Stroke with Low RBC, Hemoglobin and Hematocrit

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

I keep reading this: ‘hematocrit is the silent killer. thickens your blood. lots of bodybuilders drop dead of heart attack/stroke because of thick blood.’

Yet I was very low with everything except Platelet, my Platelet count was 688 upon admission to the hospital and 499 upon discharge because I entered dehydrated and they pumped me full of water. Diagnosis: Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis and now I get to take blood thinners and have to avoid everything that is healthy, green tea, vitamins, green leafy vegetables.

Admission:

RBC 4.05
Hgb 11.6
Hct 35.4
Plt 688

Discharge:

RBC 3.53
Hgb 10.3
Hct 31.1
Plt 499

Any idea what would cause the platelet count to be so high ? I assume that along with failing to hydrate properly back in late September caused this. I am to be 47 next month but people in the hospital were still surprised that it happened at this age.

2

Can you use the [edit] function on your post above and add lab ranges?

General discussion:

Hematocrit needs to be in a favorable range. When low, it can be a proxy for low T and/or iron imbalances. When high, it can make blood too thick to flow, leading to may symptoms. High amounts of gear can take hematocrit too high and normal TRT doses can do this for an unfortunate few. Dehydration just make things worse, perhaps to a crisis. We have seen headaches, joint pain, muscle pain and general malaise reported here.

Small dose aspirin and fish oil have blood thinning actions [improved flow]. This should be the foundation and then drugs can be used to fill the gap.

Flow can be improved by lowering BP. That sounds counter intuitive. BP increases when the arteries resist blood flow. This is very much determined by the muscle tone of the muscles in the arteries that relax to ‘swallow’ [my terminology] a surge of blood then contract afterwards. Low T has a negative effect on that muscle action and restored T levels can lower BP.

There are many supplements that also improve or protect the endothelial cells, which are one layer thick and separate the blood from the internal parts of the arteries. When that goes wrong, ‘endothelial dysfunction’, it is the fundamental mechanism of arterial disease, aka high blood pressure, scarring of the arteries, clots, strokes and heart attacks.

While in this general discussion, note that statin drugs use to lower cholesterol levels, also lower CoQ10, leading to some degree of reduced mitochondrial function. This can cause muscle aches, but often this is not felt. However, the muscles of the heart, working 24x7, can be weakened and this can cause or contribute to congestive heart failure. If one has a persistent cough when using a statin drug, that is the mechanics of a weakened heart. CoQ10 supplementation can eliminate a cough so induced by a statin drug. That is a very dramatic result.

3

Looking at the discharge report again I see they listed labs for 9/19 thru 9/24 I was there from sunday until saturday. However there are no ranges specified, I must have got a sense of what is normal from googling after seeing (L) underneath all the values except ‘Platelets, automated count’ which has (H) for every single day.

It was a rough ride, they had me pretty doped up in the ICU, questions such as ‘Who is the president’ and ‘What YEAR is it’ were very tough questions to answer. Then my right hand failed and crashed into everything, I would drop my iphone 5 times in a row attempting to pick it up. Forget reaching around in the bathroom and when washing up it would crash into the sink - I could not control it. I was horrified. I clutched a fork/spoon/knife like an ape would.

The Heparin made it go away.

I could not stand all the electrodes telemetry and alarms, the ICU made me quite frustrated then in walked my ex who became my personal assistant for the week. Odd.

I was ready to be discharged Friday but they said ‘one more day’. Well that night when all the doctors had gone home for the weekend it happened again - my skull felt like an elephant was standing on it, the cranial pressure was unbearable yet they would not give me anything but tylenol which did exactly nothing. My ex kept calling and I said I did not expect to make it this must be it. She said she loved me so I gave her an automatic response in kind. They took me down into the basement again for another spinal tap, CT scan, MRI, MRV. They said there was nothing new, nothing happened. They phoned the doctor and he approved vicodin and I immediately projectile vomitted which is how this started on Sunday, no nausea which was an instant clue to me that this was neurological and I ended up driving myself to the ER 24 hours after it began. Apparently this diagnosis is often done on cadaver at autopsy.

$64,000.00 bill.

Your mention of the vascular system swallowing the pressure reminded me of that Friday night and when I asked to be checked it came back really high 168/124 and I am normally 106/76 at rest and sometimes 120/90.

