And now for some good news...

[ColinJ]

Sorry to hear that ColinJ, hope you get back to racing soon. Fingers crossed.

Sorry, I can see my post was ambiguous ... I meant it would be foolish for any athlete to try and compete before they had fully recovered from such a dangerous illness.

I've never raced, but it took me 8 months to even get back on a bike again.

Serena Williams was able to get back up to full competitive fitness in less than a year after suffering a pulmonary embolism in 2011, but some people do not survive them, and many others never fully recover..

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I just think you are wrong to blame the medication for his layoff

I should just make it clear that this was information from the Cyclingnews article. I don't have any personal knowledge of the case...

 

[ColinJ]

I should just make it clear that this was information from the Cyclingnews article. I don't have any personal knowledge of the case...

The concern is that the anticoagulant drugs mean that one would tend to bleed a lot more after an injury. In the case of a head injury, that could be very serious. Bleeding on the brain is always a risk when taking these drugs. I would imagine that the UCI would be reluctant to issue a racing licence to any rider on them.

Ah - I just found this article which backs that up!

 

[ColinJ]

When there is no obvious underlying cause for the original DVT, there is about a 30% chance of developing another one in the following 10 years, but I am sure that Niyonshuti will be very careful to minimise his risks in future.

Fingers crossed for him! I only lasted 3 months off Warfarin, before I developed my second DVT/PE. If that happened to an athlete, it could very well be career-ending.