So, for the past few hours I've had horrible calf pain. Only on my left side, and it's getting increasingly worse. At first I thought, oh it'll go away. I was on my computer for a bit so I thought my leg was falling asleep or something, I tried to walk it off with no success. I waited it out and told myself "it's nothing". Now, I can't sit still and am extremely agitated because of the pain. It's not muscle pain because I haven't been exercising, and it feels "deep". If that makes sense. My foot is going numb/tingling and (like I said) that pain is HORRIBLE. I can't find a comfortable position...I have an extremely high pain tolerance (I had a head injury and I rated it a "1" on a scale of 10). This HURTS.
Any help/advice?
Also--It hurts even more when I walk on it...
Ok...now I'm in an incredible amount of pain...I'm on the verge of tears here...does this warrat a trip to the ER? It's incredibly painful so I would go if I absolutly had to..but I hate spending sooo muhc money. Literally it's 2000 the minute you walk in...I have to know if this is something I can sleep off...or take pain meds for...something like that.
Well erm this could be a wide range of things but by now you would no if it was anything to bad as you would have some form of reaction e.g. swelling and such.
But this could just be a form of cramp as they tend to cause lasting deep pain from the back of the muscle area, but then could even be in a worst case a torn ligament but this is unlikely as the pain would be amazingly bad and you would not be able to stand.
Only thing i can think of is to try and stretch the leg, this will hurt a lot but could pass the pain, other options is to ice the leg and rest it with no movement for a few hours but if the pain does not go by sometime tomorrow i would suggest seeking medical attention.
Nick
xx
Myselff xx
You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: 1975
If it's anything...my foot is swollen...
I mean...I'm trying to walk on it...but it seems every second, the pain gets worse...and I can barely stand...it's truly horrible...I don't think I can express in words the pain I'm in atm.
Arg...I don't know...maybe I'll take some pain meds and see if they help...I hope they do...gah.
Well Ok now it seems that if your foot is swelling you may have done some damage to your foot such as a fracture or break more like to be a fracture as the will cause deep pain through your leg due to the nerves and change in blood flow, Pain killers are unlikely to be able to stop this from hurting as they have very little effects on area like that and also as the blood sounds like the flow is not as fast as normal so no chemicals will get to the area.
I think your best bet here would be ice to help combat the swelling and also to rest your foot and keep it conformable and to not walk or put any form of pressure or weight onto the leg or foot, then check the swelling in the morning if it has not gone down or has got worst you will need to see a doctor asap to have it checked. Once iced then would be a better time to take maybe 1-2 painkillers as the flow throught the foot will be at a better pace and the pain will be dulled faster due to the numbing effect of ice or a cold object.
Nick xx
Myselff xx
You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: 1975
This sounds like you have a blood clot in your leg, call and ambulance, or get to the hospital ASAP. If you're foot starts getting dusky, do not hesitate no matter how much it may cost.
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
Just wanted to give you an update, I kept it elevated last night and took some pain killers, I'd say 2 hours after I put it up...I felt this weird sensation in my leg...almost like a water balloon popping. Like a release of fluid in my leg. (if you've ever accidently cut off the circulation to something then the ciculation returns and there's this "ah" feeling). That's what it felt like. Today it feels alright, and there's nothing else really wrong except I'm tired because lack of sleep or something.
Next week, I've got an appt with my doc, so I'll mention it then. I still don't know what it was...was the most painful thing I experienced ever, but thanks for the info and everything.
I don't know that I would wait to see your doctor for a week. This still sounds exactly like a blood clot in your leg to me, and you need to get evaluated ASAP.
If it was a blood clot, and you've already had one, you're at risk for more. Also if it was a blood clot, and it released, it is now traveling around your body and it can cause a heart attack, or a stroke.
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
Hey,
Even though Aidey is a "first aid advisor" i cant see how the thought of a blood clot has come into this as unless you have:
Damage to the inside of a blood vessel
Changes in normal blood flow, including unusual turbulence or partial or complete blockage of blood flow
Hypercoagulability - A rare state in which the blood is more likely than usual to clot
It is very unlikely to be a blood clot also DVT which is like a blood clot but no where near as serious unless is left for a while but when moves you would know as after a few hours it would become hard to breath.
although the Symptoms are similar it is unlikely to be a clot, Still as soon as you see your doctor they will be able to tell you without question if there is one, normally DVT or blood clot in the leg will resolve its self but if it moves and gets to the lung can cause a pulmonary embolism which is severe enough to warrant seeking medical attention straight away.
But still better to be safe then sorry, Hope your well and just let us jnow how it goes
Nick
x
Myselff xx
You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: 1975
I'm a fully qualified Nationally registered paramedic in the United States, with several years of experience.
The thought of a blood clot has come to me for several reasons:
1. Severe pain in the leg, without prior history of injury to that site.
2. Swelling distal to the pain
3. Numbness and tingling in the foot distal to the pain.
4. The description of what happened today.
I was not thinking so much DVT as I was muscular infarct from a blood clot.
