calf pain Archives - Words To Run By

Maybe it is because I am studying to achieve my RRCA Coaching Certification or because of my personal experiencing coaching sometimes less experienced runners, that it becomes a very big (not to mention personal) issue when I see others not only giving bad advice, but actually discouraging individuals who may be injured from seeing a medical professional. This is a huge concern and major problem in my opinion. If you’re a runner and it hurts, see a doctor.

As you may know, I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I know I shouldn’t (because then it makes it nearly impossible to fall back to sleep), but I tend to get online when I am awake at night and write, check email or work on this blog. In the early hours of Saturday, I woke up to a Facebook message from a friend asking me to check out a post in a popular running forum. His concern was that one of the people looking for advice may have been experiencing a blood clot.

I immediately found it (Please note, names have been concealed to protect the not-so-innocent). My main concern is highlighted in red (and no, it is not the glaring typo, because I make those too).

Forum concern don't see a doc original edited

If it hurts, see a doctor.

It says, “don’t see a doctor, they might just advise you not run at all.” And there are Likes after it. I think something in my brain exploded. And, even though I was furious and it would have been easy to tag this one particular person in regards to what I see as a grave error, I responded with a link to Could You Have a Blood Clot? and advised that Jennifer please see a doctor just to be sure, especially if she was continually experiencing intense pain.

WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU ADVISE SOMEONE NOT TO SEE A DOCTOR? Because you might not be able to run. Because you might have to take a break. Because you might hear what you don’t want to hear. Because it very well could impact your training. Because the months and months you spent training could have to take a back burner to a bigger flame. Because no one, not even myself, thinks it could happen to them.

I understand. Really, I do.

BUT IT IS NOT WORTH IT. No race, no training schedule, no event is worth what I went through. Jennifer describes “experiencing intense pain in [her] calf. [That had been] hurting since [her] last run on Wednesday which was 6 miles.” This post was three days later.

I ran two miles on a Saturday and by Sunday night I was in the hospital with blood clots in my leg and lung that nearly claimed my life. I had intense calf pain. I was convinced it was a muscle pull due to an extended break or laziness or anything else. I couldn’t have been more wrong. In 25% of the people who experience a pulmonary embolism (or blood clot in the lung), the first symptom is sudden death. A pulmonary embolism comes from a blood clot, most often in your calf. This is serious, people. And I am outraged.

Sure, Jennifer could be experiencing muscle soreness. She could have pulled or torn a muscle. Her body could be fatigued or dehydrated.

Or it could be a blood clot.

I realize I don’t know any other thing about Jennifer’s training or injuries or well, anything. But just what if. Even if it’s not a blood clot, even if it’s nothing, I will always, always recommend my runners, my friends, my family; my acquaintances get it checked out. Listen to your body. It won’t lie to you. It tells you when something is wrong, sometimes gravely and sometimes not. Take the time to find out. You can always decide not to do what the doctor recommends if you believe your training is more important. You can’t just bounce back from a blood clot or something worse.

I don’t know what happened in Jennifer’s case. Maybe her doctor would have encouraged her to rest, not to run or to walk it off. Maybe her doctor would have ordered an imaging scan to rule out clots. Maybe her doctor would have determined it was nothing. Maybe her pain is gone now. Maybe none of this would even make a difference. Who knows? I do know most people wrongly assume athletes or runners or active people do not suffer from blood clots. And that simply is not true.

I do know many, many posts in this forum centered around injuries and please don’t misunderstand me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with engaging in a forum or website to find out about potential injuries, but always, always follow up with a trained medical professional. It could save your life.

What about you? What do you think about the advice given in this case? Do you tend to seek professional medical advice or shrug it off if you can until the pain is unbearable (we’ve all been there)? Do you see bad advice being given in running forums, especially pertaining to medical issues? Does this type of advice make you angry like it does me?

Until the next mile marker,

The number one search term leading people to my blog is ‘difference between blood clot in leg symptoms and pulled calf muscle symptoms’ or some variation of it. Almost daily I watch the page views skyrocket on Could You Have a Blood Clot? Information is lacking on blood clots and blood clot symptoms. I didn’t know anything about it, until I suffered from the massive trauma and devastating effects of a blood clot in my left leg that broke free, traveled through my heart and lodged in my left lung. Blood clots (deep vein thrombosis DVT and pulmonary embolism PE) affect upwards of 600,000 Americans each year and cause more deaths each year than the more well-publicized occurrences of breast cancer, AIDS, and motor vehicle accidents, yet they are virtually unheard of. In terms of blood clots, [this might be] the most important post I will ever write.

March is Blood Clot Awareness Month. And, if you don’t know what to look out for by reading my blog, then I haven’t done enough to make you aware.

Sometimes, mostly late at night when I can’t sleep (I have not slept right since I got sick and I often wake up thinking I can’t breathe again), I scour the internet searching for information. My mind is like a sponge, soaking up everything I can find out blood clots, but the information is hard to come by. What I do find is a lot of survivor stories – people like me who are either young, active, healthy or a combination of them all – individuals who have been knocked off their feet by the damaging effects of a dvt or pe and are struggling every day to live their lives. And they do.

