Serious concerns about my legs!! blood clot ? help ! hey everyone, ive not posted on here for a while but last time i got an injury i got a lot of really heplful advice from here so im back asking for help again. Bascially ive just been out training in thailand for the last two months. For a while i had no problems training twice a day. after about 5 weeks i started to get this problem where during training my calf muscle in my right leg would start to ache, like it was full of lactic acid. This would rapidly increase in pain until my leg really hurt almost too much to put weight on it. It feeels like the muscles in my calf are really really tight and i want to hit the muscle to try and loosen it up again. Shortly after this i noticed that my foot would go cold and numb, and a bit tingley, sometimes i think it looks a bit pale/yellow as well. This is the point where normally it all starts to be to much that i cant train any more and i have to sit down. After about 5-10 mins of rest it can feel beter but if i resume exercise it comes back on very quickly. Ive been home a week and rested it all week but trained today and had the same problem. Also in the last week my foot started to swell up like it was full of fluid, the swelling was around my ankle and top/side of my foot. It got quite bad an i nearly went to the docotors as was worried. I mean you could push your thumb into it and there would be a thumb print for a good minute. Every suggested probably was to do with sweating out there so much so i was taking magneseum, potasium and multi vitamins, since ive been home ive also been taking taurine. While in thailand i tried goin to deep tissue massage specialist. She said that muscles in my calf were the hardest shed ever felt i was in agone during the sessions, she said that all the muscles in my calf and leg were in cramp ? and so hard/tight that the blood and stuff couldnt flow properly? but im not sure, if it was a case of sweating out nutrients why they woudl they still be like that now that im back in not so sunny england. I trained today and my leg was killling me after 15 mins, hours later and i can still feel that my leg isnt right. it swelled a bit but seemed to go down again once the pain in my calf subsided. has anyone got any idea what this could be, it was happening a bit to my left leg as well in thialand although no where near as bad as my right. Ive tried googling it all but not having much luck. Was wondering if it could be shin splints? i was worried it could be a blockage in an artery or vein in my leg but i guess if that was the case id likely be a bit more ill by now. please any ideas of hlep, or anyone else who has had this give me something! im at a lose end. I cant train like this, i have no idea what is going on and my leg is starting to really get me down !
yeh i nearly went but it seemed to start going back down again, plus out there you have to pay to do to the docotrs and i didnt have any money... Do you think it sounds serious enough to go? im never sure at what point im being paranoid or when i actually should go
Forgot to mention that after about 4 session with deep tissue the muscles in my leg were softer again. She said that she thought it must ahve been a problem for a long time and at the time i couldnt think but thinking back i have occasionally had this problem come and go, sometimes when walking a short distance had my calves feel very tight and painful. Prior to going to thailand i think it must have been a problem sometimes because id always spend ages trying to massage my calves with some boxing linment to warm them up to try and avoid problems with my calf muscles ?? so seems like perhaps its been a problem which has gotten gradually worse and worse, thailand just killed it comeppltely traininig twice a day 6 days a week. During this week i was walking a short distance and nearly had to stop because of the pain coming on in my calf muscles
thanks for the replys guys yeh i think ive definetly reached the point where illl book something monday when the GP's is open again. has anyone got any suggestions what this could be ? or experiance with something like this ?
