WHAT!!! Blood Clots

[lemondsteel]

Ok, Here's one that will wakw you up!

I ride maybe 500 mi a month and stay fairly active if I'm not riding. One month ago my mother was in the hospital for surgery and was diagnosed with lymphoma. I stayed at the hospital probably 18 hours a day for 6 days and was sitting around and being very sedintary (sp?). Towards the end of the same week I noticed a sensation in my calf that was very sensitive to touch. Must be surface clots from sitting around too much?!?!? I massaged the calf put some heat on it and took aspirin. A few day later it seemed better. One week later (Friday) I started having sever chest and shoulder pain. On Sunday morning I was rushed to the ER and was quickly rushed to critical care after a cat scan. Diagnosis was multiple large blood clots in both lungs. Docs didn't think I would make it through the night. I wound up spending 5 days in critical care and 2 days in intensive care. It is now 3 weeks later and I have finally been released to ride again, (slow riding). I will be on blood thinners for 6 months. LESSON TO LEARN... don't treat yourself if you think it is only surface clots. Mine were deep vein and I didn't realize it! they moved straight to the lungs!

[67-59]

This can happen to anyone, regardless of fitness level. A few years ago, a friend went to Mt. Everest -- he wasn't going to the top, but planned to get a couple of stops above base camp. He walked, ran and biked quite a bit, and was in good condition. Unfortunately, he took a fall, separated his shoulder and had to be airlifted off the mountain.

Alsa, that wasn't the end of his ordeal. He slept most of the way on the long plane ride home (thanks to the painkillers). The many hours of sitting caused clots in his calves. He was lucky to have lots of friends who are docs, and got treated before it turned to anything worse.....

[jel]

This same thing recently happened to a friend of mine. Here's an article written by one of our local gals:

http://www.velogirls.com/resources/publications/dvt.pdf

[keno]

I have an article written by a world-class cyclist and friend who writes about his blood clots and research he did on the problem. It turns out according to his research that endurance athletes, which most of us are regardless of talent levels, are more susceptible, compared with the entire population, to dvt, deep vein thrombosis (clots).

Send me your email address, mine is keno@blast.net, and I'll send you a copy of the article, or you can read it at http://tsvnews.blogspot.com/2005/10/blood-clots-and-endurance-athlete-by.html.

keno