coumadin makes you feel cold?

[JCDavis81]

Hi all,

Well I've been taking coumadin for about three weeks now and while it's been a little difficult to get in range, I've had no other problems. (knock on wood!)

I have however been much more sensitive to being cold since going on coumadin. Normally, I don't mind being chilly, but since my surgery I've been wearing long sleeve shirts and long pants in the evening and to bed. This is certainly normal for the winter, but I'm recovering in the virgin islands and in my 24 years I NEVER remember feeling cold EVER while in the VI. It brobably has been no cooler than 75 degree here at night.

Is this a side effect of the coumadin? I didn't think so (I know now that it doesn't actually "thin" your blood) but I saw my cardiologist today and mentioned it to him and he said most coumadin patients complain of getting cold more easily than before. Has anyone else dealt with this?

Joe

 

[Natanni]

Cold?

Cold?

Hi Joe

I can only say that after Nathan's AVR, he was chilled for about a month, maybe even a little longer. We attributed it to the open heart surgery, maybe being on the pump, or from having the body cooled during surgery. Sometime arond November, it seemed this just went away. Our son plays hockey, and he would dress real warm for a game, and found he had overdressed. Now he is almost 3 months (Thursday!) post op, and has been on his 4 wheeler and snowmobile, and said he doesn't notice it anymore. We shall see when it hits 20 below

Did you get your home monitor yet?

 

[Guest]

If you look in the official package insert you will find that a lot of people have reported feeling cold. However, there does not seem to be a scientific basis for this. But even people who take it without ever having surgery report it too. It is a mystery.

Having been married a good number of years, I have learned that it does no good to try to tell my wife that she can't possibly have to go to the bathroom again so soon. It is probably just as helpful to tell people that they are not cold.

 

[Georgia]

I froze after ohs; wore layers and layers of clothes and used a quilt when sitting around - and raised the temp in the house. But that pretty much went away after a couple of months.

I'm still colder than I've ever been - but I'm on so much medicine I couldn't attribute it to coumadin.

I think you'll probably warm up in a while.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

One of our members from Ontario complained of feeling cold also. Of course living in Ontario doesn't help

As Al Lodwick suggests, it's probably just one of those things youwill have to learn to live with.

FWIW, We're having a cold December in Alabama (that means temperatures in the 20's at night) and I wear my flannel PJ's under my clothes ALL DAY. (We also keep the house on the cool side, around 68 degrees).

'AL Capshaw'

 

[ChuckVSP]

Freezing?

Freezing?

I have taken coumadin for over 24 yrs, and have been cold since starting. There was even a time when I took nothing BUT coumadin. My wife complains about having the heat set on 74 in the house, I burn her up in the car, wear my flannels to bed, etc. Good thing she works days, I work nights. I complain at work about the office being kept as cold as a morgue.

When her father started taking coumadin last year, he asked me about feeling cold. Mr. Pete was one of those people who would run the a/c on Christmas with snow on the ground. Not any more, we just adjust the themostat up a bit and worry about the electric bill.

Chuck

 

[EVELYN]

Yes, Yes Yes!! Tyce had OHS in 6/02....the first few months he was cold....the first winter he was freezing. He has now adjusted, but does "chill" very easily and is definitely looking to move to a warmer climate as soon as we can.. This was NOT his nature pre surgery.....matter of fact, he was always hot, sweating, etc. There may not be any "scientific" basis for it, but it sure has occurred in our household. We now sleep on top of a down feather bed and under a down comforter, with flannel sheets to boot. He's ok and I'm roasting.....oh well.

Ev

 

[Gemma]

Hiya Joe,

Jim was freezing in bed a few times in the first weeks after his AVR, and spent a large proportion of his time in front of a roaring log fire during the day. I can't remember how long it took, weeks or a couple of months, but eventually he got back to normal. These days he's more likely to complain of being too hot - I'm the one who feels the cold!!

I'd guess it's more to do with the process of OHS than the coumadin. The hospital pharmacist also mentioned that sotalol (a beta-blocker) sometimes causes cold extremities - so if you're on any other meds they may also play a part.

Lucky you recovering on a caribbean island though, even if you are chillier than you'd expected! Imagine being cold and in freezing England!

Gemma.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Hiya Joe,

Jim was freezing in bed a few times in the first weeks after his AVR, and spent a large proportion of his time in front of a roaring log fire during the day. I can't remember how long it took, weeks or a couple of months, but eventually he got back to normal. These days he's more likely to complain of being too hot - I'm the one who feels the cold!!

I'd guess it's more to do with the process of OHS than the coumadin. The hospital pharmacist also mentioned that sotalol (a beta-blocker) sometimes causes cold extremities - so if you're on any other meds they may also play a part.

Gemma.

VERY INTERESTING comment about Sotalol / Beta Blockers!

I'm on a VERY LOW dose of Sotalol (40 mg once a day). Cardio says that is below the 'therapudic level'. I tell him "It WORKS" but I sometimes have arrhythmia's if I skip that single dose. He just shakes head and tells me to do what works. He would prefer twice a day since Sotalol is NOT time released. Apparently I don't need while sitting or sleeping.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Marguerite53]

Joe. I was just going to mention the beta blocker effect. (so glad to have it confirmed, Gemma!) I'm not even sceduled for OHS yet, but recently had my Atenolol dosage doubled. I have since been feeling the cold. I'm usually one to be warm all the time so for me it is somewhat refreshing. But we had a fierce cold front come in and when I would go out and about I simply could not stay warm. Even a hot shower does not do it sometimes. Strange inner cold.