Upon leaving each new day at home I would awaken and have my right side from lip to ankle go numb for 10 minutes and completely freak me out. I also would awaken with a terrible headache.
I got back on track and started a new job this week, hospital is calling now for their money but I already got them to ‘adjust’ it by $39,881.00 and the consulting agency co-insurance picked up a good chunk leaving me with an exhausted plan and a 7k bill.

The Neurologist said it was from 3 things: 1) I have an inflammatory condition ( ulcerative colitis ) 2) I was on high dose prednisone to combat a 2nd flare this year 3) I allowed myself to become dehydrated - he said to drink water constantly and pee clear.

How did all of this happen ?

Perhaps I angered the Gods, not sure but I was not taking care of myself and I cheated. But I dont think its all my fault.

Pre-August I hit a personal best of 200 lbs and I was BUFF. I am 5’9" having shrunk an inch and have small bones so 200 bested my 190 some 15 years ago. I drove to the springs to pickup a laptop for a new gig. Next day I had a sudden brutal flare. I bled a lot and went back on prednisone which worked in May this year only it did nothing this time. I doubled it to 100 mg per day until my GI doc said go back to 50 mg. The catabolic prednisone dropped my 200 lbs to 160 in just 4 weeks. I was pissed and TRT was not going to cut it so I went anabolic, but it did not make a difference so I trimmed that back down too. The prednisone converts muscle to glucose and above 30mg per day revs up your brain so I was obsessed with a git-r-done attitude to prepare the house and the new backyard for the block party I was catering. Putting some extra fist sized meatballs into the fridge as the party winded down I felt pain in the back of the head ( Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis ) and figured the 2 sick kids at the party had menengitis and gave it to me. 24 hours later I knew I was in trouble. Even with me shooting north of TRT levels I still dont get it - all year my hermaticrit has been low never high. Low hemoglobin low RBC. I have never understood it.

Out of the hospital and returning the laptop I stayed at the same resort with my daughter and when I tried to hike up 8 stories to the lodge for the breakfast and dinner buffets I had to STOP - I was out of breath. After reviewing the labs and the fact I was anemic upon admission as well as discharge I began taking iron/vitamin C supplements each morning which helped right away.

I have next to no body fat, my thighs have zero but are WAY more vascular than ever before. Even as a kid the other kids noticed how vascular my chest area was, NOW its that way everywhere and my daughter quickly commented that I still had my muscle at a puny 165. My high school / college girlfriend flew out on the stroke ( Thrombosis ) news and she said my arms were never as vascular as they are now and just shook her head. I am on coumadin blood thinners and will NEVER ever take prednisone again. It would seem to me being more vascular would reduce pressure but I read its just a measure of how low your body fat is.

Yet I feel I am missing part of the picture here - it just does not quite add up.

Thank God I started a good job this week, I had been bombing interviews, I was having trouble recalling all the technical details of the work I have done over the last 2 decades. Taking 2.5 months off this summer did not help and the pain meds probably did not either but I must say my gut loves vicodin, thank God its doing well or I would have to halt the blood thinner and the docs say it is keeping me alive. 3-6 months of coumadin which interestingly is rat poison, no joke. If I stroke again its coumadin for LIFE.

I just want 10 more good years to finish raising my daughter then the grim reaper can harvest me. At this rate I dont see any reason to sock my money away for retirement, I wont last like my parents still kicking and doing great in their 70’s. OTOH I had a few years when I got to COLO that my joints failed, knee surgery then both shoulders, perhaps this too will pass.

This is the 3rd hospital admission my daughter has lived through including one that took me all the way down to 130 lbs and a foot in the grave and so she said:

“Nothing seems to kill you”

4

[quote]HiredGun wrote:
Looking at the discharge report again I see they listed labs for 9/19 thru 9/24 I was there from sunday until saturday. However there are no ranges specified, I must have got a sense of what is normal from googling after seeing (L) underneath all the values except ‘Platelets, automated count’ which has (H) for every single day.

It was a rough ride, they had me pretty doped up in the ICU, questions such as ‘Who is the president’ and ‘What YEAR is it’ were very tough questions to answer. Then my right hand failed and crashed into everything, I would drop my iphone 5 times in a row attempting to pick it up. Forget reaching around in the bathroom and when washing up it would crash into the sink - I could not control it. I was horrified. I clutched a fork/spoon/knife like an ape would.

The Heparin made it go away.

I could not stand all the electrodes telemetry and alarms, the ICU made me quite frustrated then in walked my ex who became my personal assistant for the week. Odd.

