Question: Hello, I am a healthy 45 year old non-smoking female. About 4 days ago I noticed some pain in my right calf. It felt like muscle pain so I didn’t give it much thought. The next day it began to bother me more as the day went along. It didn’t hurt when resting, but hurt when I would walk. It felt difficult to fully straighten my leg. The following day (2 days ago), I got up in the morning and it was still bothering me. I have been taking Marvelon for many years and my father had a DVT in his leg (when he was 80 - he is a smoker but otherwise the cause was unknown so he is taking Eliquis for life) so I was concerned this could be a blood clot so I went to the ER. The only symptom I was having was pain. It is not severe pain, my leg mostly hurts when standing or walking. It also hurts when I pressed on a certain area of my calf. My leg was not swollen, not red, not warm, I did not have a fever. I had no memory of doing anything that may have injured my leg. The ER performed blood work (they did not show me the results, but they said everything looked fine). The doctor said it was possible that it could be a blood clot, but was thinking it is muscular. She had me go for an ultrasound and it was negative for a DVT (I have attached the results). They said it is likely muscular and to follow up with my doctor if it continues to hurt. They said to come back to the ER if I show symptoms of a blood clot such as severe pain, redness, swelling, warm to the touch.

Yesterday my leg was still sore, but not quite as bad as the day before when I went to the ER. Today it is basically the same as yesterday. It’s not worse, but still sore. The only difference is that today I can walk with a little less pain, but my whole leg can feel sore into my lower back when I am sitting. It mostly feels all normal if I am laying down (no pain lying down unless I happen to touch my leg in the one spot that hurts).

I am feeling a little anxious about this because I cannot figure out why my leg hurts. There is one particular spot that hurts when I touch it. When the technician was performing the ultrasound she went over that area several times (as she did with the rest of my leg). She asked me if she had gone over the spot that hurts and I said she had several times. I figured she mustn’t have seen anything if she was asking that question.

I have bad health anxiety and worry a lot. I am concerned that the ultrasound may have missed a blood clot. Is it possible that a clot may have been missed or am I worrying excessively about this? My dad said when he had his clot in his calf he only had swelling, no pain and the ultrasound showed the clot.

Are ultrasounds usually effective in finding DVTs?

Also, if it is muscular, they didn’t tell me what to do to help it - should I put ice or heat on it? Should I be resting it or is it ok to keep doing normal activities?

Once they had the ultrasound results they seemed satisfied that it was negative for a DVT and sent me home, so I wasn’t quite sure what to do next. My doctor is unavailable today, but I could speak with a walk-in doctor if needed. I think I will follow up with my doctor tomorrow. Do you think it is ok to wait until tomorrow to speak with him? It is hard when you are an anxious person about your health because it makes you worry that something has been missed.

Thank you for your help. Any advice is appreciated.

Thank you very much for your answer!
I spoke with my doctor last night. He sent me for another ultrasound today just to make sure I do not have a blood clot as I was noticing the pain was still there and going behind my knee. I am just waiting for the results of the ultrasound. As a precaution my doctor had me take a 10mg dose of Xarelto last night in case this is a clot. I took it approximately 23 hours ago. I know that it is dangerous to injure your head while on Xarelto. Well, I am in a panic now. About an hour ago I was putting laundry into my front loading dryer and I must have put my head in a little because when I was backing out, my head brushed the dryer frame. I would not really say I banged my head (I certainly didn’t bang it hard) or hurt my head, but the top of my head did brush up against the dryer frame enough that I noticed. I am so worried it may have caused injury. I was looking on Google and saw that you need to be so vigilant about not injuring your head when on a blood thinner. I only had the one pill last night and if I find out that I do not have a blood clot this evening, I will not be taking another dose. I guess my head brushed the door frame about 22 hours after taking the xarelto.

I do not have any symptoms from this - no headache, pain, blurry vision, confusion, etc.

I have terrible health anxiety and now I am in a panic that I will get a bleed in my brain. Do you know how hard you need to hit your head for this to be a problem? My dad is on eliquis and said he has bumped his head before and has been fine. I think he feels I am too worried about this.
Should I be speaking to a doctor about this or going to the ER?
I would appreciate any help you can give me as soon as you are able, please.
Thank you so much