my leg. 

I hope that helps a bit. 

Don’t panic about it just organise an appointment for a test because the longer you leave it, the more you will work yourself up.

Thank you for sharing all that with me, I am glad you're doing well now though! Honestly! I think I panic about the really big ones the most, that suddenly seem to just kill you or as the article's say. 

You've been very informative and shared so much, so thanks again!

I never knew I had a pulmonary embolism, I did have my usual severe angina attacks, the one thing I did notice was that I got breathless just getting in and out of bed, showering and walking a couple of steps, I just assumed it was due to my angina, I never had the sharp pains breathing in or out or the back pain. What alerted the triage nurse , she asked me why I as limping, I told her I had pulled my calf muscle while painting, I twisted the wrong way, she pulled up my trouser leg and noticed it slightly swollen and very hot to touch, tuned out to be a suspected DVT, D-dimer blood test came back way off the charts, contrast CT scan ordered, result was blood clots everywhere in both my lungs. After awhile I developed some back pain and pain on inhaling and exhaling.