GWS ColinJ.. DVT/Pulmonary Embolism

[Andrew_Culture]

Blimey - I'd never heard of painless heart attacks - there's another thing to worry about! I thought that heart attacks always made themselves very obvious.

Sorry My father in law is an avid consumer of fatty meats and zero exercise

 

[ColinJ]

Sorry My father in law is an avid consumer of fatty meats and zero exercise

I'm a born worrier! Fortunately, fatty meat-eating is not something I need to worry about. In fact, my diet is pretty good, especially since alcohol won't be featuring in it until I get better.

I'll definitely be adopting a more sensible pattern of exercise than the nowt-nowt-nowt-hard hilly forum ride-nowt-nowt-nowt ... that I'd got into over the past year or so!

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I'm a born worrier! Fortunately, fatty meat-eating is not something I need to worry about. In fact, my diet is pretty good, especially since alcohol won't be featuring in it until I get better.

I'll definitely be adopting a more sensible pattern of exercise than the nowt-nowt-nowt-hard hilly forum ride-nowt-nowt-nowt ... that I'd got into over the past year or so!

Great, I wanted to be clear that you and he are very different, even now he sneaks lumps off fat onto his plate, it crazes me!

 

[middleagecyclist]

Blimey - I'd never heard of painless heart attacks - there's another thing to worry about! I thought that heart attacks always made themselves very obvious.

So called 'Silent MI's'. Often diagnosed because the pt has come in with symptoms that have occured after the MI such as shortness of breath or lethargy. The evidence can be seen on the ECG for weeks/months/years and in blood tests for a couple of weeks or so. Often occur in people with nerve damage such as those with diabetes.

Anyway, let me add to those already given and hope you GWS.

 

[ColinJ]

How much weight have you lost Colin?

I can now answer that question - I was 16 st 1 lb when I was taken ill (down from my peak of 16 st 8 lbs) and am now 14 st 12 lbs.

Sorry potsy, I'm now ... er, 14 st 6 lbs! (The lightest I've been since 2007.)

 

[potsy]

Sorry potsy, I'm now ... er, 14 st 6 lbs! (The lightest I've been since 2007.)

Blimey Colin, you are wasting away
Get some pies down your neck!!

Seriously, it will be great to see you fighting fit next year, don't think there will be many on here who have seen such a phenomenon just hope we can keep up.
I am doing my best to get slim with you, started again 3 weeks ago and have shed 7lbs so far

 

[ColinJ]

Blimey Colin, you are wasting away
Get some pies down your neck!!

I am eating less than I was before but I'm not starving myself - I just don't need as much food because I'm only doing a total of about 250 metres walking a day and 5 or 6 trips up and down stairs! I'll ramp up the food intake when I am able to start moving about more.

The main reason I'm shifting the weight is the total lack of alcohol!

Seriously, it will be great to see you fighting fit next year, don't think there will be many on here who have seen such a phenomenon just hope we can keep up.

There are only one or two people on CC who know me from the C+ forum days which is when I was last fit, so I think you lot will get a shock, assuming that all goes to plan!

I am doing my best to get slim with you, started again 3 weeks ago and have shed 7lbs so far

Good man! Now we just need to get to work on Alun ...

 

[Dayvo]

I am doing my best to get slim with you, started again 3 weeks ago and have shed 7lbs so far

You should get out to the shed more often, Potsy, and leave some more weight there!

Glad Colin is motivating you to lose weight. And pleased to see that he's becoming a lightweight (although not in ideal circumstances). Keep getting better, CJ!

 

[ColinJ]

Well, the good news continues ...

A friend suggested that I walk with her to the nearest cafe today. I was nervous about it because I worry about dislodging the blood(y!) clots, but decided it really was time to get out of the house. I took it very easy, resting 3 times in the slow 300 metre walk, and she was propping me up as I walked to take some of the weight off my bad leg, but I got there in the end!

We spotted her sister chatting to one of my mates at the cafe so we sat with them and had coffee and cake.

One small step for this man, one giant poke in the eye for the clots!



(And as part of my ongoing campaign to raise awareness of DVT and pulmonary embolism, I think the fact that I am making so much of a little stroll to a local cafe after well over a month of immobility should tell you how nasty these problems are! If they don't kill or maim you, they certainly make life very uncomfortable for a long period of time - take steps to ***AVOID AT ALL COSTS*** (pun intended)!)

 

[NormanD]

Speedy recovery there CJ little by little my friend.

 

[longers]

You'll have finished Millstone Grit seeing as you've got all this free time.
If you want owt else to read just let us know eh?

 

[ColinJ]

You'll have finished Millstone Grit seeing as you've got all this free time.
If you want owt else to read just let us know eh?

Oh, hello stranger! You don't seem to be on CC much these days - is life treating you well?

As for Millstone Grit - sorry - it got buried under other books again, but I will make sure it resurfaces! I just finished another book, so I'll now finish reading MG off ASAP. Did I lend you John Peel's biography? I remember lending books to various CC members but can't remember who got what!

Now that I know I can get to a cafe, if you fancy riding over for a coffee some time let me know and we can meet up and exchange books! It would be nice to see you again. (If you are too busy, I'll post the book.)

 

[Typhon]

Just read through this whole thread. I'm glad you're recovering from your illness Colin and I hope that you fully recover and return to your old level of fitness very soon.

What's frightening about this illness is not just how suddenly it can come on but how it can affect someone who was a keen cyclist before. You've made comments about your lifestyle not being the healthiest but really, most people in their 50s take no exercise whatsoever and are severely overweight. Even if you did only do two big cycle runs a month, that's still two more than most people and you were not that overweight to begin with.

Like you I stress a lot and although I am a lot younger I had become concerned with a poor lifestyle and the effect it would have on me in the long run. I have made some big changes this summer namely taking up cycling & rowing, eating heather and trying to stress less. So I hope that both of lifestyle changes will make a big difference for us in the future.

 

[ColinJ]

Honestly Typhon, it was pretty damn terrifying how quietly this sneaked up on me.

It sounds stupid, but I was totally convinced that I just had a nasty chest infection and that I would get over it without needing to see a doctor.

It took a sleepless night curled up in the foetal position and fighting for every breath with my heart doing 150+ bpm to finally convince me that I needed help.

Seeing the CT scan showing the main clot in my lungs scared me. I am going to try and get hold of copies of my scans at the end of this and I will post them as a warning to others to listen to the advice issued for long-haul flights etc.

 

[Typhon]

I don't blame you. In all honesty I would have done the same in your situation. If you haven't been ill in years and are generally fit and healthy it's only natural to pass off those symptoms as something minor.

DVT isn't something I've ever really thought about about from long haul flights but I will keep your advice in mind in the future.