Your daughter's story is so much like mine, it's uncanny--except that I was almost 30 when it happened to me. I, too, was on the pill, and had a clot that went unnoticed until it had already caused severe damage/permanent calcification in the main vein in my leg. We realized after the fact that it had also gone into my lungs weeks before I saw the evidence in my leg. The doctors said if I'd been an old woman, I would have died.
The doctors at the hospital did NOT want to test me for Factor V--my sister-in-law is a doctor, and she, along with my GP, pressed for the test--because they wanted to write it off as just another woman who was on the pill. They were completely ungracious when the test came back positive for Factor V. The rest of my family was then tested, and yikes! My mom, my aunt, my cousin & her daughter, my brother...all have it. 3 of those people were taking hormone-related medications that the doctors told them to stop right away. They never would have known unless I'd been the "guinea pig."
I will be on a bloodthinner for the rest of my life. I wore a surgical stocking all of my waking moments for years and years, but finally decided I was sick of it, and have gone without it for a few years now.
I, too, watch those birth control pill ads & think about how many other unsuspecting women are out there, taking the medication without realizing what they could be in for. If I ever have a daughter, I will definitely have her tested for Factor V before she's a teenager to avoid any complications like the ones your daughter & I experienced.
Your daughter's story is so much like mine, it's uncanny--except that I was almost 30 when it happened to me. I, too, was on the pill, and had a clot that went unnoticed until it had already caused severe damage/permanent calcification in the main vein in my leg. We realized after the fact that it had also gone into my lungs weeks before I saw the evidence in my leg. The doctors said if I'd been an old woman, I would have died.
The doctors at the hospital did NOT want to test me for Factor V--my sister-in-law is a doctor, and she, along with my GP, pressed for the test--because they wanted to write it off as just another woman who was on the pill. They were completely ungracious when the test came back positive for Factor V. The rest of my family was then tested, and yikes! My mom, my aunt, my cousin & her daughter, my brother...all have it. 3 of those people were taking hormone-related medications that the doctors told them to stop right away. They never would have known unless I'd been the "guinea pig."
I will be on a bloodthinner for the rest of my life. I wore a surgical stocking all of my waking moments for years and years, but finally decided I was sick of it, and have gone without it for a few years now.
I, too, watch those birth control pill ads & think about how many other unsuspecting women are out there, taking the medication without realizing what they could be in for. If I ever have a daughter, I will definitely have her tested for Factor V before she's a teenager to avoid any complications like the ones your daughter & I experienced.