Well Tim you might have a compartment syndrome of the leg. The denting when you put your thumb into your leg is called pitting oedema. As I obviously can't examine you online I would also say go see your doctor. The doc might order a ultrasound scan to see what your leg is like or a pressure test or send you to a consultant. A simple thing you might look at is whether you have a pulse or not which is something you should note in case the leg settles before you see the doc. You could also potentially have a deep vein thrombosis secondary to trauma to the leg (ie kicking or being kicked) which might also present in a similar way. Both conditions are potentially serious enough that you should be examined properly. A DVT is is often treated with blood thinners until the clots have dissolved safely. A compartment syndrome might need to be reviewed by a surgeon. Chances are that you have something much simpler but its always better to be safe than sorry as the resulting damage of either of these two problems can be quite serious. Not to scare you but seriously see a doctor. powchoy
Thanks Powchoy, gonna go to the Walkin centre today and get someone to look at my leg i think. Last night and now today it seems to have a dull ache constantly which is more uncomfortable than painful but doesnt seem to go away... Oh well had nothing else planned for my sunday anyway lol - thanks for the advice guys! Much Love for MAP
Thanks for the advice, went to A&E today, had fun 3hour wait there lol. THe doctor was reasonably concerned at least and didnt just sent me home. Said that there was a pulse in my foot so he didnt think was compartment symdrome but that the thought there was a posisblity i had a small blood clot in my leg. Unfortunetly (NHS) hospitals dont carry out scans over the weekend. So instead i had a massive injection of something which thins my blood right into my stomache ! has a giant bubble now on my stomache ?l lol. Anyway i have to go into everyday for another injection untiil they can scan my leg. then they sent me home. Glad i went. but in a way its worse now cuase they told me I might have a blood clot but they cant do anything today, come back tomorrow for another injection and perhaps they will be albe to do scan then otherwise he said "defeinetly one day this week, wer call you" - great LOL this kinda sucks, he didnt say anything about training right now but im guessing i probably shouldnt until i find out what is wrong ?
Yeah don't do anything with contact at the moment as the blood thinners wil make you bruise and potentially bleed internally. Like being a haemopheliac. Also no leg work as the worry with a DVT is that you will dislodge the clot and have either a cerebral or pulmonary embolism ...... not nice stuff. Hey could have been worse. I sent a new patient I had just examined to the doctor as he was having a long term problem that seemed odd to me(that had been treated elsewhere 10 times) and when they did the x-ray they asked him how he had come to the clinic. When he said ''I drove'' they said well sit down as we are going to get you a wheelchair and a collar until the consultant sees your neck... seems the guy had a fractured c spine!! That's 2 I have had come in from the rugby club in the last 2 years... scarey stuff!!! Take it easy until they scan you.. a couple days rest won't kill you!! powchoy
It's probably not a blood clot, but it's the kind of thing where they have to be sure, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. But yeah, no training of any kind until they stop the anti-coagulants - also, keep away from aspirin based pain killers and alcohol (although they probably already told you that).
Thanks for the replys everyone. As to the above funnilty the doctor gave me no advice at all about what i could and coultnt do? i was here last night trying to google if i could have a glass of wine or not. In the end common sense prevailed and i went with a protien shake instead. Yeh guess a couple days rest for me instead. What about weight lifting is that of the cards as welll ?
Thanks for the replys everyone. As to the above funnilty the doctor gave me no advice at all about what i could and coultnt do? i was here last night trying to google if i could have a glass of wine or not. In the end common sense prevailed and i went with a protien shake instead. Yeh guess a couple days rest for me instead. What about weight lifting is that of the cards as welll ?
Yup until you've had a real checkup don't do any sort of strenuous activity at all. It's not to much that the movement itself will be bad but combined with the blood thinners, and physiological changes that occur when you stress the body, any clot can dislodge, like what poychoy has already said. It's only a few days so take the rest. Despite what many people like to believe, general practitioners are not an expert in, well anything really. This isn't a disrespect because you still have to know a hell of a lot, but it's a lot about a little, rather than a little about a lot as you will find in a specialist, which you may need to see. Get the scans done. Even if it's not a blood clot, make sure you get some kind of diagnosis and treatment plan including what you can and can't do.
ive been reading about chronic compartment syndrome and the more im reading the most it sounds exactly like what ive been getting! the doctor said that he didnt think it was this as he could feel a pulse in my foot, but from what ive read it says the swelling usually only takes place during excersie and that is when you should test for a pulse, also that sometimes a pulse can even be present as the vessels are deeper inside and not affected http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060909133648AAUSKvS http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/compartment-syndrome.php im gonna suggest this again when i see the doctor, when i went today they said the scannig dept is closed for a week (no explanation but im assuming beccause of cut backs) and they cant scan my leg till next week and that i have to go for the injections of CLEXANE daily until they can be sure its not a clot ?? only thing i cant explain is why my ankle/foot all swelled up for a few days in the final week of being in thailand ?
