Pain … a perpetual reminder

Well it’s been several week’s now since I first started using Peppermint Oil for pain control. Unfortunately I have nothing conclusive to report regarding the use of this natural means. Vascular pain as discussed in a prior  post is  extremely hard to treat as I have been told and sadly I continue to experience pain on a daily basis.

In attempts to take the edge off the pain,  I still use Codeine, and Tylenol albeit sparingly.  Added to the meds I use heat in the form of a warm bath or hot water bottle, and yes I still use peppermint oil in lukewarm water with a teaspoon of unpasteurized honey.  More recently my doctor has prescribed Toradol, however I  experienced bouts of dizziness with no apparent  pain relief.   To clarify, when I say pain control, even the Codeine or Tylenol will only just take the edge off.  So I just tarry on,  and bear the pain when it comes.  Fortunately that pain usually will subside over time, and the episodes normally  last a few hours or more.  There are days though where my whole day is taken up fighting pain.  Rest, heat,  meds, and yes a warm cup of peppermint tea are the order of the day when pain rears it’s ugly head!

Not really  sure what triggers the pain but am only left with the grim fact that all the arteries within my intestinal tract are engorged with blood due to portal pressure.  There are certain foods I know will irritate my system, and I refrain from eating them.  Can only surmise at this point that the pain may be triggered by stress?

2 thoughts on “Pain … a perpetual reminder

  1. Meeshia

    I am frantically searching for anyone “that is like me”. I had a pvt almost 15 years ago that was also in the mesiatric and splenic vein. I was diagnosed with FVL and have not had any episodes since then. I lost my spleen and gallbladder to the damaged caused by the PVT within 5 years of the clotting episode. THis past November I developed severe abdominal pain almost in identical area where I felt the pain when I was clotting. I have had doctor’s tell me; clots do not cause pain. The pain was caused by something else. The doctors discovered a liver bile stricture during the episodes in December and during a visit to Mayo in Rochester the doctor’s who did not find any reason at all for the severe; over the top abdominal pain decided they needed to perform an EACP for the stricture. Upon doing that procedure, they discovered my syhinctor oddi muslce was completely closed, so they had to cut this muscle causing an 8 day visit in the hospital to recover. I have returned to Mayo this past week to have the stint removed they placed during that procedure. Everything looked good; so the doctor’s are back at saying unknown reason for severe abdominal pain; but are now saying I have visceral hypersensitivity. My stomach will constantly feel like it is over full and the pain will and does cause me not to be able to eat. I am so frustrated and confused about all of this. I still, to this day, do not believe a body can go through what it did with the pvt and not have permanent damage. I am thankful that I do have recavernous veins from the clotting and every time they have done CTs they always say the veins did their job. In once breath I am told; this is unsual; and that I am “cured” and then on the other hand I keep having this pain that never seems to have a reason. The doctor I saw at Mayo said that over the course of 20 years, he did a research project on those presenting with abdominal thrombosis. He said that out of over 800 some patients presenting; only over 200 of them had specifically pvt. So; if you ask me, that is probably not enough people for them to really ever want to do a study and follow-up on them. I wish I had more information on the long term life of someone who has lived with the pain afterwards. I have had episodes of high dedimer, higher liver profiles off and on, but nothing ever shows up and stays high. Does anyone have any comments, suggestions… thoughts? I am going to be entering a study at Mayo on the visceral hypersensitivity. Praying that this really does give me some relief. I am not 100% convinced my stomach is my problem by the residual damage from the clots. I am on coumadin because of this damage. When they do scans; they always say, if they didn’t know I had previous clots, they always say my scans look like I have clots that remain.

    Reply
    1. Clint Post author

      Dear Meeshia,

      Thanks for your post. You have provided much information for one to decipher as you have been through allot and have a good understanding of the effects of PVT. One never knows what another person is currently going through, or has gone through with the complications of this condition. You have raised some interesting points that have got me thinking even deeper and I am not even sure if I can answer your questions – but this is what I set up this site for so maybe someone can relate and offer you further insight?

      Now the questions raised in my mind are concerning pain from the clots themselves. When originally diagnosed with PVT in early 2002 I presented to the hospital with severe upper abdominal pain. After 4 separate visits to the emergency department of 2 local hospitals, doctors discovered I had portal vein thrombosis. This likely would not have been discovered if I did not have the unexplainable pain, which was only pinpointed after a CT scan on the 4th visit. Did I have this clot well before the diagnosis, I guess that is possible? Thankfully I do not have ongoing pain in this region, but have severe intermittent in the bowel region due to corroded arteries in that region from the clot to the liver and spleen. I have met others through this blog who experience ongoing pain, and it can be centralized in the same region or can be related to the enlargement of the spleen from clotting. One young girl in particular uses a morphine pump to help with pain. I have been told that vascular pain is very hard to treat, and I can only surmise that although the clot itself may not be painful, the arteries connected can be painful because they are engorged with blood and not designed to handle the volume of blood within them? As far as permanent damage … that is another good question?

      You are not the first person to ask if there were stats on long term life after pain, and I wish I knew myself. Again let’s hope someone can offer us more information for the questions you and others have raised.

      Take care, Clint

      Reply

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