Blood Clots

[piekny]

Not meaning to scare anyone but has anyone ever suffered a blot clot through taking BCPs (I'm on Dianette)? What are the warning signs and are they easily dealt with?

[roadmap]

yes, I was taking yasmin in 2004 and got a blood clot in my lung. I was scared to death, I thought I was going to die. It was a gradual effect on me, I had noticed in the last couple of days I was short of breath, and couldn't finish any sentence without stopping and taking a breath, and by Monday I was really weak and nauseas and made a appointment with my dr.( family dr). They done things and finally sent me for a cat scan and there it was. They treated me like a piece of fine china, put me in the hospital for a week, blood thinners, i'vs, the works, don't get up, don't sit up much, use the bed pan if you have to go ( yeah right), and 6day later I had another scan and it was still there. I had to take blood thinner for six months and then had another scan and it was gone. I can't take any kind of bcp's anymore, and don't recommend anybody else to either.
This experience made me see things in a different life, not knowing if you will live through it or not.

roadmap

[piekny]

Scary. Do you know if there are any precautions you can take while on bc tablets?

[roadmap]

I"m not sure about that, I just won't, can't take them ever again.

roadmap

[tylersmommie]

I had a very similar situation on yasmin in 2005. I had actually had a cough I could not get rid of for close to three weeks.. I have chronic bronchitis therefore doctors just thought it was that.. gave me inhalers and said they would check me in a week.. kept going to work until 1 night I came down the stairs and felt like I could not breathe..went to the emergency room and they started inhaler treatments for bronchitus and sent me home.. 2 days later the cough got increasingly worse.. couldnt walk more than 10 feet without getting winded.. and then started coughing up blood.. a friend rushed me to the emergency room and they did a CT scan..and found 6 blood clots in my right lung and 1 large clot in my left lung.. spent 10 days in hospital..after multiple specialists and tests they determine it was probably from the Birth control...now I go regularly for ct scans as the amount of lung damage I suffered from the size of the clots needs to be monitored..get scared every time I get a cold or a cough or even just short of breathe..

[sunchic711]

Goodness - i'm so glad that you all caught it in time and were able to be treated. My sil had blood clots in her lungs while she was preg, basically caused by the same hormones that are produced when you are preg as what is in bcp. They told her it was bronchitis, too. My uncle died of a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) and my dad had a scare with blood clots this year too.

I was on bcp for about 6 months or so, but was taking them the complete wrong way - taking 2 or 3 a day when i would forget (i hated taking them). I told my friend about it and she told me i should really stop doing that b/c it would increase my chances of blood clots - so i just got off bcp. Then after what happened with my family, i was glad i did - maybe it was a sign!

If that's not an option for you - just be aware of the same signs that the girls mentioned in their post. My dad and sil had the same symptoms of not being able to breathe well, not being able to sleep b/c of problems breathing, pain in their chest, and having unexplained pain in your legs the days before, etc. If you have these symptoms and are on bcp, you need to be persistent/insistent and have them check you. Also, if you have surgery anytime you are on bcp, you should be esp careful, as clotting can result from surgery.

Also - they say blood clotting doesn't "run" in families, but i think that some families have more of a predisposition for it - so you may look there too.

[piekny]

Are there any alternatives, including tablets and nautral remedies, that don't cause blot clots? I'm using Dianette to regulate my periods, reduce pain and hair growth.

[Gen224]

Also - they say blood clotting doesn't "run" in families, but i think that some families have more of a predisposition for it - so you may look there too.

Jessi*--

I'm not sure who told you this, but it's entirely FALSE. Absolutely 100% false. There are "clotting factors" that are built in to DNA, and it can definitely be hereditary. If your C & S (& /or) factors are skewed, you will be more prone to clotting. There are other "clotting factors" that a hematologist will scan for, but the C&S factors are the most prevalent/common.

These type of clotting predispositions can even affect extended family members. My friend's aunt had life-threatening PEs, and my friend's doctor ran tests that checked her C&S factors. My friend's tests showed the same skewed results that led to her aunt's PEs and DVTs, and she was immediately removed from all forms of hormones.

I too survived (but just barely!) PEs in 2000. To this day, the doctors and hospital staff remember me and are amazed that I'm alive--I was so very close to death. :shock: And if you think that I'm not watchful and vigilant for my sisters and other family members, you'd be wrong. My cousin's infant daughter had DVTs last summer--she had nothing more than a family history of them (my grandmother died from a clot moving from her hip to her heart).

As far as avoiding them, knowing your family history is the #1 thing you can be proactive with. If you have a family history, remove yourself from bcps and stop smoking. Avoid all external sources of estrogen, including plant-based estrogens in soy. Estrogen receptors don't discern between natural, artificial (bcps), and plant-based estrogens, and the estrogen-factor is what makes bcps so dangerous.

If you have a predisposition to them, be active, watch your bruises and be careful, and take 2 LDA (low dose aspirin) per day. It will thin your blood to a point where clotting is less likely. You will still clot if you cut yourself, but you'll have a much lower risk for DVTs and PEs.

And if you don't have a family history of clotting and do take bcps, don't smoke. Smoking is a huge factor in clotting and for whatever reason, increases the risk for blood clots in relationship to bcps.

[sunchic711]

Gen -

First - Thank goodness that you are ok and recovered from your PE! It really is scary and happens so fast. It really shows the fragility and intricacy(sp?) of the human body/system.

Thanks for providing me and everyone else with the info about the hereditary aspect of DVT and PE. This just goes to show that is is very important that everyone knows about their families' health history! And - to always be aware no matter how young or old you may be.

Piekny - there is a lot of info out there on the subject if you are wanting to learn more on your own!!!

[amabala]

If you want an excuse to eat chocolate, I recently read (I think it was in Prevention) that new studies indicate that dark chocalate makes blood platlets slippery so they don't stick together and make help in the prevention of clogged arteries.

Not to be terribly gross, but when I had my last period, I ate a small stick of Hersheys individual dark chocolates every night and I had NO clots - which is amazing for me.

Don't take my word for it, I'm just paraphrasing what I read, but if it's worth it to you, look it up and see if you can find better info on the study.

Of course, I'm not trying to make light of the above posts -
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[amabala]

Oh, and I should add that dark chocolate is low enough in sugars that my diabetic father can eat some (most) forms of it. Most dark chocolates give the percentage right on the front of the package. Once you get used to it, milk chocolate will be lost to you - it will just taste like sugar. It's kind of like not eating spagettios for years and then going back expecting to be as delighted as you were as a kid and finding out that they're not even close to as good as the real thing.
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[Gen224]

Not to be terribly gross, but when I had my last period, I ate a small stick of Hersheys individual dark chocolates every night and I had NO clots - which is amazing for me.

What you experienced is not linked to "sticky platelets," or regular blood-clotting. It's a typical (for most women) aspect of menstruation and is more about shedding the uterine lining than being at risk for blood clots (DVTs).

DVTs are incredibly serious, and while for choco-holics, there's never a bad reason to eat chocolate (I'm married to one, but I'm not one myself!), I'd rely more on aspirin and/or proven blood thinners than dark chocolate. ;)