Training with a blood clot?

[bjjpepperz]

So I have a blood clot in my lung which is currently being treated by blood thinners. (3 months on this medication and the clot should be gone.)

Because I'm on blood thinner meds, I cannot do any impact activities. That rules out sparring during this time but I'd still like to train positions at my school and with partners I trust. (Again, no impact.)

Anyone deal with something like this and have any advice?


Background:

A few weeks ago, during training, I felt a sudden pain in my back and assumed I had pulled a muscle.

It was a dull pain for about 1.5 weeks and then I woke up in agony middle of the night.

Went to the ER (for the first time in my life) and turns out to be a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in my lung.

Doctors think I got it because of a medication I was taking combined with a long car ride.

I was prescribed Xarelto (a blood thinner) for 3 months and the clot should take care of itself. After that I can stop and my blood will go back to normal thickness.

Blood clots do not run in my family and far as we know this was situational.

 

[Solidus Snake]

So I have a blood clot in my lung which is currently being treated by blood thinners. (3 months on this medication and the clot should be gone.)

Because I'm on blood thinner meds, I cannot do any impact activities. That rules out sparring during this time but I'd still like to train positions at my school and with partners I trust. (Again, no impact.)

Anyone deal with something like this and have any advice?


Background:

A few weeks ago, during training, I felt a sudden pain in my back and assumed I had pulled a muscle.

It was a dull pain for about 1.5 weeks and then I woke up in agony middle of the night.

Went to the ER (for the first time in my life) and turns out to be a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) in my lung.

Doctors think I got it because of a medication I was taking combined with a long car ride.

I was prescribed Xarelto (a blood thinner) for 3 months and the clot should take care of itself. After that I can stop and my blood will go back to normal thickness.

Blood clots do not run in my family and far as we know this was situational.

Hey man, I went through similar shit some years ago, not exactly pulmonary embolism as you but I had a blood clot in my calf, pretty situational as yours. You might want to read the thread I made at the times: http://forums.sherdog.com/threads/dvt-and-bjj.2341301/

What I can say is just follow your doctor's orders, I think you should be able to go back to at least lift in a few weeks since it isn't a dangerous/contact activity (or at least that's what the doctor told me I could do at the times), but since it's the lungs maybe they'll tell you to just rest it for the time needed. For Bjj or any other serious contact activity you'll have to surely wait for your lungs to be tested and the clot to be gone for good, then hopefully you'll be able to go back training as before. Just drilling might or might not be okay depending on what your doctor thinks I guess.

Just a curiosity, if I may ask.. no calf/leg pain prior to your whole episode? Just simply what you described? Also which medication were you taking that might have triggered it? Forgive me, but even if my episode is kinda "old" I still try to gather as many information as I can about blood clots and similar stuff, especially from other Bjj guys since it's (luckily, but kinda unfortunately) pretty rare among us.

Wish you the best! I'm no doctor but if you have any question to ask me about my episode feel free to write here or in pvt, I'll answer as soon as possible!

 

[bjjpepperz]

The only conscious symptom I felt was a sudden "pop" in the right side of my back while training. I now know this was the blood clot traveling from my leg to my lung.

I can't say my leg felt any different before that but it probably formed two weeks earlier when I drove long distance (14 hours) with my family.

The prescription med I was taking was clomid. Any drug that effects your hormones has a side effect of clotting and doctors say it was likely that combined with the long drive.

As for following Doctor's orders, here's the thing...

The ER doctor and my regular doctor said it's best to stay away from BJJ to be safe. Weight training is okay since it's no contact.

However it happens I have a friend who is a sports doctor / spine surgeon *and* runs his own BJJ school... he said he has treated and trained with people with blood clots. He said that rolling is definitely out but positional stuff with very light contact is fine.

He also told me that most doctors will tell you to completely avoid X because they're afraid of malpractice lawsuits.

Now I am not suggesting to ignore doctors advice and am planning on following what they said myself.. I just wanted to potentially hear from someone else.

Thank you for sharing your story. May I ask what has happened since 2012 with your training? Were you able to continue and find a medium you are happy with?

