Coumadin and quality of life: a question for Allodwick

[della_anne]

Hi Allodwick, I recently visited your website and found one particular part of an article very interesting. I've quoted it below....

Warfarin Institute of America
Dedicated to Your Health
AN EDITORIAL ABOUT THE USE OF WARFARIN
WARFARIN IS A MARKER FOR A LIFE DEFINING EXPERIENCE
By Huston Powell, R.Ph., M.B.A.

Life altering changes for patients are required when warfarin therapy is started. Monitoring of blood clotting time is required and attention to prescription and non prescription medication, diet and activity can profoundly influence the patient?s view of their body and the world around them Adherence to prescribed therapy and monitoring can alter a patients life perspective. Non-compliance with therapy and lack of attention to monitoring can reflect a negative change in the mind of patients.

__________________________

The author talks about monitoring "altering a patients life perspective" and that "non compliance can reflect a negative change in the mind of patients".
Is the author of this article saying that people on Coumadin can have mental changes due to restrictions because of Coumadin and of compliance with INR monitoring? In that case are people on Coumadin more susseptible to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety? Just thought this was very interesting to read, I would have never thought that being on a medication could cause problems mentally...

 

[Ross]

Until Al gets around to answer, let me say that I believe this to be false in a lot of respects, yet true in some. It really is all in how a person looks at it. I'm not letting Coumadin dictate how I live my life. Some people do however. They place restrictions on themselves and then become depressed at not being able to do things they used to do.

Funniest thing happened to me yesterday getting my blood test. The Phlebotomist asked if I was on any blood thinner. I told her yes, so she puts this constrictive bandage on my needle puncture, tells me to hold it there for 20 minutes, as she does not want me to bleed out. The spot wasn't even bleeding when she took the needle out! This just goes to show, people are clueless about Coumadin and Coumadin patients. I looked at her and said, not likely with an INR of 2.5, smiled, and walked out.

 

[Nancy]

It's all in the attitude of each person.

My husband has been on Coumadin for 27 years. For him, it is no big deal. It's just one more pill to take and one more test to get. He never complains about it, really. Coumadin has given him little, if any, symptoms. Some of his other meds have been pretty nasty, but not Coumadin.

You will hear from others who are very distressed at being on Coumadin, so each person is individual. A lot of people don't like having to take ANY medication, or have ANY kinds of tests.

It is a life-saving medication for Joe. Without it, he wouldn't be around.

 

[geebee]

Long time coumadin user

Long time coumadin user

I have been on coumadin for 24 years. I still test at a lab and rarely have to adjust my dosage. I eat fairly healthy but do not avoid foods simply because I am worried about how they might affect my coumadin level. Although I bruise more easily than my family and friends and I watch myself when I use sharp objects, I have not changed my lifestyle one bit.

I don't know if I am too casual about coumadin but I have never let it rule my life. I am merely happy it exists because it allows me to be here.

 

[Guest]

The person who wrote that was not making a direct connection to warfarin and mental changes. This was a very therapeutic thing for him to write. He was an only child. His first association with warfarin was a major turning point in his life. He was 16 and got a car for his birthday. He found out in the morning and was excited all day anticipating his father's getting home from work so that he could drive. Finally after supper they set out to drive. As they drove away from the house, his dog ran after the car and was killed. The commotion caused his sickly mother to have a stroke. His father was a big man who worked at the steel mill. He said that when his mother was taken to the hospital it was the first time that he had ever seen his father cry. He really hadn't given much thought to warfarin except that his mother took for the rest of her life. When he started to do his clinical rotation with me and saw the people he talks about all of the memories of the day that he went from the top of the world to the depths sadness came flooding back. I asked him to write that essay as a way of dealing with his emotions. He gave me permission to post it several years ago.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Carefully reading the statement "Non-compliance with therapy and lack of attention to monitoring **can reflect** a negative change in the mind of patients"
to my mind means that Non-compliance MAY REFLECT a negative change in the mind of patients, NOT that it may CAUSE a negative change.

I would concur with that interpretation. When patients become depressed or fatalistic, they often tend to become non-compliant, skipping needed medication and adopting other negative behaviors. This non-compliance is a SIGN of "a negative change in the mind" of the patient, NOT the cause. English is such an inexact language...

'AL'

 

[Guest]

I don't think that it is just English. The Bible has a book called Judges. They were settling disputes over interpretation of words long before the Angles met the Saxons.

 

[Ross]

Geebee eat your veggies and be good now.

 

[Karlynn]

I've taken Coumadin for almost 13 years. While my family may say that I'm nuts, I don't think it has to do with the Coumadin.

There are some people very bothered by having to do something as a daily routine because their health requires it. My husband would not be able to adjust well to having to take Coumadin, or anything else that he perceives as a crutch. He won't take Tylenol if he has a headache. (He'd rather just be crabby and ruin our day. ) I had to take some pretty heavy duty anti-arrhythmics for about 6 years prior to my valve replacement. Having the surgery, the trade off was Coumadin and no nasty arrhythmia, or no Coumadin and anti-arrhythmics that only worked sometimes, but I still had to take daily. The surgery worked so well for me, that I've never looked upon the things involving Coumadin as being much of a hardship.

