Blood clots ??

[Woodbutcher]

I'm not really sure how to word this so I'll just wing it ......

Before having my On-X aortic valve implanted obviously I didn't need Warfarin and I didn't have any risk of blood clotting, well no more than any other healthy 40 year old ?
The Warfarin I'm taking now is to stop blood clotting across/on my new valve ??
It would seem though through what I read, or I get the impression that all of a sudden I'm MORE likely to get blood clots all over the place, legs, lungs even toes !?
Surely the job of the Warfarin is to make this less likely not more likely and why not only on the valve as that's the only bit that's changed ?
I hope somebody can see where I'm coming from here ?
Thanks,
Justin

 

[Karlynn]

That's not my understanding Justin, but maybe someone more in the know has the correct answer.

From time to time we've discussed whether women with heart issues should take birth control pills. There is a warning about clotting for them. However, those of us with mechanicals are already on medication that prevents clotting, so it's a wash.

I'm thinking the clotting statistic or info you are reading is related to the issues of clots forming on the valve.

 

[Fran]

I got a clot in my right brachial artery, Justin, almost a week after my aortic valve replacement with an Onx valve. I had to discontinue my Plavix/aspirin and was on Coumadin for six months. What was really weird about that was my arm had those same "sensations" for like TWO years before it actually clotted off and of course, that was the humdinger where there was NOTHING going ANYWHERE. The "sensations" before had been much akin to that "funnybone" feeling or like my arm was really "full" and I'd shake it out and wonder about it and then forget it the minute the feelings stopped.

So I don't know how much surgery actually had to do with the arm clotting off that soon after if the same conditions had been going on before. But going back in and getting the clot out only days after leaving from the surgery was a total bummer! My arm was fine until some scar tissue a year later (this past July) from the embolectomy and they did a bypass on the brachial artery. There is nothing they can't fix!

My suggestion is at some point you almost have to stop asking questions (these types that can sort of take on a life of their own, like flow charts that just keep spiralling along!) and if you need the Onx valve or whatever type you decide on, you just go for it and trust that things will work out like they should. Ups and downs are only par for the course with our situation.

About the anticoagulant and the valve - my understanding with the Onx valve is that you can reach a therapeutic level with a bit less Warfarin/Coumadin and that the valve "washes" itself better than other models.

Have you visited their site? It really amazed me when I checked it out.

AND MOST OF ALL, get your surgeon to answer some of this for you. Mine took all the time in the world, even when I'd come out of the "HUH?" phase of being told it had to happen, and he was so patient and knowledgeable, I was almost giddy with relief that he had such a grasp of it all.

I get really verbose when I start rolling on all of this. Just utter GRATITUDE! 'cause I'm still here - just rode 8 miles on the bike and did intervals and knocking along with a heart rate just at 150/bpm. YOW!

Don't know how much my rambling helped but you are not alone in the utter and profound "deer in the headlights" feeling of this moment in your life.

 

[geebee]

I do not believe that the clots actually start anywhere else but on the valve but can travel to other areas before they present symptoms.

 

[tobagotwo]

Having a mechanical valve predisposes you to clots (less so with the On-X, but we don't really know how much less yet). The clots most frequently form on or adjacent to the valve, but they can travel. The valve can also crush blood cells in a way that releases blood cell contents that (chemically) want to form clots, and those can form anywhere those blood components puddle up or even move slowly.

With warfarin, the chances of the body putting together a clot where it doesn't belong are greatly lessened. Warfarin helps create a reduction in the amount of some elements that are key to blood clotting. Since there are a number of things that must be present in sufficient amounts to produce a clot, the problem items usually dissipate before they're able to reach a clotting component quorum.

Plainly, clots don't happen very often on Coumadib, as the same people keep showing up day after day in the forums for years, and many of them are mechanical valve users.

Best wishes,