Is this poor practice by nurse?

[nellietheoliphant]

Went to my GP practice with leg pain. Was worried about a DVT. DVT score low, unlikely, which am happy about of course. Still unsure of what was causing the pain. There was a visible bruise over the site of pain when I saw the nurse practitioner. I run 3x a week so assumed was linked. Nurse told me it's a varicose vein, phlebitis, that she can see a varicose vein forming. Told me to do lots of stretching. Cue a couple of days of stretches, calf goes ping. Muscle has torn and no sign of mystery varicose vein. Nobody can find said varicose vein and this original diagnosis is all a bit of a mystery. Likely could have avoided this if was advised to rest as opposed to stretch it out. Bruise over the site is classic muscle tear territory. Shall not be running the London marathon now. Just feeling awfully stressed before Christmas as am unable to walk and feel I was fobbed off a little.

No this is not poor practice. Nobody can predict when a muscle will tear. Yes a misdiagnosis but not poor practice. Sorry to hear you won’t be able to do what you’ve trained for.

Fair enough. Just found the diagnosis of varicose vein a bit odd as I don't have one. Also very grumpy and in a lot of pain, trying to solo parent a 7yo, so may be slightly more ticked off than is warranted!

London is 4 months away, don’t rush into a decision and see how your recovery goes

It's annoying but she wasn't to know that it would tear. She doesn't have any imaging or diagnostic machines at her disposal so the advice given at that service is limited to external appearances/touching and a bit of guesswork.

You could still have a varicose vein forming gradually. Or perhaps not but it's not her fault your leg got torn.

I hope you'll be better in time for the marathon. X

I tore my calf muscle 6 weeks ago. It's already healed, so don't jump the gun in cancelling the marathon good luck!

The marathon is the end of April!