Blood clot anxiety - new to NMP

[jeastman1984]

I discovered this forum sometime ago. It has truly been my savior when dealing with my health anxiety. But until now, I haven’t felt the urge to post a thread. I am currently dealing with one of my worst episodes yet. I suffered a pulmonary embolism after giving birth back in 2007. To this day I still fear another blood clot forming in my body. Usually I can talk myself down from this state. This time it’s proving more difficult to do so. It seems I may have injured my knee due to my job. I work on a farm and my job involves excessive amounts of walking, often with sudden stopping. However, there has been some mild calf swelling accompanying this injury. Of course, all I can think about is there must be a blood clot in my leg. Even though the majority of my pain and swelling is in my knee, I still can’t help but fear a clot. I don’t know how to move past this. I’m hoping to see a doctor within a day or two to get my knee looked at. But I don’t know how to explain to the doctor that I’m afraid there may be something more. Any suggestions as to how I can calm my anxiety? I can hardly even sleep lately it’s so bad 😫

[au Lait]

Welcome :)

I’m sorry you’re going through a rough patch. It’s understandable that the swelling has triggered memories of past trauma. That’s normal. But in all likelihood the swelling is related to the repetitive motion involved in the work you do. Your embolism was due to the physical stress of giving birth. Two completely different types of physical activities.

When you see the dr, simply tell them that you experienced an embolism previously and that you’re concerned that this could be another one. I’m certain that the dr will tell you it’s not.

Remember that thoughts/fears aren’t reality. Just because we worry that something might happen doesn’t mean that it will. Our brains are wired to look for patterns, even when there isn’t a pattern to be found. Your mind is simply searching through your past experiences and looking for a way to relate it to your current experience. That’s why you keep going back to the embolism; your brain is telling you “it’s happened before so it could happen again.” But there isn’t really any evidence that’s true. In fact, quite the opposite. You already know that it’s a work related injury to your knee. It’s just anxiety trying to tell you otherwise.

[jeastman1984]

Thank you for your reply ☺️ I try to remind myself that the likelihood of a recurrence is small. That I lead an active lifestyle and, although I smoke and am a bit overweight, I do not fall into most risk categories. Thank you for your words of encouragement. I think I will mention the anxiety I’m feeling to my doctor tomorrow when I see him.