Questions about the drug Coumadin

patrickredeyes

Recently my father had to be put on the drug Coumadin. And once your on it your on it for the rest of your life. If you don't know what it is I will tell you. Coumadin is in a class of drugs known as anticoagulants. It interferes with blood clotting by depressing the production in the liver of blood coagulation factors that are Vitamin-K dependent. It is most often used in the treatment of pulmonary emboli, deep-vein thrombosis, atrial heart arrhythmia, heart attack and post operatively in cardiac valve replacement.

You have to change your entire lifestyle when on it. You have to watch everything that you do. If you break the skin mass bleeding can happen. Another thing is watch what type of foods you eat. Now get this and this just crushed my dad when he heard this. He can't eat salads like he used to anymore. Something to do with the Vitamin K. I fear this drug now. It's helping him but it could end up hurting him again.

If anybody is on this drug or knows of anybody that is. How has it affected you and your lifestyle? Any other websites you can tell me about? Last few days I have been really reading up on it. Just looking for some more info.

Thank you

South of Seattle

I know my Mom has used it. She's had a few heart surgeries. She eats salad like a goat. Unfortunately I can't give you much more info as she's gone for a few weeks.

My mom is active and eats whatever, so this news is news to me.

meme

You only have to be consistent with what you eat. It is a little stressful at the beginning, but once you fine tune your dosage, you can forget about it, other than testing a couple of times a month to make sure everything is ok. They have little devices you can use at home to do it.

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions

patrickredeyes

meme wrote:

You only have to be consistent with what you eat. It is a little stressful at the beginning, but once you fine tune your dosage, you can forget about it, other than testing a couple of times a month to make sure everything is ok. They have little devices you can use at home to do it.

Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions

The stress is already here. lol

Tonight I was reading more about Coumadin and freaked a little bit. So much has happened since September I guess I didn't really read up on Coumadin and really understood it until now.


He's still a few weeks away from going home so were still working everything out. I will keep you in mind. Thank you and thanks SOS for the info.

Sprunkn7

The salad thing is news to me. Sorry I don't know anything about the food side.

I would say after getting the dosage correct, bleeding is the major issue. I work in an ENT office, we gets tons of nosebleeds, most people that have major problems are people on coumadin and aspirin. Something that would usually stop on its own in 5 or 10 minutes just keeps on bleeding and the nose needs to get cauterized and sometimes packed. My dad has been on coumadin since his triple bypass in 1998 and he hasn't had any problems at all.

Best of luck and try not to freak yourself out!

ZiggyStar

My dad had a mitral valve replacement 10 years ago. Scared the shit out of me when I was 19 years old but he's still going strong now at 65. He takes warfarin and a handful of other drugs

He can't eat a lot of green vegetables due to the vitamin K which is a bit of a pain in the arse. He might have a Subway with lettuce on it for example or two or three bits of broccoli but doesn't sit down for a whole plate of green vegetables....might just have a small bit on the side though (you'll soon understand how hard it is to stay away from eating a lot of green vegetables!! )

Blood tests for INR levels are still necessary ten years later and they fluctuate all the time so Dad needs blood tests every week or two weeks. I think the maximum time he's had no blood tests would be 3 weeks. THAT is a pain in the arse -- but not TOO bad. You can easily live with THAT if it was the worst thing.

Dad has to watch cutting himself...but he's just cautious about it and it doesn't happen very often. When he cuts himself shaving or something, it does take longer to stop bleeding but it's not gushing EVERYWHERE or anything. Small bleeds like that aren't scary. I haven't experienced a really bad bleed before so I'm not sure about that.

I was really scared about the whole thing....and everything seemed really weird at first -- new terminologies, new drugs, new changes etc...but 10 years on, the day to day dealing with it isn't as bad as what you think it will be.

Good luck with everything -- PM me if you want!

blackredyellow

My grandmother and mother are both on it. My mother's lifestyle hasn't changed at all. She had a couple of blood clots about 10 years ago and then found out that she had some sort of rare clotting factor or something.

My grandmother is elderly and was on coumadin and another thinner. She was basically over-medicated and had some issues with fainting and her blood being too thin. The doctors took her off the coumadin recently and is doing much better.

Last week my mother took my grandma to a blood doctor who specializes in blood clots (talk about a narrow field) and the doctor told my mother that she could probably be taken off of it as well and told her to come back and see her.

Black Diamond

My mother is on it because of atrial heart arrhythmia. She has been on it for a few years. Has constantly had to go in to adjust the levels as it seems she can not get consistent blood counts.

Then this year, she had very bad problems breathing. She went to lung specialists and her primary care doctor. She is overweight so that was used as an excuse. Someone after 3 weeks, including doing cardiac tests finally just did a CBC blood scan. Turns out she was at death-inducing levels of aenemia. Immediately put into hospital. Turns out she had a very tiny ulcer that because the coumadin was thinning the blood caused her to internally bleed at a very slow pace. They think she was leaking for months and that she was losing red blood count and causing lack of oxygen to lungs.

So as the doctor said, you need to stay on watch when on coumadin.

just tina

my grandmother was on it. all i really remember though is that she had to have her blood tested every other week and then possibly adjust the meds according to the results. also, something about broccoli...after reading the greens comment in one of the posts, i guess she stopped eating it.

riffrandall

You don't have to be on it for the rest of your life. I had a complication after surgery & had a blood clot, and was on it for 6 months afterwards.

You do have to watch your vitamin K, but it's not a life sentence.

PJPixie

Hey Patrick, all will be ok!
My youngest son Max (9) has been on this med since he was 2.5 years old.
He's fine. Yes, we have to limit the green vegies but other than that all is well. He has had 3 open heart surgeries and has some narrowing of valves so he's on this med to keep the blood flowing freely in those narrow valves.
Yes, he's 9 years old.....Yes, he is an out of control maniac and comes in from playing outside, BLOODY, about 2 or 3 times a week.....yes, he gets blood tests often to check the levels/dosing........Having a 9 year old kid on this med can be a little trying but I'm glad his problems can be managed. It really is a blessing.

roar

my dad takes this drug for a-fib. he's an active and healthy dude.

he does have to limit his dark green veggie intake and can't eat grapefruit (his favorite) among some other things.
he gets his blood checked a lot...to make sure it's all good.

londonwpr

Hey Uncle Pat...

I know we haven't talked in a long time, but wanted to let you know I'm thinking of you and your family. I ran into this thread and wanted to post a reply. Jen was on coumadin for 6 months earlier this year. I was scared at first too, but once your dad gets used to the drug and getting his levels tested, it's not too bad. The things I remember about Jen being on it, were that she needed to change her dosage (per her doctor's instructions) on a daily basis until her INR leveled out. Once your Dad's INR is constant, the dosage should remain the same. She also had to go on a shot - Heparin, I believe - which is basically a faster acting form of coumadin. She was only on the shot for a few days, in order to get her INR into the normal levels. It was mildly uncomforable for her to do it, but nothing too serious.

I know you mentioned avoiding green veggies, but Jen's doctor said that if she ate a lot of veggies prior to going on coumadin, she still could eat them. Her doctor said that she should continue eating and drinking as she did prior to being on coumadine, so you may want to ask the doctor about that. Two things to avoid are cranberries and grapefruit.

When Jen first got on coumadin, I checked out this site which helped with a lot of information: http://my.clevelandclinic.org/drugs/coumadin/hic_understanding_coumadin.aspx.

I'm thinking and praying for you and your family, bud. I hope things improve for your dad.