I was ready to be discharged Friday but they said ‘one more day’. Well that night when all the doctors had gone home for the weekend it happened again - my skull felt like an elephant was standing on it, the cranial pressure was unbearable yet they would not give me anything but tylenol which did exactly nothing. My ex kept calling and I said I did not expect to make it this must be it. She said she loved me so I gave her an automatic response in kind. They took me down into the basement again for another spinal tap, CT scan, MRI, MRV. They said there was nothing new, nothing happened. They phoned the doctor and he approved vicodin and I immediately projectile vomitted which is how this started on Sunday, no nausea which was an instant clue to me that this was neurological and I ended up driving myself to the ER 24 hours after it began. Apparently this diagnosis is often done on cadaver at autopsy.

$64,000.00 bill.

Your mention of the vascular system swallowing the pressure reminded me of that Friday night and when I asked to be checked it came back really high 168/124 and I am normally 106/76 at rest and sometimes 120/90.

Upon leaving each new day at home I would awaken and have my right side from lip to ankle go numb for 10 minutes and completely freak me out. I also would awaken with a terrible headache.
I got back on track and started a new job this week, hospital is calling now for their money but I already got them to ‘adjust’ it by $39,881.00 and the consulting agency co-insurance picked up a good chunk leaving me with an exhausted plan and a 7k bill.

The Neurologist said it was from 3 things: 1) I have an inflammatory condition ( ulcerative colitis ) 2) I was on high dose prednisone to combat a 2nd flare this year 3) I allowed myself to become dehydrated - he said to drink water constantly and pee clear.

How did all of this happen ?

Perhaps I angered the Gods, not sure but I was not taking care of myself and I cheated. But I dont think its all my fault.

Pre-August I hit a personal best of 200 lbs and I was BUFF. I am 5’9" having shrunk an inch and have small bones so 200 bested my 190 some 15 years ago. I drove to the springs to pickup a laptop for a new gig. Next day I had a sudden brutal flare. I bled a lot and went back on prednisone which worked in May this year only it did nothing this time. I doubled it to 100 mg per day until my GI doc said go back to 50 mg. The catabolic prednisone dropped my 200 lbs to 160 in just 4 weeks. I was pissed and TRT was not going to cut it so I went anabolic, but it did not make a difference so I trimmed that back down too. The prednisone converts muscle to glucose and above 30mg per day revs up your brain so I was obsessed with a git-r-done attitude to prepare the house and the new backyard for the block party I was catering. Putting some extra fist sized meatballs into the fridge as the party winded down I felt pain in the back of the head ( Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis ) and figured the 2 sick kids at the party had menengitis and gave it to me. 24 hours later I knew I was in trouble. Even with me shooting north of TRT levels I still dont get it - all year my hermaticrit has been low never high. Low hemoglobin low RBC. I have never understood it.

Out of the hospital and returning the laptop I stayed at the same resort with my daughter and when I tried to hike up 8 stories to the lodge for the breakfast and dinner buffets I had to STOP - I was out of breath. After reviewing the labs and the fact I was anemic upon admission as well as discharge I began taking iron/vitamin C supplements each morning which helped right away.

I have next to no body fat, my thighs have zero but are WAY more vascular than ever before. Even as a kid the other kids noticed how vascular my chest area was, NOW its that way everywhere and my daughter quickly commented that I still had my muscle at a puny 165. My high school / college girlfriend flew out on the stroke ( Thrombosis ) news and she said my arms were never as vascular as they are now and just shook her head. I am on coumadin blood thinners and will NEVER ever take prednisone again. It would seem to me being more vascular would reduce pressure but I read its just a measure of how low your body fat is.

Yet I feel I am missing part of the picture here - it just does not quite add up.

Thank God I started a good job this week, I had been bombing interviews, I was having trouble recalling all the technical details of the work I have done over the last 2 decades. Taking 2.5 months off this summer did not help and the pain meds probably did not either but I must say my gut loves vicodin, thank God its doing well or I would have to halt the blood thinner and the docs say it is keeping me alive. 3-6 months of coumadin which interestingly is rat poison, no joke. If I stroke again its coumadin for LIFE.

I just want 10 more good years to finish raising my daughter then the grim reaper can harvest me. At this rate I dont see any reason to sock my money away for retirement, I wont last like my parents still kicking and doing great in their 70’s. OTOH I had a few years when I got to COLO that my joints failed, knee surgery then both shoulders, perhaps this too will pass.

This is the 3rd hospital admission my daughter has lived through including one that took me all the way down to 130 lbs and a foot in the grave and so she said:

“Nothing seems to kill you”
[/quote]

With UC, you may be iron deficient; iron deficiency alone may cause a rise in platelet count. Dehydration must be severe to do so.

