I went to ER in Jan of 2012. Blood clot so blood thinners for 6 Mo. I complain to the Dr. for 3 yr before that and was told that I had nerve problems and that nothing could be done. In July she took me off blood thinners and said good luck you should not have any more problems with your blood after taking thinners for so long. On the first week of Oct. I was back in the ER and this time I went to surgery within 6 hr and was there for about 9 hr. Almost lost my leg and now I am being told that is was not due to agent orange. They are full of it. Not some thing that came from my family. My Grandpa live to 89 my father to 87. the only one that checked out early was my mother at the age of 69 of Type~II. Good luck to all of you maybe if we live long enough we can all beat VA
My husband was just diagnosed with multiple bilateral PE's and DVT and he was exposed to agent orange when in the service in Viet Nam
My husband "out of the blue" started having deep vein thrombosis in both legs about 10 years ago...had no other health problems at that time. He has edema in both legs now and they are extremely discolored due to lack of circulation. He has had at least 5 other episodes of new clots in his legs and 2 episodes of lung clots. He now has a Greenfield filter in his vena cava to prevent the leg clots from travelling to his lungs. 2 years ago he developed atrial fibrillation and has heart failure now (recently had surgery to get a defibrillator and pacemaker). He doesn't seem to be any better (extreme fatigue, lack of strength and energy).. He served in VietNam during1969-1971. He has no VA benefits at this time.
10 yrs ago spouse had clots sin lung and now in 3 months he's had 3 blood clots in his right forearm , 2 hospital, 3 doctors and no one seems to have the answer and all the time is I and R is normal taking his med.
In 2013 I had blood clots in both lungs. They gave me a 2% chance of living and I said, I'm not going too die not now. I was in Hines VA intensive care for 8 days. In February my oldest son developed the same condition we are lucky. My second son developed blood clots and had to defib. his heart. I'm on blood thinners the rest of my life. Oh I didn't tell you I was in Vietnam the year of 1968.
I served in Vietnam as a U. S. Marine at Chi Lai in 1966. In about 2003, I had a pulmonary embolism and was tested to see if it was an inherited condition, which it was not. I was on blood thinners for about 3 months and made sure that when I did any traveling (driving or flying) I exercised regularly such as stopping my vehicle and walking around for at least 5 minutes every hour to hour and a half or doing isometrics while flying. In spite of this, I had a 2nd PE in 2006 and have been on thinners ever since. I went through the Agent Orange Exposure assessment in 2013 and the VA said that my clotting was not caused by exposure to Agent Orange. Not one person in my family has ever had blood clotting issues/problems or a pulmonary embolism except myself. As with most health insurance companies, the VA has a tendency to deny, deny, deny when it comes to getting treatment - in the VA's case, of course, it denies for as long as possible any connection between what the military does to combat arena troops and subsequent health issues of those troops. The only way we will change the VA to get it to accept that the cause of so many blood clotting issues/problems for those of us exposed to Agent Orange is to continually fight to have it listed as one of the health issues caused by AO exposure. Collectively, we can win this fight, but only when we band together and enlighten our Congressional representatives as well as make the public aware of what the VA is doing to us.
.I was stationed at Camp Carroll Korea I heard that they sprayed Agent Orange there and I've been getting blood clots since I was 26 I've had 5 operations for deep vein thrombosis in my legs and my lungs I was told it was hereditary but no one in my family has it but me so it can't be hereditary must be Agent Orange
My husband has no hereditary prediposition to clotting and has had two incidents of DVT leading to Pulmonary embolism. He was exposed to Agent orange in the Viet Nam War. Has chronic dizziness. Rediculous that he cannot get andy disability for this problem that nearly cost him his life twice. Socail Security disabled him.. VA says no relation to Agent orange. He is on coumadin for life.
Hi! SO sorry for your husband's health problems. I can fully relate to the life risk. Have you contacted your Federal House Representative about the denial by the VA of recognition of Agent Orange exposure as the cause of the PEs your husband has experienced? I believe that, if we can get enough veterans who have had this type of experience to contact their respective elected federal reps, we can put pressure on the VA to recognize this health risk/hazard caused by Agent Orange exposure! But we need to be persistent!
Yes, I to have served in the Vietnam war. I had a pulmonary embolism and now deep vein thrombosis. I had vein replacement surgeries and now I lost my left leg below the knee due to the blood clots.
Hi David: Have you been assessed by the VA for Agent Orange exposure? If not, do so and if so, contact your House of Representatives member and Federal Senators. I tried to get the American Legion an VFW to take this issue on, but they aren't interested. Check with other veterans that you know who may have been exposed to Agent Orange and ask them to get AO assessed, etc.
Hi! Sorry about your husband's health issues! As it sound like he has been AO assessed, contact your U. S. House of Representatives member and your two U. S. Senate members to make them aware of this issue and ask them to take this on as an issue that needs to be recognized by the VA.
I had heard the exposure to AO's health issues can be passed on to future generations! Just one more reason to contact both your House of Representatives member and your two U.S. Senators about and get them to put pressure on the VA to recognize PE and DVT as caused by AO exposure.
As you may have seen in other replies I made to veterans exposed to AO, please contact your House of Representatives member and both U. S. Senators. Thanks.
I served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. I am taking blood thinner because of this and will continue for the rest of my life.