New mom's health scare shines light on blood clot condition
One new mom wants to warn others about the risk of blood clots after a health scare landed her in the hospital this past weekend.
Kate Bilo, a meteorologist with CBS3 in Philadelphia, shared a post on Facebook this week letting friends and viewers know that doctors had found numerous life-threatening blood clots in her lungs.
"I was admitted to the hospital and immediately started anticoagulation treatment, and they tell me I will be fine – though the pain remains for now and I will have to give myself many injections in the coming months," Bilo wrote.
Bilo's symptoms began last Friday, when she felt a dull pain in her side whenever she took a deep breath. By Saturday, the pain had spread to her shoulder.
Bilo had given birth to a daughter in May and thought she might have pulled a muscle from picking up her newborn. But when taking ibuprofen didn't help relieve the pain, she headed to the emergency room.
"Thank goodness I did. A CT scan revealed multiple blood clots in my lungs," she wrote.
Bloods clots are also called pulmonary embolisms. They happen when there's a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries in the lungs. They are typically caused by blood clots that start in the legs — a condition known as deep vein thrombosis— and travel up to the lungs. In the lungs, a pulmonary embolism can block blood flow and be deadly.
Other symptoms, according to Mayo Clinic experts, can include:
- A chronic cough that produces bloody or blood-streaked phlegm.
- Shortness of breath that appears suddenly and gets worse with activity.
- Chest pain that grows worse when you breathe deeply, cough, eat, bend or stoop. The pain doesn't go away when you rest.
- Clammy skin.
- Fever.
- Irregular heartbeat.
- Light-headedness.
Dr. Joseph Bushra, chief of emergency medicine at Lankenau Medical Center, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, told CBS Philly that being pregnant or post-partum increases the risk for blood clots.
"Most pregnant women have some swelling in the legs to begin with," Bushra said. The hormonal changes in pregnancy also cause the blood to be a little thicker.
"And then often they aren't moving around as much, especially after having a baby, so that combination of things will often lead to this condition," Bushra added.
People with a family history of clots, heart disease, certain cancers or who've had surgery are at a higher risk for blood clots. Being sedentary and traveling can also increase the risk.
"I had no risk factors for this besides pregnancy, and my pregnancy was healthy and low-risk," Bilo wrote on Facebook.
She made a wise choice in getting herself to the hospital, Bushra said.
"She did the right thing. She came to the hospital. She listened to her body."
He also applauds her for going public with her story because he feels people need to know not to ignore unusual pains.
Doctors treat the condition with blood thinners.
"The quicker the treatment you get, the better the outcome," Bushra said.
Bilo, who was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, also wrote on Facebook: "Please let my experience serve as a reminder to ALWAYS listen to what your body is telling you – it would have been so easy for me to write off the pain as muscular or think 'I'm too busy to go to the ER.' And sometimes that's the difference between life and death."