I presume you are man, and that your docs considered anticardiolipin disease as a complication of UC. Sagittal sinus thrombosis in men is a rare event, even in men with UC. Prednisone is not implicated alone. In women, the most common co-factor is one of 2 genetic changes–MTHFR or Prothrombin G20210A (Factor V Leiden is a much less common cause)–and oral contraceptive use.

Considering these genetic co-factors is important to your treatment, your prognosis, prevention of other vascular events, and for your daughter.

5

Now there is a disease I never heard of before - will be researching that.

Yes I am male, however I did notice that besides UC one of the risk factors is women on Estrogen therapy, which begs the guestion does a guy peaved about losing 40 lbs on prednisone and boosting his testosterone supplement wade into the same space due to rising Estradial ? I increased my Arimidex proportionally to prevent that.

I was very dehydrated in mid September when this happened and due to all the blood loss I was anemic, both are on the hospital discharge papers. I did not know it would cause platelet count to rise.

Thanks for the information.

6

Good info here:

7

[quote]KSman wrote:
Good info here:

[/quote]

Right it even states :

“Often, it occurs in tandem with an inflammatory disease” and UC is an inflammatory disease along with its partner Crohns making up IDB - Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

“Other causes include the following
…
Inflammatory bowel disease”

No family history and it came a decade or more after the usual age range.

What really puzzles me is why the red blood cell count is so low even with TRT - I guess when you bleed for a month straight it takes a long time to get that RBC count up but it was low for the last 12 months, I would expect it would rise with TRT, even mini cycles did not seem to raise it.

I am putting in 12-16 hour days at the new job, I cannot complain, canned spinach is working like a miracle.

8

Well it appears Estrodial could be the smoking gun as far as the stroke goes, still unsure about the platelet count.

Double the Stroke Risk

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of age-related disability. Abnormal blood clotting in the cerebral blood vessels is the most common cause of stroke. Excess estrogen promotes abnormal blood clots.1

In a study published just last year, blood levels of estradiol (a potent estrogen) were measured in a group of 2,197 men aged 71 to 93 years of age. Adjustment for age, hypertension, diabetes, adiposity, cholesterol, atrial fibrillation, and other characteristics were made. During the course of follow-up, men with the highest blood levels of estradiol had a 2.2-fold greater risk of stroke compared with those whose estradiol levels were lower.2

This study revealed that estradiol blood levels greater than 34.1 pg/mL resulted in this more than doubling of stroke incidence. Life Extension long ago warned men to keep their estradiol levels below 30 pg/mL, and this recent stroke study clearly validates our prior recommendation.

9

Nice conclusive data. I wonder if all of the events that pushed the results in that direction were syndrome-X related. The foundation of the problem would be endothelial dysfunction. We know that T is protective in males, for females it is progesterone that is protective. Note that progestins are not cardio protective. Also note that females have much higher E2 levels, so it is not just E2 that is a factor. So it appears that estrogen dominance, a lack of T or progesterone, is the danger. Note that when we talk about estrogen dominance in male, we are talking about the E2:T ratio. As SHBG-T is not receptor active, the ratio of concern is really E2:bio-T

Note that in normal males, higher E2 levels will force the HPTA towards lower T levels. So the observations of more or less E2 should be understood to be accompanied by inverse changes in T.

With lower T and with syndrome X, we know that cholesterol levels are often high and treated with statin drugs. Thus we can expect such a population to have induced CoQ10 deficiencies. These may be contributing to problems in the real world. [The above study might have used a sample population that was not using statin drugs.] [Statin induced CoQ10 deficiencies can lead to congestive heart failure.]

We know that E2 only HRT for females damages arteries. For menopausal women, their progesterone levels have plummeted. For oral BC [OBC] we see the product warnings include blood clots, heart attacks and strokes. The OBC shuts down a [cycling] woman’s HPOA causing her production of progesterone is vastly reduced, replaced by the non-cardio protective progestins.

Decades ago, the medical community started to wonder why women lived longer and men had more heart attacks. Some dimwit suggested that men have more T, so T must be bad for the heart. We lived with that crap for decades and that conception still lingers with a few docs. In reality, it is lower T and higher E that is the cause of higher heart attack deaths for men. And heart attacks are often more fatal for men than women, in terms of percentage surviving a non-fatal after a given number of years. Those survival rates track positive for DHEA and T levels and negative for E2. But given the inverse relation of T to E in the HPTA, that is really not a surprise.