Hopefully it will pass for you as a condition from the surgery. For now, maybe treat yourself to a long-sleeved silk shirt (hey, Santa ) and enjoy some lovely fabric brushing your skin in the ocean breezes.

Marguerite

 

[lance]

COLD in Ontario from October to May

COLD in Ontario from October to May

To the person in the Virgin Islands, your system is accustomed to balmy weather yet somehow the warfarin is impacting and causing you to feel cold. And yes, you are cold and don't let anyone say you are not. Something doesn't work the same and there doesn't seem to be a logical explanation. It happens to me in the summer too.

Recently my warfarin was withdrawn and replaced with heparin prior to surgery. At the end of October I was so warm in my room I opened the windows wide--I was too hot for the first time in six years and even went outside in my bathrobe like everyone else and felt comfortable. There is no doubt in my mind warfarin is the culprit.

No, I'm not kidding, I really am cold during the winter and I mean in the house with central heat. Just feeling cold is OK. It's the chilled to the bone feeling that is hard to take and usually occurs in the late afternoon every day even when I have not been outside for hours. Layers of clothing or lack therof doesn't change anything and neither does sitting by the stove. Chilled is chilled and yet my body radiates heat. It's a puzzle.

Even in our usually hot and humid summers in S. Ontario it's the same. Hubby wants the air on in the vehicle and I don't. So one of us is uncomfortable. When I feel comfortable he has sweated through his clothing so when the air is on I use a lighter weight blanket than I use in winter. I find the feather filled ones used for camping are ideal--a light weight one in the summer because of air conditioning and a heavier one in the winter because the temperature in the vehicle is never warm enough. So I think I understand where you're coming from.

Last summer I was in my doctor's office, he came in, threw open the windows compaining about the unbearable heat and almost fell off his chair when I told him I was neither hot nor cold, just pleasantly neutral. We were both equally surprised at each other.

It's a nuisance I've lived with for 6 year and have often thought a warmer climate would be ideal and now you've burst my bubble. I think warfarin has overridden our internal thermostat.

The bottome line though--southern climate, nothern climate--we live. That's the important part.

Cheers

 

[catwoman]

The package insert for Coumadin lists "intolerance to cold" as among "infrequent" adverse reactions.

I have always preferred colder temperatures, because I sleep like a log in cold weather. However, I seem to be cold more often than not now, even in the summer.
I wear a long flannel gown to bed -- and wool socks. And this is in Texas!

I can't tell how much of my intolerance to cold is from warfarin, or how much is because I've lost 50 pounds since my surgery. Perhaps I don't have my "fat coat" keeping me warm anymore???

One good thing: I love the heat in the summer. It's very pleasant now. And I secretly enjoy hearing my family complain about "It's too hot!"

 

[Mike]

I've been reading with interest this "coumadin makes you feel cold?" thread. Since ohs about a year ago I have not been able to get warm. Granted I live in a climate known for its cold weather, but I use to enjoy it, look forward to it. No more. Even when it was hot this past summer, I don't think I broke a sweat.

I asked my cardio about this. He gave me that look that suggested "maybe you see a shrink when you're finished here". I had suspected that it is either the warfarin, Coreg or just having a more efficient pump, but he wouldn't venture a guess.

I keep my office heat about 80 and my coworkers call it the tropics! (I've noticed on cold days they come in frequently though.)

Mike

 

[catwoman]

How many cardios take warfarin? Not many, I'll bet! So, of course a cardio would think we'd need to see a shrink.

Perhaps not all warfarin patients are affected by an intolerance to cold. After all, not everyone has an allergy to penicillin. But that doesn't mean we don't feel cold more intensely than others or don't have allergies to penicillin.

 

[TomS]

I wouldn't blame Coumadin for this one

I wouldn't blame Coumadin for this one

I was definitely feeling cold until I went off all meds EXCEPT Coumadin. I'm convinced that Coumadin does not make you cold, but the beta blockers do. I'm back to normal temp now.
Tom

P.S. For those of you considering going this route, I asked my doctor to take me off of everything else, except of course Coumadin. My blood pressure went up to 130-140 range for a week. It took 2-3 weeks for it to come back down to normal. They expected that it might take a few weeks to level out.

 

[Gemma]

VERY INTERESTING comment about Sotalol / Beta Blockers!

I'm on a VERY LOW dose of Sotalol (40 mg once a day). Cardio says that is below the 'therapudic level'. I tell him "It WORKS" but I sometimes have arrhythmia's if I skip that single dose. He just shakes head and tells me to do what works. He would prefer twice a day since Sotalol is NOT time released. Apparently I don't need while sitting or sleeping.

'AL Capshaw'

40mg once a day was actually one of Jim's cardio's suggestions when he was suffering from ectopic beats on a higher dose. That or 20mg twice daily (breaking a 40mg pill in half). He did say just taking one dose a day wasn't really recommended as it leaves you "unprotected" so to speak for half the day, but that it does work for some people. Jim opted for the second option, for peace of mind as much as anything I think. Maybe some people are just more sensitive to it than others so need a lower dose.

(Joe - sorry to stray off your original question Are there any other meds you're still taking? Maybe check out the side effects of them too. Of course at this stage it's also possible it's just due to the operation itself as a few people already said).