blood clots and coumadin.....need some help

[babar]

my mom went into the hospital with a DVT in her calf on Friday. she's home being treated now, one of the meds she is on is coumadin.

today she went in and they checked her levels, and her blood count is so low that they admitted her and she needs a transfusion. there may be some internal bleeding (possibly microscopic)

can this be treated? do people get over this when this happens to them while they are on coumadin?

thanks.

 

[nativetxn]

I can't answer your question but I just wanted to tell you that I said a quick prayer that your mother makes a full recovery.

Katholyn

 

[damo]

Yes they do. My MIL has exactly the same problem and she has had the internal bleeding. They will adjust the levels and hopefully she will be fine. It is a continual battle trying to keep the coumadin levels correct. My MIL can get awful bruising when the levels are even a bit off and internal bleeding when the levels are way off.

 

[Jeafl]

I agree with Damo. My dad's been on coumadin for over 20 years and he still has to have a protime blood test twice a month to make sure the levels are correct. It does take some time to get it all straightened out.

I'll keep your mom in my prayers.

 

[aprilgail2]

My mom was on it and started having terrible pain in her side, then she started urinating blod, a lot of blood...finally one night she was in such pain she went to the hopsital and they took her right off of it and put her on just one baby aspirin a day. She was on the coumadin about 2 years and they could never get the levels regulated..everytime she ate leafy veggies it through the levels all off...sometimes it was low, others to high..they could never get it right. She has been much better since they took her off of it. In the hospital they gave her a shot to make her stop bleeding and it caused a clot, eventually she passed the clot in her urine and the pain went away.

 

[safetymom]

I was on coumadin for two years because of a blood clot in the leg. In the beginning I had to go to the hospital every 2 days for tests to check the levels. Then I went to every week and finally every 2 weeks.

I knew I had been going a lot when they noticed that I had changed my hair style.

Sorry to hear that your mother is having problems. A blood clot in the leg is no fun!!!!

 

[disneysteve]

Dr. Steve here

Coumadin (warfarin sodium) is probably one of the most potentially dangerous drugs we use on such a widespread basis, but there has yet to be anything close to a worthwhile alternative. If the blood level (measured by PT - prothombin time and INR - international normalized ratio) is too low, the clot can grow and/or travel to another part of the body. If the level is too high, the patient can bleed significantly from something really minor. Aspirin is a poor substitute. Low molecular weight heparin is good, but far more costly and requires twice daily injections.

Coumadin also interacts with a ton of prescription meds like certain antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and more. It also is affected by the amount of vitamin K in your diet (present in lots of vegetables, especially green leafy ones).

Thus the need for frequent blood tests for as long as you remain on the med. To the OP, for a DVT (deep vein thrombosis), the typical course is about 6 months on Coumadin so hopefully your mom will not be on the med too long. That assumes that she doesn't have some reason to be at increased risk of future clots in which case she may need the med longer or even for life.

Bottom line - I have lots of patients on long-term Coumadin who would most likely have died a long time ago without it. It is a dangerous drug but is also a life-saving drug. Despite all the potential risks, the benefits far outweigh them. Just make sure she keeps getting her scheduled labs, lets her doctor know if she starts any new meds - prescription, over-the-counter, natural, herbal, etc., and gets her doctor to provide a Coumadin diet sheet for her to review.