QuestionI need help. My life has been turned upside down. OK so last year i had a hysterectomy, full hyster., i had been bleeding way too much for years and then eventually was bed ridden and put on iron because i was anemic. Then i just never stopped bleeding. Got iron level up which took like three years. had hysterectomy, and when i got to my moms i felt great. I had a rod put in my spine for scoliosis years ago and my right lung was kinda weak so when i got home i got up alot, didn't want pneumonia. about a week later, oh and i had been taking the pills for menopause, i started just getting so sick, i would shower five times a night. felt like i was dying. i put my moms oxygen on and told them that i wasn't waking up when i would go to sleep. i insisted on going to the hospital, when i got there the doctor told me i was probably having another anxiety attack. i told him you better check my lungs cause im dying. so they did. they came running back and said this is how people die. they told me that i had ten minutes and then they would have to fly me out and put me on life support. so i was in ICU for a week. come to find out, my right lung was shut down, the biggest clot was in my pulmonary artery and it had backed up and enlarged my liver. i was on coumadin for about nine months. then went back home which is about 8000ft. a week later my gallbladder failed and i was back in for surgery. the doctor told me never to go back home or i would die young. hyper something. so i live at about 5000ft now with my youngest, and my husband lives up at 8000ft with the oldest. i went up there a month ago i hadn't been home for over a year. i took oxygen and my oxygen level was ok but my heart rate was 168. I don't need oxygen here unless i over due it. which isn't hard. i feel like im not trying to get into shape enough. i tried swimming the other day and after being on a float and just kicking my legs, my teeth started chattering. i knew i couldn't be cold it was 89 in the indoor pool and 99 outside. this is in Colorado. anyway i can only remember trying to get to my car i couldn't think. my doctor has told me that i may never be able to move home. because i have so much scar tissue that even on oxygen at that altitude, the oxygen would just be to stay alive, but wouldn't allow me to heal. she said that she has never seen that many blood clots in a person, and if i wasn't so young there is no way i would be alive. im confused doctors tell me not to move to a higher altitude, my husband keeps asking me are your lungs getting better. and to tell you the truth i miss my home, but im glad i live by a hospital now. up there we don't have neighbors and the nearest hospital is an hour away. i physically feel better than i have in ten years. but even to walk stairs from my basement takes a toll on me. i have opinions and want just one more, i was told i would die young and that it could take five/ten years. or maybe never for my lungs to heal. im ok here. im alive, and not on oxygen. well sometimes. should i stay at a lower altitude. i need to know which direction to take my life. I need to know what altitude does to you after pulmonary embolisms. and there were so many they couldn't count them. could i heal? and how long does it usually take? or is it stupid to even think about moving back to a high altitude? will it likely shorten my life? sorry for such a long letter i just need answers. are there tests i can take to see how my lungs are doing? they told me no cause there were so many clots that they wouldn't be able to tell anything. thanks so much for everything, please get back to me as soon as possible. thank you. oh my age is 38 and im female. Tammy
Answeryou implied that the menopause pills may be related to the pulm emboli... maybe or maybe not. But now, you have to make sure you don't get anemic and you should not go to an altitude that allows your pulse oximeter reading to start to go down. Also, I assume you had all the other evaluations including thyroid, other reasons for so many pulm emboli, etc. There are some centers in the country that surgically extract clots, only a few, I am not sure where they are, but that won't work if the clots have been there a while. Basically, since your heart and lung system has been damaged, you need as much oxygen as it takes to keep your blood oxygenated and that oxygen pressure clearly goes down as your altitude increases. 500 - 1000 feet aren't critical, but when you get to 5000-8000 feet, that makes a big difference. I would not move to a high altitude
