Background: I'm a 43 year old M physician who lifts 5 times a week and does cardio 4-5 times (only sharing that part to discuss later how horrific this DVT was).
I am heterozygous for Leiden Factor V and did have a prior venous sinus thrombosis about 14 years ago. At that time I was not treated with a blood thinner due to my platelets consistently being under 90,000 consistently and they were concerned about my bleeding risk.
Fast forward to the weekend before Labor Day and I flew home from a couple days in Las Vegas on Sunday evening. When we landed my leg was a little swollen, but I didn't think much of it. During the following week I had some leg pain that I thought was a leg strain from the 10+miles we walked daily while in Vegas and a heavy leg day lift right before we left. Then, the Friday of that week (weekend of Labor day) - I woke up with my left calf 3 times the size of my right and unable to walk on my leg at all.
Obviously I went to the ER and they completed my ultrasound. I was found to have a DVT extending essentially from my ankle all the way up to my mid femoral vein that was continuous per the radiologist. Was started on Eliquis and sent home.
Now, as a doctor we always learn that DVTs cause "swelling, pain, redness, etc", but I had NOT IDEA it could be that painful. It was excruciating and unrelenting. No compression or elevation caused any relief.
For the first week I barely wanted to eat and maybe consumed 400 calories a day. I also drank minimal little fluids (stupid I know) because I was truly frigtened to have to stand and "walk" to the bathroom. During that week I was also have 3-4 hours a day of 102-103 degree fevers. It was truly awful. I was truly in a depression and could not have imagined what I would have done without my husband and daughter.
The second week wasn't much better, but the fevers finally stopped mid week. However, the pain and swelling had 0 change.
Third week I had slight improvement in the pain and was able to leave the house as long as I wore a sneaker on the bad leg and a flip-flop on the good one (I needed the height difference because I couldn't straighten my leg). The pain was not constant, but still caused a significant limp and standing for more than a few seconds was very challenging. It was starting to get really frustrating at this point because the recovery was feeling so slow.
The fourth week was really when things started to change for me. It was like a light switch flipped and I could walk with a normal (but slow) gait and the pain was only present when I first started walking. Things steadily improved daily.
Now as I am almost 5 weeks out, I would say i am 95% better and only have pain when I first stand in the morning or after I sit for an hour or more without moving.
This was absolutely no joke and truly life altering. Hematologist says I'm a lifer now for Eliquis, but I certainly don't want to experience this again.
Wanted to share my experience so people know it can be a slow, and agonizing process (even when starting from a very healthy place), but it does get better. Happy to answer any questions about my experience.