 

[Solidus Snake]

The only conscious symptom I felt was a sudden "pop" in the right side of my back while training. I now know this was the blood clot traveling from my leg to my lung.

I can't say my leg felt any different before that but it probably formed two weeks earlier when I drove long distance (14 hours) with my family.

The prescription med I was taking was clomid. Any drug that effects your hormones has a side effect of clotting and doctors say it was likely that combined with the long drive.

As for following Doctor's orders, here's the thing...

The ER doctor and my regular doctor said it's best to stay away from BJJ to be safe. Weight training is okay since it's no contact.

However it happens I have a friend who is a sports doctor / spine surgeon *and* runs his own BJJ school... he said he has treated and trained with people with blood clots. He said that rolling is definitely out but positional stuff with very light contact is fine.

He also told me that most doctors will tell you to completely avoid X because they're afraid of malpractice lawsuits.

Now I am not suggesting to ignore doctors advice and am planning on following what they said myself.. I just wanted to potentially hear from someone else.

Thank you for sharing your story. May I ask what has happened since 2012 with your training? Were you able to continue and find a medium you are happy with?

It sucks and it's a bit scary you had zero signals. But luckily you turned out ok. Also the fact you had a specific, direct cause (the medication/long drive) and no other factors should be reassuring for the future.

Regarding the training issue, it's always gonna be controversial depending who you are talking to of course.. the only thing I can say is, listen to your body and decide for yourself. In the end I think you are aware of the risks, you aren't in danger of hurting anybody else and while doctor's words are law, in my experience you are also right when you say they also have to care about malpractice, or just plain results, and not-training is the best way to just reduce to zero any complication.

I mean, my blood doctor at the times (that everybody regarded as a luminary), after all my blood factor tests came out negatives cared little or nothing to help me find out why I had this clots, he was all just "This activity you do (Bjj) it's dangerous for you, just don't do it". Well thanks doc, but it's really not that easy as you make it sound.

By the way, everything turned out fine after that. I had to figure out myself what the causes were (wrote it to a great extent in the other topic) and I had to care a lot more about being hydrated before class/eating and using good supplements. Except from totally giving up triangle chokes (no big deal anyway), I came back to train at 100% intensity and while I had other injuries of different nature, no other episodes of that kind to this day.

 

[RJ Green]

take the time to heal up. training through an injury you're trying to heal is like doing maintenance on a car while it's driving down the interstate.

even though you didn't 'hurt' anything, it's okay to be conservative and take time off. sure, you can go light, but you, me, and everyone else here knows you're eventually gonna get antsy and start pushing it before the doc gives you the all-clear, especially if everything feels good.

keep lifting and figure out if you can do some calisthenics or tumbling in the meantime as well.

 

[GottaGoPee]

I can say it is absolutely the best idea to just wait until you get the green light from your physician. Possible complications from a Pulmonary embolism are no joke.

Best case scenario, you train now, and are fine no problems, yay!

Worse case scenarios: stroke with debilitating lifelong impairments or even death.

Intersting article, but the quick takeaway is :

We conclude that acute PE remains a very serious clinical condition with high mortality and high risk on PE-associated severe complications.
http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.200907-1141OC

I understand how frustrating it is to wait when you really really really want to train, but it isn't worth the risk, however small.

 

[CFGroup]

Scary shit!

I had to wear compression socks for a whole month post op, cause of potential blood clots. Fucker breaks loose ends up in your brain adios muchachos!

Work your flexibility and makeup all kind of resistance band exercises to maintain muscle function.

Scary shit!

 

[McA]

Do me a favor, and look up where the nearest Dedicated Stroke Center is where you live. Might be called a Comprehensive Stoke Center, or a Primary Stoke Center.

If you have a blood clot go to the brain instead of a lung or kidney, the goal is to get the correct treatment, in under an hour. If you go to a regular emergency room, you may spend that hour waiting to see a doctor, or waiting for test results. The problem with stroke, is that the wrong treatment can make it worse, so they need to know what is going on, before they cure it. That takes time you don't have, while your brain tissue is dying.

You want someone who cares about you to know what the symptoms are, where to take you, and to know to take you fast. If you can, take a CPR class with stroke assessment.