Blood thinner and cycling

[lemondsteel]

I feel this needed a new thread. Keno asked for comments on others using Coumadin.

Hey Keno, I posted the earlier blood clots message. My episode was similar and my thoughts much the same while in the hospital. I knew I wasn't going to see the brite lights but no one else did. By the way I went to the ER on Friday night and they did an EKG and chest xray and wrote it off as somthing minor. Sent me home and by Sunday mornig I could hardly get out of bed. Pulmonary embolism is often mis-diagnosed and death results!!!!!!!
What was strange to the doctors was that I no longer had any clots in my legs. I wish I had. Everyone, was scratching their head about why a perfectly healthy male with low blood pressure and a resting heart rate in the low 50's would have blood clots (I'm 54 yrs young by the way) Now the 6 doctors I see (pulmonary, hepatologist, GP, cardiologist, etc) all scratch their head and are sending through exhaustive testing. They are not convinced I had clots in my legs. I know I did ....but when do they listen to a patient. I even had the pulmonary doctor tell me, while in the hospital, that I must have cancer or a tumor because of all the large clots (6). Made me sink lower than my socks. She made the statement before any tests. Wife and I were devastated. Tests for cancer were negative. GREAT doctor, huh! My thoughts on the coumadin.... the hepatologist said eat the way you always have and ignore the green vegtable, vitamin K thing. Let the blood work dictate your coumadine level. Mine usually changes every 2 weeks. It started out a 2mg and has been on 3 mg for weeks. As for hemoraging (sp?) after an accident. My life has been good and I will not live my life in fear.
If I go ..so be it. I have ridden for 30 years, racing touring and mtn. biking. Can't and won't stop. I wear a small gold disc around my neck that has a medical alert insignia and coumadin engraved on the back. There is a forum support group for coumadin users. I, and many other, find that coumadin makes me very tired and kind of in a fog all day. Doesn't effect my riding just when I am not active. It also gives me sever heart burn everyonce in a while. I could go on but if you need to contact me feel free jgscisum@insightbb.com

IT IS AMAZING HOW MANY ATHLETES EXPERIENCE DVT. Don't let the ER mis-diagnose you. It almost killed me!

[KirkKaas]

Since my heart attack last summer ( I posted the story then so won't go into the details) I have been taking all three of these anti-cougulants. While I agree I often feel sluggish and the quality of my workouts has suffered I have decided to keep riding. I have been counseled not to ride alone but I commute 3 miles each way to work so a partner for this activity is out of the question. Most other times I ride with others.

Kirk

[keno]

I figured that was why you put up a new thread, and it occurred to me to do the same but you had already done the job. A few thoughts, and I will email you privately (mine is keno@blast.net), but others who are interested can know. Also, anyone who wants to write me about this subject, please feel free to do so.

You were flat out lucky, as you know, having had the er send you home before getting it straight. I had a DVT about four years ago, and that may have focused the docs on PEs given the shortness of breath. Yours was a much closer call than my own, which wasn't chopped liver itself. I was lucky in that my hospital of choice is Morristown Memorial in NJ, and is noted for its expertise in heart, lung and vein problems. My wife used to work for a medical devices company, C.R. Bard, and was able to tap into the opinions of top docs around the country in order to get their views. Each spoke highly of my docs, naming some of them before she did.

The pelvis, as well as the legs, can be sources of clots becoming PEs, which I hope your docs have told you (not that there is anything to be done about it).

Given that you described your PEs as massive, I'm curious to know why they haven't made Coumadin your pal for life as they have with me. Also curious to know if they talked about a Greenfield filter. This is my second episode, which may be why I'm a lifer. Incidentally, I'm 64 with a resting pulse in the mid 40s.

There is much voodoo about clots and I have gotten contradictory opinions on a variety of subjects from some top docs.

Like you, and as I mentioned in my thread, I intend to return to my usual routine eventually, a soon eventually.

BTW, as I recall I did mention your thread in my own and remembered yours well. I provided in a response in yours a reference to an article by a world class cyclist who has had two episodes of PEs. His research about DVTs and endurance athletes is there, and I expect that you read it. I asked my hemotologist about endurance athletes and DVTs, and he was not aware of any science on the subject, but that means nothing. It strikes me as unusual that a well-conditioned athlete would be seeing the kind of docs you and I now do before throwing a clot. Anyway, I've got the problem, for whatever reason (there is a question if I have a factor V Leiden genetic issue predisposing me to clots), so I'll deal with it and, like you, not let it run the show.

keno