There are other situations where blood clots could form, if she is on birth control and smokes, some medications can cause hypercoagulability, sickle cell anemia is another cause, if she sustained an injury to another part of her body the clot could travel to her leg (and since this is an SI site, thats not a stretch), Atrial-fib could cause a blood clot, or if she had something like WPW and had re-entry tachycardia that could cause clots to form also. DIC is another possibility, although unlikely. If she has an Eating disorder she is also at higher risk for blood clots.
So given the fact that we are not here to treat people, I decided advising seeing a doctor ASAP was appropriate given the worst case scenario for her symptoms.
I'm not going to tell someone that they may just have a bad bruise when there is a possibility of a blood clot, and thus more serious consequences.
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
Well i can see you are well trained and you must no what you are talking about and i respect that as i am only in my PRHO year toward becoming a Doctor and am a qualified first aider with two years in first aid training from the British army so my medical knowledge is not as good as your but still, From the description there are so so so many more common problem which will give the same symptoms and blood clots are really a uncommon thing to just appear and will most likely just pass without even notice.
Of course it is always best no matter what the problem is to go and see your GP. Yet for something like this there is no huge panic needed, as even if the blood clot did move it would take at-least a day to then reach and be sustained and settle in a treating area and as this process starts your breathing will most likely change and become painful.
Also Aidey i was never trying to under-mind your knowledge as a First aider or say you was wrong, it is just looking at a few of your posts you seem to like saying that a lot of people problems are blood clots when it seems as if you are just taking the worst thing from minor possibilities.
Anyway maybe in the US it's more common or it is done differently over there but hey, i do think you give great advise most the time and are doing a good job
Nick
x
Myselff xx
You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: 1975
nick 90, I just wanted to point out something to you, this comes from the first aid rules:
7. Only the First Aid Advisors have been authorized to give qualified information on RYL. Please do not claim to have first aid training or certifications without first becoming authorized.
Laura
"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." ~Mother Theresa
On RYL, there are a lot of liabilty isuess which need to be taken into consideration. If we tell people the best case scenario and that they will be fine etc, and then they take ill, but dont get help because we told them they didnt need to, then it can create a huge problem. So yes sometimes we do take the worst case of problems, but only when we feel we need to.
In the end, with this kind of problem, there is nothing stopping the poster from speaking to their doctor. If there is no problem then there is nothing to worry about and the opster would have at least recieved a check up and if there is a problem then it can be sorted out easily.
As for advising a lot of people about it, perhaps you are only looking at the present top of the board. Off hand I think I can only remember 3 possibly 4 posts where there have been suspicions of a blood clot and that goes back well over a year.
If you wish to further discusse any of the above mentioned points, or you have anything further you would wish to add, then please dont hesitate to get in touch with either myself or ~Aidey~
I can not think of very many cases where we have advices of a suspected blood clot, and only one of them recently.
Our role here is simply and advisory role. Many times people do not know if what they are experiencing is necessary for the doctor to look at, and so we are essentially acting as triage for them. At other times we also advise for things like proper wound care.
As Laura mentioned above, for liability reasons no one can give official first aid advice expect the first aid advisors. Everyone else is welcome to add their opinion, however, we must be careful to avoid liability problems. We do often advise the worst possible scenario so that people understand what they may be looking at. Also, by advising the worse possible scenario, we are mitigating liability if we advise someone who later comes to harm.
If someone tells us they have a fever, headache, and are felling really ill, the worst case scenario is meningitis, while the least is a 24 hour bug. While the chances of meningitis are slim, if we tell them "oh it's just a bug, take some paracematol and sleep it off" and then they do have something more serious we could be held liable for any harm they encounter.
If you would like to join the team as an official advisor we would be happy to have you apply. Kim and i will conduct a mini interview of you, and then Harley (the webmaster and operator of RYL) will need to see proof of your training/certification to approve you, like he did with Kim and I.
I am also failing to understand how you are in your PRHO year when that was eliminated in 2005, unless you are just using the old system name for the new system position.
Last edited by Aidee : 11-12-2007 at 03:51 AM.
Reason: spelling
Well it breaks my heart to see you this way,
The beauty in life, where's it gone?
And somebody told me you were doing okay,
Somehow I guess they were wrong.
Ok well i would like to become a "First Aid Adviser"
First: I was never offering official advise and it was in my best option to say what i thought would most likely be the problem and to give it a 24 hour probation period to see what effects would occur, As if you was to ring a doctor they would say what it sounds like give you 24 hours with a appointment to come in the next day to check things, They would rarely just say "This sounds like you have a blood clot in your leg, call and ambulance, or get to the hospital ASAP." As there wold be no need to panic with a simple set of symptoms.
Second: PRHO now no longer modern medical name for as first year as you have to do a 2 year FHO (foundation House Officer) but most first years will refer to there first year as being a PRHO year due to the fact as you are the lowest in the hospital and most of the StR's refer to it still as a PRHO year as if the first year does not go well it is unlikely you will make the second.
As proof of my medical qualifications i will be happy to show you my medical degree and Biology degree if that is the sort of thing you are looking for.
Nick
x
Myselff xx
You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: 1975
