TY - JOUR T1 - A patient's diary: episode 2 — a swollen leg JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 164 LP - 165 VL - 57 IS - 535 A2 - , Y1 - 2007/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/535/164.abstract N2 - My liver has felt a good deal better this week — thanks largely to some herbal tablets from the health food shop and no thanks at all to ‘Gastrocalm Intensive Care’ which is more useful for killing slugs in the garden, as I told Dr Grimes once, in a moment of brutal frankness. I'm afraid he is totally unaware of the latest NICE guidelines and his prescribing leaves much to be desired when it comes to clearing impurities from delicate structures like the bile ducts. However, things in that department are greatly improved, as I said, and I would have been entirely free from health problems this week had it not been for the swelling in my left leg which developed early yesterday morning. As soon as I woke up I could feel the whole of my calf tugging and pulsating as the blood tried desperately to force its way through. The skin was a nasty purplish colour and the whole limb obviously swollen. Of course I knew at once what was wrong. I was reading a piece only a few days ago on one of the excellent internet health sites (dangers of long haul flights) that undue stasis in the calf vein from prolonged sitting can cause deep vein thrombosis (or DVT). Of course I hadn't been on any long haul flights but I did fall asleep in front of the television last night during a rather tedious nature watch live programme in which there seemed to be nothing to watch. When I woke up the programme was over and Hilda had gone up to bed. That must have been when it happened. Over the next few months readers … ER -