I have been an athlete my whole life. I am a Division 1 swimmer and work out every day. One day, I started feeling a sharp pain in my lower back after lifting weights and thought I overdid it or used incorrect form. It began to progress and I started getting extreme pain that radiated down my legs.
I was pretty much bedridden because I couldn’t walk more than a couple of minutes without almost blacking out. My leg started to swell, so I kept it elevated.
I went to the ER and after doing an MRI, they told me that I could go home because “there was no worry for loss of life or limb.” They put me on nerve medication and prednisone.
Two days later, I couldn’t move without pain, so I went back to the ER. The doctors and nurses saw how large and swollen my leg was and got me in a room fast. I was given an ultrasound and CT scan, and eventually, I was told I had blood clots all down my inferior vena cava and my legs.
I had emergency surgery the next day and was in the hospital (in my college town, away from home) for almost a week. After surgery, I was put on blood thinners and painkillers. I have been recovered for more than a year now and I’ve been feeling great ever since.
But at the same time, I’ve been paranoid because no one seems to understand why this happened to me, an 18-year-old female athlete. I continue to work out and swim, and I’ve actually been swimming faster because I don’t have blood clots affecting my oxygen.
My advice is to go to the doctor if you detect any signs of a blood clot. It is so much better to be safe than sorry. I was in excruciating pain before and during my time in the hospital. Maybe if I had gone earlier, it wouldn’t have been as painful. Please be cautious and know it can happen to anyone.
Resources
Athletes and Blood Clots
Know Your Risk
New Patient Resource Guide