The observation that older guys have more estrogen than their post menopausal wives is also of interest.

10

[quote]KSman wrote:
We know that E2 only HRT for females damages arteries.[/quote]

That is interesting. Let me get out my 9th Edition of William Llewellyn’s ANABOLICS.

He has commentary on a number of issues intersecting my case:

Blood Clotting:

The ‘Therapeutic’ use of AAS is known to increase plasmin, antithrombin III and protein S levels, stimulate fibrinolysis ( clot breakdown ) and suppress clotting factors II V VII and X. These factors all work to reduce clotting ability.

Conversely AAS ‘abuse’ has been linked to increases in blood clotting ability. These drugs can elevate the levels of thrombin and C-reactive protein as well as thromboxane A2 recepter density which can support platelet aggregation and the formation of clots. Studies of steroid uesrs have demonstrated statistically significant increases in platelet aggregation in some subjects.

Vascular Reactivity :

Mention of vasoconstriction and relative ‘stiffness’ in the steroid user increasing chances of cardiovascular events.

Inflammation:

Unlike steroid abuse, HRT therapy in older men may also have benefit with regard to cardiovascular risk. Reduction of inflammatory markers.

Anemia :

Reduced, just not in my case for some odd reason.

Anti-Estrogens:

Repeated references to the ‘protective effect’ seems to always center on cholesterol. I was told that cholesterol has no effect on venus clots only arterial. In the Arimidex section he mentions the long term use can result in increased CVD risk by retarding beneficial properties of estrogen on cholesterol values. Nolvadex receptor blocker is introduced as superior for long term use.

Homocysteine:

Seems to be central to my problem, elevated risk of thrombic events etc. My C-reactive value was very high will have to examine this one as well.

He details the Power PCT program which appears to be the old school jump-start method. I wonder how dated his material is.

Over the year of 2010 my estradiol values were coming down and getting ever closer to the 20’s so I am not sure if all of the prednisone and my reaction to counter it with a mini cycle that I abandoned caused them to soar and along with the increasing dehydration in late summer resulted in the thrombosis.

Adding in some facts regarding my previous states.

2010 summer UC flare my C-Reactive Protein was 52.2 (H) reference range < 10.0 mg/L
2008 summer UC flare my Platelet count was 518 (H) reference range 174-412 K/mm3
…so my tendency to have high platelet count goes hand in hand with my UC flares as I had
no TRT until end of 2009 ( all other labs are 250’ish when not flaring )

Estradiol was correcting over 2010…

2010 2/24 41.9 reference range 7.6-42.6
2010 4/21 49.6 reference range 7.6-42.6
2010 8/24 34.8 reference range 7.6-42.6

Thombosis occured on 9/18/2010 with Platelet count 688

11

The central issue is what is happening to the endothelium, a critical one cell layer thick barrier between the blood and the rest of the artery. Cholesterol can penetrate this layer when things are not right, that is called endothelial dysfunction. Some things are known to harm and some things are protective.

When there is inflammation in the arteries, that is the process of arterial disease and if that progresses, BP increases and we know where that all leads. CRP will go up, but CRP is not specific to this condition and other inflammatory conditions can make CRP increase. Homocysteine is very specific to destructive inflammatory processes in the arteries and is the preferred lab work to eval such things. The male panel at LEF.com includes both of these, as well as PSA - estrogens are a cause of BPH. Note that PSA is an inaccurate label as it is not an antigen and not prostate specific, but it is was it is.

The problems with high cholesterol from steroid abuse stem from use of oral steroids are really not used anymore by any knowledgeable people. Those drugs cause liver problems. The “steroids cause Hypercholesterolemia and heart disease” is a artifact that does not apply to current realities. Part of the blaming “steroids” for such things collateral damage from body builders using high dose aromatase inhibitors to push E2 and %BF into single digits. All very far away from TRT. We will never see a stop to main stream media repeating this anachronism as they are in capable of intelligent understanding of the things that they find.

To get back on target and away from the generalizations, you have to address other things that affect the state of your endothelial cells. Any general inflammation in the body is also very harmful to the endothelium. That is why we see that things like gum disease leads to strokes and heart attacks. The issue is way deeper that E2 levels.

12

[quote]HiredGun wrote:
Well it appears Estrodial could be the smoking gun as far as the stroke goes, still unsure about the platelet count.

