Headache

[Dennis S]

I had my AVR August 1st of this year. My recovery has been great, but for the last 2 weeks I have frequent headaches on the lower right side of my head. I am wondering if this could be a reaction to the Coumadin? I am taking 6 mg/day, running an INR of 2.1. I would appreciate any thoughts.

 

[Cris N]

I would be inclined to think that it's muscle related. Talk to your dr for sure to make sure something else is not going on. If all checks out from a vascular/heart standpoint I would consider some gentle stretching exercises, massage therapy and perhaps chiropractor (don't let the chiro sell you any funky herbals...) Between the position your were in for surgery and the healing process, you may be sleeping in a different position - causing strain on your neck muscles, etc.

Cris

 

[Guest]

Unlikely to be a warfarin reaction after 2 months on the drug. Drug reactions tend to occur in the first few days.

One of my patients had a chriopractor give her neck a powerful jerk and she immediately went partially blind because he caused a disection of her vertebral artery and cut off the blood flow to part of her brain. I'm against that type of treatment.