Back pain, leg pain, high d-dimer... argh!

[Fi1982]

Any advice or experience welcome!

Bashed the base of my spine really hard a month or so ago, it was incredibly painful for several days afterwards, but sort of became a dull ache over the coming week.

Fast forward a few weeks, and after looking after my toddler DD for 12 hours a day alone for days at a time, my back started to twinge and ache. One night my legs suddenly started throbbing and aching, really painful and lasted until morning when it abated somewhat. Then after a long walk on Thursday the same thing happened, coupled with really awful restless legs which kept me up all night.

Friday night I started feeling shooting cramps in my left calf, and took myself off to A&E. Was checked over and it turned out I had high d-dimer levels (1540, normal levels should be below 500), which can indicate a blood clot, so had a Heparin injection to prevent further clotting, then an ultrasound to check my left leg (by far the more painful). The ultrasound came back clear, and I was sent on my way with very little explanation about... anything really!

Has anyone else had an experience like this? Is my d-dimer high for another reason, such as my back injury? Are my legs hurting due to back injury? Dr Google has confirmed that both of these notions could be correct, but is also churning out the usual doomful cancer and heart failure prognosis so I’d much rather hear from anyone with direct experience.

I’ve got a Doctor’s appointment on Wednesday where I’ll be bringing this up, but I’m freaking myself out a bit tonight!

Thanks!

Just to add, varicose veins were ruled out by the sonographer, and the pains are mainly on the outside of the tops of my thighs, reaching down towards the knees (which also hurt!).

I have no personal experience but my SIL has herniated her disc a few years ago. She still suffers from pain and all her pain is in her legs , mostly back of thighs, sometimes calves and angles. Her back pain itself is not that bad compared to the pain in her legs.

*ankles not angles

I don't know anything about the clot thing. But a herniated disc would cause sciatica and restless legs.

Thanks for your responses. I’m feeling really anxious and tearful today, keep thinking maybe they missed the clot when doing the ultrasound and it’s located elsewhere in my body. Or that if there’s no clot, why is my d-dimer elevated, what other illness do I have, eg cancer, heart failure etc.

Got a doctor’s appointment tomorrow but I find doctors generally want to get rid of you ASAP unless you’re presenting as seriously ill. I just feel like I’ve got no one advocating for me and I’m worried I’ll fall between the NHS gaps due to lack of follow-up ☹️

If anyone out there has any d-dimer experience feel free to chime in!

D-dimers are highly sensitive but not highly specific, raised for all kinds of reasons. It’s use to rule in the possibility of a clot, but not diagnose it. If you’ve got a clot you’ll almost always have a massive d-dimer, but not everyone with a massive d-dimer will have a clot.

In my experience, those with actual DVT’s/PE’s tend to have much high results than 1540. 4000, 5000 and beyond. I’ve seen them as high as 20k+

Pregnancy, cancer, menstruation, general inflammation, obesity, etc can all cause raised d-dimers.

@QueenOfPain thank you so much for your reply. That’s really helpful and has dialled my panic down from 10 to a more manageable 6/7 🙃

Would you count 1540 as a result that could indicate cancer? The rest of my blood tests came back normal, and I had a complete blood count done in June which was all clear. The doctors seemed quite laid-back about the possibility of cancer based on the results done on Friday, but then I think they were a bit short of time and needed me out of A&E...

Lastly, do you think it could be my back injury that’s raised my d-dimer levels? Do pinched nerves count as ‘trauma’ or ‘inflammation’?

Sorry for all the questions! Just can’t bear trawling through ancient posts online with no real resolution ☹️

Like i mentioned, it’s sensitive but not specific, so there’s no verified scientific indication of what level means what. It seems unlikely that 1540 would indicate a malignancy. It is not a diagnostic test for cancer of any kind, it is just known to be raised in some people with cancer.

We regularly discharge people back to GP care with D-dimers like yours and negative Doppler scans. Often nothing further is done.

I would push for more investigation of your back pain as that seems to be the big problem here.

Thanks again @QueenOfPain you’ve helped me so much. I’ve really been struggling today and I’m looking after my young DD alone this week, so really need to keep it together.

Will definitely talk to my GP about my back problems. I might cobble the cash together for some private tests, my husband said I can have them for my Christmas present, which managed to bring a smile to my face anyway 🙂

Any news on the d dimer? I had the same worries as you. First test was 2200 and 2nd was 1860.

Any news on the d-dimer? I recently had high results too (but also 4 weeks pregnant). Blood clot was rules out but now I’m the same as you and got myself worked up by finding all sorts of other reasons on google 😩 GP appointment not available for atleast a week.

Did you find out what yours was after?

@Fi1982 @Veltgirl7 Any advice please? 😊

@Mummy1319

Any news on the d-dimer? I recently had high results too (but also 4 weeks pregnant). Blood clot was rules out but now I’m the same as you and got myself worked up by finding all sorts of other reasons on google 😩 GP appointment not available for atleast a week.

D-dimer normally rises in pregnancy. The result needs interpreting by someone who can actually see you and examine you. HTH.

Hi, haven’t thought about this issue for a while actually! I ended up having an interesting chat about it with a blood work specialist from the US about 7/8 months ago, and he said the same as Queen of Pain earlier on the thread, it doesn’t indicate anything in and of itself, and can be raised for myriad innocent reasons. I was also told that I might just have blood that clots easily and the clots break down just as easily, leaving the large amount of D-Dimer residue behind to be picked up in blood tests. Apparently this doesn’t mean I’m any more likely to have an embolism or DVT or anything scary, just that it’s a characteristic of my blood. Really, no fucker seems to 100% understand D-Dimer, just that if it’s high, it means you can’t rule out a blood clot without further investigation, eg a CT scan. The chap I spoke to said he won’t test for it unless there is a reason as it causes nothing but trouble!

Just to reiterate though, it’s often raised in pregnancy and obesity… in fact I’ve lost two stone since then so I wonder if mine has dropped?! Not willing to risk my precarious health anxiety finding out I must say… 😁

Try not to worry @Mummy1319, I’m sure it’s nothing sinister, but speak to your GP if your concerns continue (and get yourself to A&E if you have any signs of DVT of course!) x

@greybeardy I understand it rises in pregnancy. But considering I was just 4 weeks…Does it really rise an awful lot this early on?

@Fi1982 thank you for this! It sounds very confusing, And I hope I’m just worrying over nothing 🙏 I have an appointment booked with the GP to discuss on Monday..but seems like an awful long time to wait with the anxiety.