It began with excruciating back pain and shooting pains up my left leg. I felt unable to walk.
The week that I noticed my first symptoms, I was back and forth to urgent care and the doctors. They kept saying the same thing, “You have nerve damage” (sciatica). They gave me painkillers and told me to carry on.
I had this gut feeling that something wasn’t right and this was too much pain to be nerve damage. The following week, my left leg got increasingly large and began to turn blue. I rushed to A&E (the emergency department in the UK).
During my weeklong hospitalization, I had an ultrasound and then an MRI. After nervously waiting, they diagnosed me with a chronic blood clot in the abdomen. The doctors couldn’t understand why I had it, especially at 19 years old. I was also found to have May-Thurner syndrome.
After meeting with a vascular specialist, they prescribed me rivaroxaban for life and compression socks daily. It’s still difficult to walk sometimes, but the compression socks help a little. Doctors are unsure if I have a clotting disorder, and I have no family history of clotting either.
This took a huge toll on my mental health, as I have health OCD also, and ever since, I’ve wanted to spread awareness.
My message to others is that you are not alone. Keep pushing through and take this as a blessing to change your life for good. This is your strength, a way for your body to show how much fight it has. Use this as your reason to live, a reminder to spend every day as if it were your last.
Resources
Psychological Impact of Blood Clots
May-Thurner syndrome
Signs and Symptoms
