Diagnosed with Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST)

Hello, I was diagnosed with CVST two weeks ago. I was suffering from bad headaches for three weeks, along with pain in my ear and those "whooshing" sounds as some of you have described them. I went to emergency and was initially diagnosed with a migraine, but as I often have migraines, I knew this was something else. Thankfully, the doctor listened to me and got me in for a CT scan which showed a suspected thrombosis. Had an MRI, and that confirmed the CVST with two blood clots. I was given Apixaban, and my initial headaches were gone within 48 hours. My next MRI is schedule in a few weeks, and obviously the hope is that it will show the clots have become smaller.

I'm 48, healthy, non-smoker, and I workout daily. All my blood work and tests have come back "unremarkable". So to say that this was a shock is an understatement, and I can see many of you here feel the same way. Right now I'm just thankful we caught this when we did. I feel very fortunate.

I'm still on Apixaban, and it sounds like I will be for some time. How does everyone cope after this? My biggest fear is suffering another stroke, so every time I feel a random pinch in my eye, or an ear ache, or a shooting pain through the skull I can't help but fear the worst. I still get headaches, which I'm told is normal, and Tylenol does seem to help with those so far. I know I need to give this time but its hard grasping the severity of it all.

I'm thankful to have found this site. I'm sorry so many of us are going through this, some worse than others.