I was on Coumadin(warfarin)for over 7 years. I unfortunately was one that had an INR/ProTime that fluctuated like the weather here in Nebraska.
In those 7 years there was never a time that I did not average going to the hospital to have a "full blood draw(no finger stick)" less than 3 times every single weeks.
There were many months where I went 7 days a week. My blood would be drawn/they would notify my Pulmonologist of my INR reading, and he or his office would call me to tell me what dosage of Coumadin to take that night.
Was on it for 2 different reason. Mainly because of my 2 different episodes of PE, and secondarily for my 2 heart attacks.
This was a BIG downer for me because it ended my ice skating(Ref)career because of the possibilities of getting getting hit again with a puck and having internal bleeding. Cuts or external bleeding was not the problem, as you can see when you are bleeding. Not so with internal bleeding.
Had my own issues with Coumadin and it almost killed me. Had my Phlebotomists not known my schedule after visiting them on certain days, I would probably be dead.
At the time I was going through Cardiac Rehab Classes 3 times a week. It was in a building right next to the hospital. I went in at about 8am to have my blood drawn. The Phlebotomists knew I would be going to Cardiac Rehab right after I left the hospital.
During rehab when I was exercising, 1 of the Cardiac Nurses told me I had to go have my blood drawn again that the Lab had called and requested it. I said "I'll go when I get done with my exercising". The Nurse said "No, you will go right now, EKG monitor on you and all".
Now a normal INR reading for many is a range of 2.0-2.5mgdl. Anything below that you are at a higher risk of clotting. Anything much higher than that you are more likely to have internal bleeding.
My reading when they called was 12.9mgdl, which most of my doctors(even my doctor friends)say many die(bleed out when it reaches 9.0mgdl). When they took my 2nd sample it came back at 13.0mgdl of blood.
By this time lumps were appearing on both my legs. A couple the size of tennis balls and others golf ball size. They immediately ran me into the Procedure Center of the hospital(it is closer than the ER)and shot Vitamin K into my stomach.
They then got 4 units of frozen blood plasma and, using the biggest syringe posible, began transfusing the Plasma into my body. What normally would take 90 minutes they did in less than half that time.
I remained in the hospital for 4 days, off of all Coumadin, waiting for my INR to get down to a safe range, and then I went home. My Pulmonologist wanted me to stay on a very low dose of Coumadin and also to give my self shots(needles into my stomach) of Lovanox twice a day.
What happened to cause that event? I have no idea as I always checked my Coumadin at least 3 times before I took it every single night. The only thing I can think of is instead of taking a 1mg pill of Warfarin I took a 10mg pill. There were times I was taking up to 12mg per day of Coumadin when my INR readings were about 1.5mgdl of blood.
I chose to get off of Coumadin and run the risk of PE. Why? Because I my Colon bleeding was to the point where I was always Anemic(hemoglobin under 8mgdl of blood), and also needed blood transfusion sometimes twice a month, always at least every 3 weeks.
After having at least 130 blood transfusions and 25-30 Iron Infusions, I decided to risk the PE in lieu of living my life in Anemia, which pretty much kept me from doing much of anything physical.
Long story as usual, but there is no way I would take anything but Coumadin/Warfarin, or use Lovanox as a blood thinner, should I have another brush with PE and manage to once again survive this deadly clotting.
Thats my take on these issues of blood thinners.
hckynut(john)
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