douglassa

Last Friday I started to get a horrible pain in my right elbow. I figured I just pulled a muscle, so I put heat on it and tried to forget about the pain. On Saturday, I began feeling around the sore area and notice a little knot forming. I was a little more concerned at this point since I had no idea what I did to pull a muscle in my elbow.

Finally on Monday, I made a appt with my pcp because the pain was so bad I was almost in tears. When I went to see my doctor, she diagnosed my elbow pain as Superficial phlebitis.

What is Superficial phlebitis you might ask? It is an inflammation of the vein caused from a blood clot. The reason its superficial is because its one of the smaller veins so I don't need to worry so much about the blood clot traveling to my heart. My doctor said this was an infection caused from my surgery IV (I was poked 5 times by the nurses to get an IV started and this was one of the spots where the nurse went through the vein).

I'm glad I went with my gut reaction to make an appt with my pcp instead of listening to my husband that it was pulled muscle. My pcp said this isn't something that would clear up on its own and would definitely get worse. I was given celebrex for the inflammation and an antibiotic for the infection. After one dose I already started to feel better.

**edit: My surgeon was the one who suggested the celebrex to my pcp. Its the lowest dose possible and I'm also on a prescribed pepcid.

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Surgery Date: June 30, 2008