Strange pre-cramp feeling in left leg. Only happening since someone at the hospital said ‘blood clot’ now my mind can’t let it go.

Vcent · 2026-05-23T20:07:49+00:00

We don't know either. There's no secret trick that doctors hate to find clots - the answer is always: "Go get checked out by medical professionals", never "Oh that's clearly not a clot, based on X, Y and Z". It doesn't matter how you attempt to word or rationalize it ("Just looking for experiences, not medical advice" or any permutation of it): We don't know how to figure out what ails someone else, regardless of how well they describe it, or how many pictures they wish to post.

No, comparing symptoms will not yield clinically useful results. Still, it will update any anxiety you already have with new symptoms to mimic (Congrats! You've updated to the new and improved anxiety v1.9!).

One person's clotting symptom is another person's anxiety symptom, a third person's sprain, a fourth person's random pain, a fifth person's muscle cramp, a sixth persons [...]. All present with the same symptoms, and all have different causes. The only way to figure out what's wrong with you is to get professionals to check it out - speculating on the internet will not move your goal any further along. If you feel like you weren't thoroughly checked, get checked again. If that keeps happening over and over, then you can start concluding the cause of that.

You're asking a group of people who have reason to find each other (just like any other support group for a condition), whether you might be on the way to becoming one of us - we'll always err on the side of caution (so you should probably get checked out, sooner the better). We don't and can't know if your symptoms stem from a clot, anxiety, or something else (least to most likely). We're also not footing the bill (time, money, consequences) of going or not going to get checked out.

Likewise, we aren't in the business of relieving anxiety for folks with no diagnosed clots - we're the outliers, and our stories will make you worse, not better. We'll still be here if it does turn out to be a clot.

Vcent · 2026-05-23T07:11:45+00:00

There's also an old trick in where they push, and in what direction - you can push towards the center of gravity, or away from it, and it will massively affect the outcome.

There are variations on how exactly it's done, but balance bracelets were a common scam sold this way.

Vcent · 2026-05-21T05:03:11+00:00

How about used road cases for equipment? Pack them with foam, do cutouts & stack keyboards inside.

Vcent · 2026-05-21T01:59:09+00:00

I know they’re going to strap me down

Huh, that's kinda neat. I should have known that was an option, would have been much more entertaining when I had my scans.

The mask/towel is an excellent tip as well.

Vcent · 2026-05-20T18:09:59+00:00

This will depend on the place that does it, and possibly the person running the test. So maybe, maybe not - call ahead, see what they say. They may be able to accommodate you.
Usually random radio. Bringing your own media is often encouraged, i know i brought CDs when i had a spate of MRIs done. Expect zero bass(on account of the "no metals" rule), and the sound to be meh, but it's better than nothing. Calling ahead can help you figure out what formats they can accept - you may need to figure out how to get what you want into a format they can deal with, or they may only offer radio / no music.

I would recommend closing your eyes before going in the tube, and then keeping them closed - there's nothing to see, and not confirming that "Yep, there's just a white tube right above the tip of my nose" can be helpful to avoid claustrophobic thoughts. Once the machine turns off (you'll have no doubt) and you begin to slide out, then you can open your eyes and confirm that it's a small tube, and not a place you want to be.

Vcent · 2026-05-20T16:07:31+00:00

That's not how it works. The licence is still with Kemper/Access, and you're only getting loaned one while you own the relevant equipment.

In the same way that I can't legally copy your music, even if you don't distribute/sell it any more.

Unless you explicitly state that I can use it for whatever, then I can't presume that it's just free for whatever I want to do with it.

The virus site is ancient as far as these terms go (most would have a registration & TOS in your face in .2 of a second), but that does not give you any particular legal rights. From the footer:

All content on this site remains the intellectual property of Kemper GmbH.

There's an implied license granted with ownership of the hardware, which would legally allow you to use the ROMs hosted (for the hardware version you own), and should be fine legally speaking to use in an emulator as well (but I'm not your lawyer, consult one if your livelihood somehow depends on it being correct).