No matter what survivor’s story I read, I have found that all of us, who have chosen to speak out about blood clot awareness, are passionate about it. I can’t even describe to you anymore the excruciating pain I felt during and after my blood clots (which is why I am so thankful Dad told me to write this post right away). I know it was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life, but I also know my brain has repressed that exact feeling. Today, I handle pain differently (and I used to have a high tolerance for physical pain), in that mostly I can’t handle it. The slightest thing hurts and sends me into tears or destroys my focus. The nurses in the hospital swore to me that surviving a blood clot in the lung was more painful than childbirth (so, I should be good there?!). One-half of clot patients will have long-term complications and one-third will have a recurrence within 10 years, which is perpetually in the back of my mind and terrifies me. Among people who have had a dvt, one-half will have long-term complications (post-thrombotic syndrome) such as swelling, pain, discoloration, and scaling in the affected limb. Some will have open sores in the affected limb, known as ulcers. (www.cdc.gov)

When I got hurt (damage from a dvt or pe is actually considered a bodily injury and not a sickness), I was a runner, I lost weight and was far out of the risk for diabetes zone, which I had previously found myself in. I didn’t think it could happen to me. I did all the right things, right?

Please listen to me when I say – Please listen to your body because it can happen to you! We as runners think we can handle pain, that it’s normal, that there is nothing wrong, but please know what to look for because you never know when something might, in fact, be horribly wrong.

Symptoms of a pe (pulmonary embolism or blood clot in the lung):

Unexplained sudden onset of shortness of breath
Chest pain or discomfort that worsens when you take a deep breath, cough or even lie down
Feeling light headed or dizzy, or fainting
Rapid pulse
Sweating
Coughing up blood
A sense of anxiety, nervousness or impending doom

PE is life-threatening complication of deep vein thrombosis, please seek emergency medical care immediately, as it can be fatal!

Symptoms of a dvt (deep vein thrombosis or blood clot in the leg):

Swelling in the affected leg, including swelling in your ankle and foot.
Pain in your leg; this can include pain in your ankle and foot. The pain often starts in your calf and can feel like cramping or a charley horse. It won’t go away with regular stretching, massaging or rest.
Warmth over the affected area.
Changes in your skin color, such as turning pale, red or blue or purple.

You need to know in about half of all cases, deep vein thrombosis occurs without any noticeable symptoms. If something doesn’t seem right or you are at all concerned, make an appointment with your primary care physician to have it checked out before symptoms could potentially get worse and cause problems with your lungs or heart.

You’re at risk for a dvt (and potentially a pe) if you are sitting for long periods of time, such as when driving or flying; have an inherited a blood-clotting disorder; are on prolonged bed rest, such as during a long hospital stay or paralysis; have had an injury or surgery; are pregnant; have cancer; have inflammatory bowel disease; have heart disease; take birth control or hormone replacement therapy; have a pacemaker or catheter; have had a dvt or pe previously; have a family history of dvt or pe; are overweight or obese; are a smoker; are over 6o years old; are tall; or are a female.

That’s a lot of different people.

If you experience any of the pe and dvt symptoms at the same time, please seek emergency medical care. If you are alone, call 9-1-1. Don’t wait to see if you get better.

This is serious.

The complications from a pe are extremely painful, stressful, damaging to the body and mind and can last a lifetime. I am about ten months out from my pe and I am still recovering. The total recovery time for me is one to two years, and it all depends on my body. Up to two years. That’s not something to be taken lightly. Everything has changed for me. I have to pay attention to what I do, what I eat, what medications I take or don’t take, what kind of exercise I do. This has impacted my family, my friends, my job and so many other things that I never even considered before now. The psychological and emotional ramifications are equally damaging and ones that I am still faced with daily. And, it’s not even my fault, although there are still times when I demand to know “what I did to deserve this.”

Still, I am grateful to be here.

I don’t want to let my dvt and pe injury define me in a negative way, yet to some extent, it will make a difference to the person I am and to the person I become from here on out. I don’t believe this occurrence is something I can just sweep under the rug and day, “Well, I survived that, but it’s not defining me so I’m moving on with my life.” Yes, I will keep moving on with my life and keep trying to find the positives, but there is something to be said for awareness.

It’s like cancer or a brain injury, a heart attack or stroke – people don’t just survive those things and then pretend it never happened. If they did, organizations like the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association wouldn’t exist. And yet, except for a few small organizations, no one talks about blood clots.

Except for those who have survived. I am here to tell you, listen to your body, be aware and don’t wait. If you or a loved one has experienced the devastation of a blood clot, there is hope. Life will go on, but yes, there is Hell to conquer first.

If you do nothing else, please share this information with at least one other person – in your family, your circle of friends or workplace. Send a tweet, share it on Facebook or even email it – just pass it along. If you don’t want to do that, please store it in your file of information just in case you need it some day. You never know whose life you may save in the process.

Thank you very much to The Clot Must Be Fought for the graphics that appear in this post and for helping to promote awareness about blood clots and their effects. The Clot Must Be Fought is fighting blood clots with awareness, creativity and a group of people who have fought for their lives. Please consider purchasing an awareness band to help support their organization and continue to spread the word! You can also like them on Facebook to stay up to date with information, awareness and advice.

Until the next mile marker,