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Patient stories
Hemorrhaging, DVT and an occluded IVC filter By Hope Racine
or Shaida, age 44, it started with a heavy menstrual cycle. She’d been struggling to get her heavy bleeding under control and was
hesitant to see more doctors. She had a history of feeling dismissed or having her medical concerns blamed on her weight. But the bleeding was getting worse.
These “murder bleeds,” as she called them, compounded until her doctor told her she had bled through roughly a quarter of her blood volume, and it wasn’t replenishing. At one point, Shaida’s hemoglobin levels were down to 3.7.
Simultaneously, there was something happening with her lower left leg. Imaging had revealed multiple small
blood clots in her saphenous vein— concerning, but not at the level of deep vein thrombosis. She was ordered to rest and monitor the situation and was given the regular course of medication for blood clots, which included a blood thinner.
Within 36 hours of that first dose, Shaida began hemorrhaging menstrual blood so badly that she required an emergency blood transfusion.
The murder bleeds What followed was a revolving door of specialists and multiple attempts to manage Shaida’s bleeding and clots. She received an intrauterine device, which she expelled, and her gynecologist believed she needed
a dilation and curettage (D&C) procedure—but that required approval, and Shaida was still bleeding. So, she was put on a progestrin as a stopgap while they waited.
“The gynecologist told me that there is a possibility of developing blood clots,” Shaida said. “And because I already had some superficial blood clots, she was a little concerned about it, but they didn’t know how else to stop my bleeding. Because at this point, she was concerned I would bleed out before I could have the D&C.”
Before all of this started, Shaida said she didn’t know much about blood clots.
“I knew they were nasty, and could be dangerous,” she said. “And when I started having these issues, I felt confident that I had clots, but all the doctors I saw said just ‘put your feet up, you’ll be fine.’”
Shaida’s D&C was scheduled for March 22, 2021. But she had begun experiencing shortness of breath and pain in her chest. She went to a cardiologist and received more imaging: Shaida had significant blood clots in her legs, which were indeed deep vein thrombosis.
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