AIBU to second guess what A&E said? Blood clot risk.

[SecondOpinionOrLeaveIt]

Swollen lower leg, red and achy. I’m 40, a bit fat and have been on oral contraceptives for half my life.
I went to the hospital this morning as per the advice of NhS 111.
A&E did a D Dimer which was 480 and the cut off is 500. They have sent me home.

I cannot shake this feeling but I don’t want to waste their time. I could go to the GP tomorrow.

I am not a particularly anxious person but my gut feeling said “are you sure??”. I don’t want to make a fuss.

AIBU to be feeling really unsure and uncomfortable? Happy to be told I need to chill the F out.

That is a very low bar to be praising the NHS... The NHS exists to diagnose issues and heal them, and it seems they didn't do a good job of that at all.

Glad you got seen again. Hope they were more thorough in their assessment

@SecondOpinionOrLeaveIt how are you now? Did they do a scan?

Listen to yourself sooner next time.

Hope your ok and they are taking good care of you.

That sounds really worrying. I hope you're okay. I'm really glad you went back to hospital.

Go back in now and get thinners. I was sent home with chest pains they called costochondria (because I have anxiety on my record so they ignore actual pain) after nearly a day of waiting in agony. They sent me home and I was back in 3 days later fighting to breathe - it was a pulmanory embolism. Go in and keep telling them you have a high D dimer and want a CAT not an xray (xray won't show up a clot).

Really hope you’re ok, OP. I know it can be shocking and frightening when you’re diagnosed with a clot, especially if it’s a pulmonary embolism (PE) but once you’ve got that diagnosis, the medication works very quickly.

If it is a PE, there’s a brilliant group of FB run by Thrombosis UK which is really supportive and although it obviously doesn’t give medical advice, it’s full of people giving their experiences and support. Aftercare can be…… varied, and you might find you need some help in what’s ‘normal’ and what’s something you need to speak to your dr about.

How are you @SecondOpinionOrLeaveIt ?
interestingly your d-dimer is considered within normal reference range if you are <50 yrs. if you’re older though you could be outwith normal range with more chance of VTE. Be interested to see outcome.

Go back.
my friend could only take short breaths in and could not lie down due to the pain.
it was in her lungs.
( these were 2 indicators of a blood clot)

I take it your second trip back went fine @SecondOpinionOrLeaveIt? Usually a ddimer of under 500 won't trigger any further scans/ treatment, but hope you got the reassurance/ treatment you hoped for.

thanks for the messages
Sorry, it’s been a few days! I’m in hospital. I don’t have a blood clot thankfully. I have a chest infection so on intravenous antibiotics but weirdly some concerning neurological symptoms. I’m being sent to a bigger hospital for some nerve studies.

its all a bit odd and we are not sure if the swollen leg is a red herring but I had Doppler on the leg and it was normal, thankfully.
i am glad I went to hospital again.

Glad to hear it wasn't a clot, but clearly going back was the right thing to do. I hope.you feel better soon and they can work out what it is.

So pleased it wasn’t a clot, and hope it’s something that’s easily fixed with a few pills 💐