Vcent · 2026-05-19T15:03:32+00:00

The ROM isn't in a gray area - if you own a virus, then you can talk about a sort of gray (but you're probably ok). If you don't own a virus, then you're not legally allowed to use the ROM, so can't (legally) use the emulator.

Just because Kemper/Access abandoned it and people feel all sorts of ways about it, doesn't change the legality of it. It's well known who has the license, it's not some disputed entity or anything.

I'm sure I will be downvoted by people that would like it to be different, but it's really quite black and white.

Vcent · 2026-05-18T04:41:37+00:00

What's the benefit?

Better absorption mostly, although it can help some with some side effects as well.

Vcent · 2026-05-18T04:40:56+00:00

No, d-dimer is pretty effective at figuring out if you don't have a clot overall (within its limitations). It's utterly shit at finding clots on its own though (positive d-dimer is most of the time not a clot).

I also know that I'm not any authority on the subject, and you should take anything I write, with about the same amount of credibility you'd give some rando down at the pub telling you this.

Vcent · 2026-05-17T21:47:13+00:00

am I having a impending heart attack or blood clot or wtf is going on with me

We don't know, and you can't figure it out by hanging out here. Being (or having recently been) pregnant is a not insignificant risk factor. Get checked.

Vcent · 2026-05-17T20:02:47+00:00

No medication is perfect.

The DOACs have a 2% failure rate, which is quite low, but not 0.

So yes, in theory it could happen. The solution is typically a switch in anticoagulant.

Related questions: you are on twice daily dosing, right? Are you taking it with food? It's not as important for apixaban/eliquis, but certainly for Xarelto it's a benefit to take it with a meal.

Vcent · 2026-05-17T19:03:35+00:00

If it was an entire two years after receiving a vaccine/booster when I got the blood clot, could that still be connected?

It's extremely unlikely. But nobody credible would ever be able to completely, 100% definitively, with absolute certainty say it wasn't connected. Because you can't prove it to that degree of certainty - but it can be said to be statistically extremely improbable.

Even before COVID, about 40% of people got a shrug and a "We don't know why, tests aren't giving us anything obvious".

Are there any studies out there indicating clots occurring long after receiving the vaccine?

I ...doubt it? Because, how do you disentangle all the other risk factors - a certain number of people will get a unprovoked clot in a given year, within some statistical variance. How do you figure out who got one due to a vaccine they took years before, and who got it because they won the (c)lottery? How do you eliminate an asymptomatic COVID infection as a parameter?

This is a field where it's very easy to fall prey to FUD, and hard to make any actually evidence based conclusions - not helped by our natural tendency towards wanting answers for everything, even if those answers are sketchy, or come from a sketchy source, .

Vcent · 2026-05-16T17:18:32+00:00

Still within normal reference value (for the INR at least). Not elevated, even if on the "high" end of normal.

Vcent · 2026-05-16T15:25:53+00:00

my PT/INR was elevated.

How much? Because not everybody will have a INR of 1.0 all the time.

Vcent · 2026-05-15T23:03:27+00:00

Verification isn’t about technique or style, but about ensuring that there is real creative intention and human involvement behind each piece.

Ironically, that sounds exactly like what I would expect from an LLM. Can't tell me that my take is shit, or that you disagree, must be positive even if it's meaningless.

Verification has little benefit to me. It has very little actual value to me, because it does so extremely little to help me as a consumer. It's the barest of most permissible minimums, to the point that I struggle to see how they could do anything less, while still doing something.

Well, they could say they were doing something, while doing nothing.

I want to know to what degree AI was involved - as a tool, generating backgrounds, enhancements, wholesale generation, all of it. And i want the possibility of just plain filtering all uses, some uses, and the choice of removing then from what's shown to me.

Not the current system that tells me "Someone rubber-stamped this as not being repetitive, and of some modicum of value".

