Venous Thromboembolism - Life After - Life After

Follow your doctor’s instructions and schedule regular appointments.

• Tell your doctor if symptoms such as pain or swelling continue. Your doctor may prescribe graduated compression stockings to give you relief.
• Take all medicines as prescribed. You will probably keep taking medicines to treat VTE for three months or longer. The most common side effect of blood thinners is bleeding. This side effect can be life-threatening.
• Check your legs for any signs or symptoms of deep vein clotting, such as swollen areas, pain or tenderness, increased warmth in swollen or painful areas, or red or discolored skin. If you think you may have another deep vein clot or are having symptoms of pulmonary embolism, contact your doctor right away.
• Tell your doctor if you notice that you bruise easily; have unexpected bleeding, such as when you floss or go to the toilet; or have unusually heavy menstrual periods.

To monitor your condition, your doctor may recommend the following tests:

• Blood tests to monitor the proper dose of medicine so that adjustments can be made as necessary. If you are taking warfarin to treat VTE, you will need to take regular tests that show how long it takes for your blood to clot. Usually, you do these tests at the doctor’s office or at a clinic. The FDA has approved several devices for self-testing. Your doctor may also run regular blood tests to check your kidneys or liver if you have been taking other blood-thinning medicines for more than a year. This will help your doctor make sure your body can still tolerate the medicine well.
• Ultrasounds to monitor your blood clot. These tests will help your doctor see if your blood clot has gotten bigger or has moved.

When you return home, your doctor may recommend healthy lifestyle changes to help improve your recovery.

• Heart-healthy eating. Heart-healthy eating includes limiting the amount of alcohol you drink. Alcohol can also be dangerous if you are taking blood-thinning medicine. If you are taking warfarin, talk with your doctor about your eating patterns and any supplements you take. Foods that contain vitamin K can affect how well warfarin works, so it is important to eat about the same amount of vitamin K each day. Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables and some oils, such as canola and soybean oils.
• Being physically active. It is important to keep moving regularly while you are healing. Ask your medical care team when you can start being physically active and how much activity is appropriate.
• Aiming for a healthy weight. If you are overweight or have obesity, you can improve your health by aiming for a healthy weight. Obesity is a risk factor for a repeat VTE event.
• Managing stress. Stress can increase the risk of other conditions that can lead to VTE, such as heart attack and stroke.
• Quitting smoking. Smoking also increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, and it may aggravate other factors known to raise the risk of VTE. Visit Smoking and Your Heart and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Your Guide to a Healthy Heart. For free help quitting smoking, you may call the National Cancer Institute’s Smoking Quitline at 1-877-44U-QUIT (1-877-448-7848).

Nearly one in three patients who have had VTE will experience a repeat VTE event in the next 10 years. It can take a year or more for clots to break up or stabilize and for blood flow to return to normal. If you were previously treated with blood thinners and experience a repeat VTE event, your doctor may recommend changing your medicine dose or switching you to a different type of blood thinner.

To prevent a repeat VTE event:

• See your doctor for regular checkups and follow-up tests and treatment.
• Talk to your doctor about your risk for a repeat VTE event. The risk of a repeat VTE is higher for African Americans and Hispanic Americans than it is for white Americans. It is also higher for men than for women.
• Take all medicines as your doctor prescribes. A repeat event while you are taking medicines is rare, but if it does occur, your doctor may switch your medicine or increase the dose.
• If you stop taking blood-thinning medicines, your doctor may suggest that you take aspirin to reduce the risk of getting another clot.

Medicines used to treat VTE can thin your blood too much or impair your body’s ability to clot after a wound. If you take a dose of blood-thinning medicine that is too high, it may cause bleeding in the digestive system or in the brain. These side effects can be life threatening.

Signs and symptoms of bleeding in the digestive system include:

• Bright red vomit or vomit that looks like coffee grounds
• Bright red blood in your stool or black, tarry stools
• Pain in your abdomen

Signs and symptoms of bleeding in the brain include:

• Severe pain in your head
• Sudden changes in your vision
• Sudden inability to move your legs or arms
• Memory loss or confusion

A lot of bleeding after a fall or injury, or easy bruising or bleeding, may mean that your blood is too thin. Excessive bleeding is bleeding that will not stop after you apply pressure to a wound for 10 minutes. Call your doctor right away if you have any of these signs. If you have severe bleeding, call 9-1-1.