First calf muscle tear, now it turns into a blood clot

"m no doctor, but seek professional treatment for the clot. It is a potentially dangerous situation.

Matt Cazalas
Technical Writer

network cables

What blood work did you get done to determine if there's a clot in your leg?

 I'm guessing you're talking about a DVT, or deep venous thrombosis. They can happen in association with trauma or surgery, or with long periods of immobility. Most of them just cause pain and swelling, while others can flick off clot that goes to the lungs--that's termed a PE, pulmonary embolus, and can be life-threatening.

DVT's can, in rare cases, cause big problems, but mostly they just cause pain and swelling. The treatment is anticoagulation, i.e. blood thinners, for 3-6 months. This keeps the clot from propagating while the body reabsorbs it. Usually there's no additional treatment. You do need to be careful, though, while you're on blood thinners, because your risk of bleeding is higher.

I'm guessing the blood test your doc sent is a D-dimer. When it comes back positive or indeterminate (and it will, because it almost always does), ask about a venous duplex of your leg--it's an ultrasound study that will actually tell you whether it's a DVT.

 Hope that helps...

I got blood clots in my calf after reconstructive ankle surgery. It is very painful and sore to the touch. My doctor was able to locate them with ultrasound. He broke them up using some kind of ultrasonic vibration and put me on an aspirin regiment for a few weeks. He said the clots were due to the immediate decrease in activity. I wrecked my ankle 3 weeks before the White Rock Marathon so I was running 37 miles per week at the time of my injury. Once the clots were broken up the relief was immediate and never happened again. Good Luck and keep us posted.

chevy57  

I hope that was a different problem from DVT, because that's really not how you would treat a true DVT--at least no way that I know of...

A duplex ultrasound is really the best to look for a DVT. Unless he's getting the MRI to look at your muscles/ligaments, but MRI isn't great for diagnosing DVT...

Here's a link to the Society for Vascular Surgery website, which has some good info about DVT, and how it's diagnosed and treated-- http://www.vascularweb.org/patients/NorthPoint/Deep_Vein_Thrombosis.html

The INR would be normal regardless. I mentioned that the D-Dimer would be positive because it's a very specific test, i.e. if it's negative it's extremely unlikely that you have a DVT, but it's kinda worthless because just about any illness/injury/evil humor in the body will make it positive without you necessarily having a DVT. Duplex is the test--hopefully that's what he/she ordered.

Good luck, I hope everything works out, and if you have any questions/concerns I can help with drop me a PM.

I've got antiphospholipid antibody syndrome which increases my risk of having blood clots - which I have had one in my calf. (about 16 years ago)....memory is a bit cloudy...but I know I was hospitalized and put on IV blood thinners - and diagnosis was both visual - red hard area that was swollen, hot, and tender -  as well as ultrasound.  I was also told to go off of the bc pill (or at least take ones without estrogen) since they also increase risk for clots. (btw - 2 of my kids were conceived on progesterone only bc pills...but that is another story).

I am on 'baby aspirin' preventatively now 'for life'....

You mean it's a very sensitive but not specific test.  The negative predictive value is high, but the positive predictive value is relatively low.

With a muscle tear, a d-Dimer is basically worthless because it's always going to be positive.  You just go straight to the ultrasound.  Not sure what role MRI plays in all of this either if he's just looking for clot.

True--my mistake. I misspoke. But at least we agree it was a throwaway test.

X2.

4 years ago I had a spontaneous pulmonary embolus (clot presenting in the lung), the symptoms mimicking kidney stones (which I also have) consiting of flank pain for several days before going into respiratory distress during the night. If my wife had not been home (she works shift work) I would have died because I was too short of breath to even speak. I nearly arrested in the hospital and was found to have 4 huge clots blocking the blood supply to most of my right lung.  I've been on 'blood thinners' ever since; one time my serum levels dropped and I had a recurrence of another PE 2 years later. Internists and pulmonologists could not find the cause but a haematomolgist who tested me for everything under the sun found I have a heterozygous prothrombin gene mutation (#G20210 , clotting factor II), a hereditary disorder that causes spoontaneous clotting, DVTs and PEs.

Considering that nearly 30% of 1st cases of spontaneous PE result in death, I consider myself extremely lucky and have had my kids tested (all negative). 