Double the Stroke Risk

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of age-related disability. Abnormal blood clotting in the cerebral blood vessels is the most common cause of stroke. Excess estrogen promotes abnormal blood clots.1

In a study published just last year, blood levels of estradiol (a potent estrogen) were measured in a group of 2,197 men aged 71 to 93 years of age. Adjustment for age, hypertension, diabetes, adiposity, cholesterol, atrial fibrillation, and other characteristics were made. During the course of follow-up, men with the highest blood levels of estradiol had a 2.2-fold greater risk of stroke compared with those whose estradiol levels were lower.2

This study revealed that estradiol blood levels greater than 34.1 pg/mL resulted in this more than doubling of stroke incidence. Life Extension long ago warned men to keep their estradiol levels below 30 pg/mL, and this recent stroke study clearly validates our prior recommendation.[/quote]

Just to decomplicate this:

The same inflammatory cascade which causes a rise in platelets causes anemia, by reduced production and shorter red cell life-span. In your case, you need to check for iron deficiency as well.

The platelet count alone did not cause the sagittal vein thrombosis. There are 32 published cases of patients with UC experiencing sagital vein thrombosis (SVT), typically during flares, and prednisone is not causative, but it may be used as treatment. In other situations of reactive thrombocytosis of this range, SVT is rare without another precipitating cause.

Next, estrogens within the physiologic range for men is not a cause–alone. SVT is a special circumstance, and not necessarily to be included under the rubric “stroke.” As for the apparent increase in stroke risk among men with higher estradiol level, one would have to wonder what other underlying disorders are at work and more likely to be causative (e.g, diabetes, obesity, hypertensive disease are all independently associated with higher estrogen levels as well as stroke risk.)

Not many men with UC get SVT, but all have high C-RPs and many will have higher estrogen levels and high platelet counts. Ask your doc to check your genes. I could be wrong, of course, but a genetic predisposition has importance for you and yours.

13

Thanks! I will ask the doctor about that. No family history, odd. Dehydration seemed to play a role and it sounds like the TRT which morphed into a mini-cycle probably did not cause it. From your post it sounds like the 100mg per day prednisone did not cause it. I have even read that infection can be the catalyst that starts the thrombosis and yes the neurologist said repeatedly it was not a stroke but a Thrombosis - a failure to drain. However the available definitions make is sound like an SST is a form of stroke. Confusing.

I worked all weekend on the new contract, need to take some time next weekend to focus on this and try again to get a handle on the thromb* terminology.

14

[quote]DrSkeptix wrote:
[ and prednisone is not causative, but it may be used as treatment.
[/quote]

Interesting…This link says Prednisone ‘may’ contribute, I may have read too much into that when I first came across it.

Many medical conditions have been associated with venous sinus thrombosis.

Inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn disease and ulcerative colitis are described as risk factors for venous thrombosis. Corticosteroids used in treatment of these conditions may play a causative role.

It also sounds like they are finding it in 10% of autopsies - it may have been under-reported previously although still rare and certainly critical.

I wonder if I should NOT be lifting heavier but for how long ? Most people stroke again only after the course of warfarin is complete. It seems now is the safe period as I am on blood thinners. I heard from one source the first 6 weeks are important to remain low key until the clot fully attaches - no idea where I am on that progression until I get another scan but its not gone nor entirely healed today at 8 weeks. Late in the day I do get headaches from working on the computer for 12-14 hours a day, bending over late at night or developing internal pressure by acting out persona’s while entertaining my daughter or simply blowing my nose hard reminds me its not all gone. I understand alternative but smaller pathways are burdened with the blood flow and it may be them causing the pain. Again no idea.

15

Unreal update on the topic. I was driving by the hospital on the way back from an interview when I realized I was calling the office for diag results from sundays $8000.00 MRI/MRV so I put the phone down and whipped into the parking lot. I went up to the office and learned the doctor was not even in today. I then worked on the nurse for a bit until she allowed me to read her computer screen and I was shocked. The clot was completely resolved the brain is completely normal for age and weight.

So that’s a good VAP test result from Mayo last week
Platelet count down to 330 from 688, inflammatory markers down at Dec start
Sagittal Sinus Thrombosis and headaches GONE as of today
No real reason to do another 3 months of blood thinner
Going to increase my cardio workout and heavy lifting, choose better foods and heavily guard against another UC flare up resulting in another stroke.

I can sure use some good luck in 2011 after 2010. I hope this streak continues or a while.

Apparently my choice to lift moderately, run and take panax ginseng was not misguided.

16

Congrats and good luck in 2011

17

How’s it been going HG?