It started off as a DVT in my leg and then moved into my lungs. I was hospitalised for 5 days, the doctors initially thought that I may have also had coronavirus as well. Thankfully my test came back negative, but the scans showed multiple large clots across both sides of my lungs. I was age 27 and was fit and healthy before this happened.
After many tests, the doctors put the main cause down to my contraceptive pill, and also partly down to being quite stationary throughout the day. I work full time as a customer services advisor, so am sat at a desk for most of the day.
In May 2020, aged 27, I began to feel a niggling pain in the calf of my leg, a dull ache. I’d recently started trying to get back into regular exercise at home due to the first lockdown, so I put it down to pulling a muscle when exercising. A few days later, I also started getting sharp chest pains. Sadly my Grandpa had passed away in April, and his funeral had been held the day before I started getting chest pains so I again dismissed it initially, thinking it was stress related.
The pains in my calf and chest got progressively worse,
However, the pains in my calf and chest got progressively worse, to the point where the pain was agonising. I was getting breathless from walking up the stairs, and my heart was racing from minimal activity. My gut was telling me that something just wasn’t right. I visited my GP who advised me to go to hospital. She wanted me to get checked out at the hospital to be sure, as she didn’t feel comfortable sending me home.
There was a lot of clotting on both sides of my lungs
After multiple blood tests, a coronavirus test, an x-ray and a CT scan, I was then diagnosed with blood clots in my lungs (pulmonary embolism). It had started as a blood clot in my leg (DVT) and moved into my lungs. The doctors advised me that there was a lot of clotting on both sides of my lungs. They believed the main cause of the clots was the contraceptive pill. They also believe a contributing factor was the fact that I am quite stationary throughout the day, due to having a desk-based job as I have no family history of blood clots.
It came as a complete shock
It came as a complete shock as I’d had little to no knowledge of blood clots beforehand and no awareness of the symptoms or risk factors for a blood clot. I was hospitalised for five days and wasn’t allowed any visitors due to the pandemic. It was a scary time in my life.
It was a scary time in my life
Thankfully, I survived thanks to the care I received from the incredible NHS. I felt so proud clapping for NHS workers in person – one of the weekly ‘clap for carers’ took place whilst I was still in hospital. I have to stay on anticoagulant medication for life, and the road to recovery hasn’t been easy; when I first left hospital, I found even the smallest things made me exhausted and breathless. I felt physically and mentally drained.
It’s nine months later, and I can now manage daily walks and exercise. I ensure that I keep hydrated and that I am getting up to have a short walk every 1.5-2 hours, as instructed by my doctors when working at my desk. Mentally I have also been doing very well, thanks to support from family and friends, and feeling like I am finally getting back to normal. I feel so lucky that my GP spotted the warning signs early, and that I followed my gut. I want to help raise awareness of blood clots by sharing my story with others, as I was relatively fit and healthy before this happened to me, so it could happen to anyone. Knowing the symptoms of a blood clot can save someone’s life.