So I know what a pain it is to be on coumadin for the long haul - I had to give up one of my hobbies, being straight razor collecting and shaving - can be hard at times to stop the bleeding. I now wear a RoadID in case I kiss the pavement so that first responders know I have the potential to bleed out.

Hi there.  I'm a friend of Matt3liv and he directed me here.  It looks like you've got lots of good advice and a diagnosis already.   I had a clot in my clavical area in February.  I had NO idea what it was and couldn't figure out why after running 3 miles in FL my arm and fingers were blown up like a sausage.  My clot broke off (or they think it did) and landed me with several PE's (pulmonary emboli).  I spend 7 days in the hospital and have been on coumadin since.

Your relief, now that you are on blood thinners, should be relatively quick (at least mine was), now it's just a matter of caution and watching yourself.

Best of luck to you.

Polly  

Well, certainly not great news, but I'm glad that the appropriate tests were done to establish a diagnosis and treat the clot.

 As for whether this is a result of something bigger... tough to say. If you really did injure your leg, then most would consider that an inciting factor for your DVT, and just treating it once should be sufficient. This is a good time, though, to ask members of your family if there have ever been any problems with DVT/PE, and if a trend begins to emerge, then it might be worth bringing up with your doctor.

I was kinda surprised at how many folks here have hypercoagulable states, because really those folks are the small minority--most people have a discernible cause and just need one round of treatment. It's when DVT and PE seem to appear out of nowhere in otherwise healthy people that you start casting a wide net for genetic disorders, cancers, and other anatomic problems.

Good luck, and take it easy with the training for a while, at least till your INR settles out and you're on a regular dose of coumadin.

I have an extenssive very healthy runnying background; I am now 57 yrs old, and consider myself very fit; I run one day (18-20km), do weights the next day (up to this point had been avoiding doing leg weights), and also ride about 100M per week-then repeat the same cycle.

Ten days ago did a leg workout (wo) in the weight room (leg presses and calf raises using 400lbs); that's a wo that I had not done for a long time. Two days later run 10M and did stairs, the day after my left calf was sore and was getting swollen, and withing 2 days after that it had balloned and was very sore;

Did an u/s and found a blood clot (b/c); started on blood thinners (b/t) (self inject them) for 14 days and then pills. I dont fit any of the usual profilling that causes b/c (hereditary, operations or broken legs, etc.), and all blood tests were normal. Further tests are under way to determine if factors that contribute to b/c exist in my blood chemistry, factors that decided to manifest now; If possitive I ll be on b/t for the rest of my life; If not I will take b/t for a while and hope for the best. 

I ve read that b/t happen to repair injurred vains (appart for those who may fit the usual b/t profilling).

If anybody fits this scenario please post your experiences.

Here's another one, although I don't mess around with things as elementary as DVTs.  I went straight to PEs.  Twice.  Never found a DVT despite many ultrasounds.   The first time when I was in the best shape of my life (several months post IM).  Had extensive cancer screening and all the genetic blood workup at UCLA (including a cool test where I guess they mix my blood with a viper's venom.....).  Nothing, got the all clear.  Did my 6 month coumadin tour, off the drugs for 3 months, then got them again for no apparent reason.  So I am also on coumadin for life (or, as the docs like to say "indefinitely").  I test my INR at home, and basically live my life as normal other than a daily pill.  I basically don't let the coumadin stop me from doing anything I want to do.  I dive, do tris, open water swims, trail running, etc. etc.   There are certain roads I no longer ride on, or people I ride with, wear a medic alert tag, etc., but I know the risks (as does my wife). 

To the OP, you should do your homework and be aware that while you are on thinners, you do have an increased bleeding risk.  But it doesn't mean you cannot live your life the way you want

ETA - actually, there are some things I don't do.  I used to go to pretty remote locations to dive, where it takes anyehwere from 12 or 24 hours by boat to get there.  I am not ready to do that again, but as a doc said to me, maybe someday I will be.  I would be worried being that far from medical attention should I suffer a head or internal injuries (this to me is the real bleeding risk, not so much external cuts, etc.)

Your experience is not uncommon. Athletes are at higher risk of blood clots especially if they do heavy lifting and cause injury to the muscles or veins (endothelium).

The main risk factors of a blood clot can be summed up by Virchows's Triad http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virchow%27s_triad

&... The take away message is that a painful swollen leg needs to be evaluated be a medical professional as it has the potential to be life threatening.