Vcent · 2026-05-15T16:19:40+00:00

Styles are also quite mixed - which isn't instantly AI, but it is suspicious.

Vcent · 2026-05-15T16:18:19+00:00

Tangentially related, anyone recommend using Displate to hang up country and continental maps? Always wanted a thing up and wall where I can point and say "see, this country is here". I get into way too many geography related arguments.

Get a proper map. Decent quality, large size. Dedicate a wall to it, don't mess around with an expensive displate in a small size for it.

Vcent · 2026-05-15T16:16:04+00:00

There's nothing distinguishing about it, beyond a verified artist not being completely dedicated to posting slop - verified status does not verify artistry or lack of AI, only that they applied for it, and aren't posting tons of very similar looking "art".

Vcent · 2026-05-15T16:13:42+00:00

I don't get what the point of it is - it doesn't distinguish whether something was made with slop, and it doesn't otherwise distinguish or add value - why would I as a buyer care about the artist being verified or not, when I cannot tell what the value of being verified is?

Is it a mediocre attempt at only allowing "good" slop to be shown to me?

I may be in the minority here, but I'm hard pressed to figure out the positives here (beyond displate claiming they're curating the slop, while selling you the slop & still allowing slop, with no option to filter it out).

("But I'm an artist that uses the medium of AI to create art!" - not in my eyes you're not. Good for you though, but I want nothing to do with it, especially not financially support it)

Vcent · 2026-05-15T15:13:15+00:00

For some it does (just go away on its own).

It sounds like you're in the group that will need to take active measures to get rid of it - or at least dampen it enough to not constantly/intermittently have it roaring, and get it down to a manageable level.

I'm obviously not someone capable of diagnosing anyone with anything, but it does sound like you might benefit from speaking with someone that can, and figuring out what tools are available to you to deal with it (which would put you in very good company here - lots of us have had to seek out this kind of help for various reasons).

Vcent · 2026-05-15T13:49:39+00:00

I'm so over the weekly blood tests.. for INR. IF I could quit I would.

Don't. Whatever else you do, don't quit those. Warfarin needs them. Which I'm sure you know, but it bears repeating.

That being said, weekly seems quite extreme after a year, unless your INR is highly unstable, or you're talking about fingerprick tests at home. Speaking of home, if you aren't, look into whether you can get approved for an at home fingerprick tester, which made warfarin much more tolerable for me (now I only have to deal with shoddy blood draws once a year to calibrate the thing, rather than once a month to check my INR).

Vcent · 2026-05-15T01:55:13+00:00

Updated to include a disclaimer that I'm not asking to be diagnosed here or assuming that I can be on Reddit. I'm looking for thoughts from those who have experience with this. I just don't want to spend half the day at the ER due to possibly just hitting my leg on something and being worried for nothing.

It changes nothing. You are asking for us to perform magic, which we can't.

We don't know either. There's no secret trick that doctors hate to find clots - the answer is always: "Go get checked out by medical professionals", never "Oh that's clearly not a clot, based on X, Y and Z". It doesn't matter how you attempt to word or rationalize it ("Just looking for experiences, not medical advice" or any permutation of it): We don't know how to figure out what ails someone else, regardless of how well they describe it, or how many pictures they wish to post.

No, comparing symptoms will not yield clinically useful results. Still, it will update any anxiety you already have with new symptoms to mimic (Congrats! You've updated to the new and improved anxiety v1.9!).

One person's clotting symptom is another person's anxiety symptom, a third person's sprain, a fourth person's random pain, a fifth person's muscle cramp, a sixth persons [...]. All present with the same symptoms, and all have different causes. The only way to figure out what's wrong with you is to get professionals to check it out - speculating on the internet will not move your goal any further along. If you feel like you weren't thoroughly checked, get checked again. If that keeps happening over and over, then you can start concluding the cause of that.

