Misdiagnosed

By: Lauren Hamentz My name is Lauren Hametz and I graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan College in May 2012 with a Masters degree in Secondary Education, although I am originally from Edinboro, PA. Recently, I stumbled upon Stop The Clot on Facebook, and immediately felt a strong connection to National Blood Clot Alliance. Why?  In…

Mary Bare wrote this story about the death of her twin sister Deborah from a pulmonary embolism.  She is so motivated to spread awareness of signs and symptoms of DVT and PE and is using social media to do so via a Facebook page called Forever Deborah. My name is Mary Bare.  My story is personal,…

I took what I thought was a routine flight to visit my family in Florida in October 2009.  My leg had been bothering me a little before the flight, due to chronic Achilles tendonitis.  When I got off the plane in Florida, my leg seemed stiffer than usual.  The flight was uneventful, and since it…

I was 30 years old and 6 months pregnant with my first child when I developed an acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  I had no prior knowledge of clotting disorders and had been on birth control for 10 years before I conceived.   It was a Thursday night when I first felt a tingling and slight…

George’s persistence helped save his life after his first pulmonary embolism was misdiagnosed and his initial DVT was not treated. I reported for one of my 24 hour shifts as a Firefighter/Paramedic in November 2007.  There was a carbon monoxide call that required me to be on a ladder for an extended time that meant…

My story begins after I lost my dog, Lakota, from sudden internal bleeding, who was my pet and wonderful friend for 12 years.  I was so upset at my loss that I wept for many hours; the type of weeping that caused my chest to heave.  Later that night, I had severe cramping along the…

September of 2010 was busy in the King household.  The kids had just started a new school year, I was neck deep in volunteer work at school, and I was teaching cooking classes on fall cooking techniques.  We were so busy that I never stopped to think about the weird pains that started affecting my…

My experience with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) started in June 2010 when I was 37 years old.  My symptoms began a couple of days after I returned to Miami from a two week trip to Israel with my wife and best friends.  I felt a sharp pain in my left calf…

I consider myself a healthy 47 year old woman.  I exercise daily, eat healthy food choices, and am a non-smoker. In April 2011, I felt stabbing pains in my back on the right hand side under my rib cage, and the pain got worse every time I took a breath.  My husband drove me to…

Carmen McArthur’s story demonstrates the risk of blood clots associated with birth control pills.  Although the prescribing physician mentioned the risk, this patient did not think that she would be affected.  She chose the therapeutic benefit of the pills to treat heavy menstrual bleeding over what she perceived as minimal clotting …