I eat pretty much what I want. I drink wine about 3 days a week and have an occasional Cosmopolitan. If my INR is a bit high, I just treat myself to the spinach salad that I love, but stay away from most of the time.

When I compare myself to my daughter's best friend who's had diabetes from age 11, I think my life on Coumadin is far easier than her insulin dependant life. (But she's in college and has learned to adjust her insulin to her beer consumption. )

 

[John & Joann]

33 years on Coumadin here. I live a fairly normal life style with regards to the Coumadin. It is not a big deal unless you are a tree surgeon, automobile racer, etc. I eat a very consistent diet and watch very carefully my daily activites.

No tobacco, no booze, etc.

 

[McCln]

No Real Changes Here

No Real Changes Here

I have been on coumadin for three years now and have not made many changes in my lifestyle, only in diet. That is because of the diabetes 2. I drink diet soda, have grilled, less fried foods. I am still bad on saturated fats, potato chips. But, I procrastinated for a year after surgery, due to feeling bad and not enough energy. But when the year and six months was over, I wa found to be type 2 diabetic. Then the changes took shape. I walked more and changed a few food habits. I did change on the veggie front. But latley, after talkking to a dietician through my health insurance company, am not avoiding green veggies anymore, just watching the portions. And walking more, everyday. Feeling better, INR just went up to a normal 3.0, stick in two weeks. Med was upped in doseage, but no real changes except for the better. Am still learning a lot.

 

[MarkU]

My AVR surgery was a life altering event for me, not the Coumadin. In November of 2000 I was told that I would dead from CHF within three years if I didn't have an AVR. Well, I had the surgery and I'm still here four years later, so I figure I'm ahead of the game. Taking a little pill once a day and getting my blood tested every six weeks are very minor distractions in the grand scheme of things. I've done two triathlons this year, so I figure my little St. Jude valve must be working to specification so far.
I did go through some unexpected bouts of severe depression the first year after my surgery. I didn't always deal with if well and it was tough on my marriage and family at times. Still affects me at times.
I have undergone some personality and attitude changes, mostly for the better, I think. People tell me I'm more laid back and relaxed than I used to be. Maybe I can just put things in better perspective now.

 

[Guest]

Mark, If anybody has "it" figured out, I think that you have.

 

[liamty]

If you let it any medication, condition, illness, situation can run or ruin your life. Unfortunately lots of people do let it too!

 

[Rain]

Rocking chairs and protime machines.

Rocking chairs and protime machines.

Lets just hope the coumadin supply is forever plentiful. Lets hope everyone who takes the rotten stuff educates themselves about the many dangers of taking it........ because a lot of the doctors you deal with will know less about it than you do.... even if you don?t know Jack!! Lets hope that every individual is told up-front that they can no longer have a drink several nights in a row, then not have one. That they can?t be active several weeks then not. That they can?t have salad every day then... not. I wonder how many doctors tell you before hand that you should give up water and snow skiing?? How many of them tell you that you are going to be one huge walking bruise if you are an active person wearing shorts? And that those bruises are going to take months to heal, not days. And lets hope someone will eventually be able to explain the ?mystery? swings. My dog has taken a beating!!

I think along with the Pro-Time machine, each person on coumadin should be issued a rocking chair.... If you?re very methodical and consistent and keep your butt parked in a rocking chair... you probably won?t have too many problems. Or maybe you are just THAT lucky!! I'm not.

I?m happy to have coumadin for all the benefits it gives me. But that doesn?t mean I wouldn?t have made other choices, had they been available to me.

Whew! I try not to do that too often.

 

[Guest]

At least when you sit in the rocking chair you will be protected from blood clots in the legs caused by sitting too long.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Lance,

May I suggest that when you are handed a lemon you make lemonade...and BUY A HOME TEST UNIT for measuring your INR!

'AL'

 

[Mary]

It sounds like Lance has been making lemonade for awhile now.
Mary

 

[Guest]

It seems to mee rather ironic that Lance mentions Hamilton General and lives in Ontario and thinks that the doctors know little about warfarin. Hamilton probably has more people who know more about warfarin than any other place in the world and yet ...

 

[lance]

MakingLemonade

MakingLemonade

It may surprise you to know:

1. I have made so much lemonade the citrus growers have been brought to their knees. I dare not drink it because we all know about Vitamin C and INR levels

and

2. INR home monitors have not been approved for use in Canada!

Why not, I know not.

I have spent a great deal of time and effort trying to sort out why they haven't been approved and have even contacted my member of parliament. But it's just like my vein no one knows anything.

It might be the cost involved but I'm guessing. The option of buying one is not available unless I went to the US which I am willing to do. The manufacturer will not ship them into Canada. My doctor says he hasn't heard about them and would not support my using one unless a reading was taken for Pro-time when the blood was drawn at the clinic. The manufacturer has not sent the package of information I requested from them more than a year ago when I discovered the vein would never heal.

Using one would certainly make things easier and more convenient but without government approval there is nothing to be done.

It took them two weeks to rubber stamp approval of an untested heart valve so why the delay in approving Pro-time monitoring machines that have been in use for years and years is a mystery.

Cheers!