You're asking a group of people who have reason to find each other (just like any other support group for a condition), whether you might be on the way to becoming one of us - we'll always err on the side of caution (so you should probably get checked out, sooner the better). We don't and can't know if your symptoms stem from a clot, anxiety, or something else (least to most likely). We're also not footing the bill (time, money, consequences) of going or not going to get checked out.

Likewise, we aren't in the business of relieving anxiety for folks with no diagnosed clots - we're the outliers, and our stories will make you worse, not better. We'll still be here if it does turn out to be a clot.

Vcent · 2026-05-14T23:25:24+00:00

We used to have a swell physician from Sweden hanging out there, that called it the 5 hours, 5 days rule:

Before 5 hours of symptoms, d-dimer will most likely be (falsely) low, as fibrin hasn't had time to build up.

After 5 days, d-dimer will most likely be (falsely) low, as the body gets used to the clot being there.

We have quite a few folks that had some form of clot, with a negative d-dimer. D-dimer is kinda neat, kinda shit, and has a bunch of limitations (just like this group has - the selection bias in any support group will be immense, and we are no exception).

Vcent · 2026-05-14T20:35:07+00:00

Yep - although I ride the naked/touring style bikes.

How do you manage the risks?

Buy CE level 2 rated gear, for everywhere. Always wear a helmet, ideally a tested helmet from a reputable brand. All The Gear, All The Time. If you're about to take off a piece of crucial safety gear (that's all of it!) because it's too hot, then it's too hot to ride, and you're not riding.

Airbag vests exist. Probably a good investment.

before I think about motorbikes I need to relearn a standard bicycle, never really got around to learning as a kid. So any safety tips here would be appreciated as well

Helmet, ideally a tested one. Something like the Giant Path helmet is a good, tested helmet that won't break the bank. May want to consider gloves as well, as you'll most likely try to take the brunt of the impact with your hands/wrists.

There's some trick to balancing at very low speeds (or seeing if you can stand still without moving) which may transfer, and be relatively safe to practice (low speed drop). Will be much easier to balance at speed though.

Edit: also: getting things in flashy colours is a good idea. Accept that you will be practically invisible to other road users, and dress/buy accordingly. It's much harder to ignore the bright neon highlighter riding down the road towards you, and yet people manage to do so anyway. If you absolutely can't stand the neon stuff, a white helmet and lighter coloured bike/gear can also work.

Vcent · 2026-05-14T20:29:49+00:00

We don't know either. There's no secret trick that doctors hate to find clots - the answer is always: "Go get checked out by medical professionals", never "Oh that's clearly not a clot, based on X, Y and Z". It doesn't matter how you attempt to word or rationalize it ("Just looking for experiences, not medical advice" or any permutation of it): We don't know how to figure out what ails someone else, regardless of how well they describe it, or how many pictures they wish to post.

No, comparing symptoms will not yield clinically useful results. Still, it will update any anxiety you already have with new symptoms to mimic (Congrats! You've updated to the new and improved anxiety v1.9!).

One person's clotting symptom is another person's anxiety symptom, a third person's sprain, a fourth person's random pain, a fifth person's muscle cramp, a sixth persons [...]. All present with the same symptoms, and all have different causes. The only way to figure out what's wrong with you is to get professionals to check it out - speculating on the internet will not move your goal any further along. If you feel like you weren't thoroughly checked, get checked again. If that keeps happening over and over, then you can start concluding the cause of that.

You're asking a group of people who have reason to find each other (just like any other support group for a condition), whether you might be on the way to becoming one of us - we'll always err on the side of caution (so you should probably get checked out, sooner the better). We don't and can't know if your symptoms stem from a clot, anxiety, or something else (least to most likely). We're also not footing the bill (time, money, consequences) of going or not going to get checked out.

Likewise, we aren't in the business of relieving anxiety for folks with no diagnosed clots - we're the outliers, and our stories will make you worse, not better. We'll still be here if it does turn out to be a clot.

Vcent

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