I Hope This Will Never Happen, But........

[Gnusgal]

OMG, I have SO much coumadin on hand it's not even funny! I even thought about posting the other day to see if anyone was in desperate need and couldn't afford it or something. I've changed my dosage a few times and at one time had my doc prescribe extra so that if I had to change my dose I'd have what I needed. Now you look in my bathroom and there are bottles upon bottles of the stuff stored up. Some are a couple of years old. Do you think they go bad?

If you're ever in need, I'm the one to call!

 

[Bina]

The trick to keeping meds stable for a longer period of time is to NOT keep them in the bathroom where there is a shower or bath. The hot, humid air is very destructive.

 

[Gnusgal]

The trick to keeping meds stable for a longer period of time is to NOT keep them in the bathroom where there is a shower or bath. The hot, humid air is very destructive.

Hmmm... Good point. So where do you keep yours?

 

[Bina]

I bought a clear plastic storage container with a lid (like a small shoe box), and I keep it in the kitchen since that is where I usually take my meds.
A 7 day pill box is on my placemat at the kitchen table.

 

[Cooker]

I'm "not" in a panic about this it was just a curiosity question but this is what I did. I take 5mg daily. I test at my cardio's but my PCP rights all my prescriptions. I had no refills left so yesterday I called and got refills called in, he does 7 at a time. I told them I needed 10mg, doubled my supply. I get 50 at a time so that is 100 doses or a little over three months. A couple of more months and I will have a years supply

Did not work PCP must have called the cardio who must have said I was still in 5mg........they called in 5mg................Looks like I will be making a phone call tomorrow.

 

[Freddie]

Maybe someone is on to you Cooker

 

[Missy]

I worry about this. I keep supply (7 day pill box ) in my purse and the rest in a ready to go overnight bag with strap.

What about foods that effect the coumdin level? Like mexican vanilla made from coumarin? Or vitamin e. If things like this can effect the coumadin level would it help if we didn't have the coumadin?

How about a list of foods? Or meds, vitamins? Starting with the Mexican coumarin vanilla?

I also take lanoxin. I used to have a recipe for making the raw stuff from the foxglove plant. I think my sister has it. Does anyone have foxglove? I would be afraid to try it unless I was desperate. Then I would probably be caught where I couldn't get to the plant!


Thanks.

 

[Lorraine]

You know! You guys are crazy! The humour is wonderful!

I try to keep a ample supple of Coumadin on hand also. What I was wondering, if Coumadin wasn't available wouldn't eating a lot of garlic help? Or does it only effect me that way? I thought garlic was a blood thinner? Of course you may not keep very many friends for long, but at least your valves would be safe!

 

[catwoman]

Barring massive global warming, we could become farmers and grow our own warfarin. Or grow Tonka trucks, er, tonka beans, and become chemists.

From:
http://www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/A-An/Anticoagulant.html

"Oral anticoagulants have their origins in an odd bleeding disorder in cattle that broke out in North Dakota and Canada in the 1920s. Cattle in these areas that ate hay made from spoiled sweet clover had a tendency to bleed to death. F. W. Schofield, a Canadian veterinarian, traced the deaths to clover in 1922. In 1931 a North Dakota veterinarian, L. M. Roderick, found that the hemorrhaging was caused by the reduced activity of prothrombin, a clotting factor in blood. Isolating prothrombin proved to be very difficult, but it was finally accomplished in 1939 by Karl Link and H. A. Campbell of the University of Wisconsin agricultural college. The clotting factor in prothrombin turned out to be dicumarol, a coumarin (a fragrant organic substance often extracted from tonka beans) compound that had originally been synthesized in an impure form in 1903."

 

[aussie girl]

Taking Cookers hypothetical question one step further

"what if we were unable to home test or get blood draws taken"

What could we do to know if we were in range


Mary

 

[Bina]

Taking Cookers hypothetical question one step further

"what if we were unable to home test or get blood draws taken"

What could we do to know if we were in range


Mary

If we had no access to coumadin.......no INR testing necessary.
I would be eating Aspirin 4 times a day, and praying 6 times a day.

 

[Missy]

I would watch for excessive bruising and little red spots. Headaches, tingling, pale lips and skin color, dizziness.
I also get sick to my stomach.

There are quite a few symptoms of high level so I suppose the absence of some of these would indicate low levels.

I suppose we would have to guess.

When I think of no coumadin I am thinking about a national emergency of some sort. If that were the case we would be unable to get any of the things we have mentioned. The ones we don't normally have on hand.

Where do we get natto and certain chinese herbs or tonka beans or coumarin vanilla in a hurry.

Would we be looking silly to purchase some of these items.

Whose guess about how much aspirin would help the situation?

 

[ALCapshaw2]

With the recent discussion about yearly supplies of Warfarin etc. I have a question. If all of a sudden one could not get Warfarin what measures would you need to take? In other words what would you eat/do to try and offset the lack of Warfarin? I know you would stop eating anything green but just curious about the other steps to take…………I know, I know this will never happen (I hope)…..just curious.

One could stock up on Anti-Coagulant RAT POISON, then watch for signs of an overdose such as Peeing RED or a Bloody Nose, or Bloody Stools. It would be like going back to the days before INR testing became the standard :-(

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Missy]

Rat poison is probably the best idea I have heard. BRAND NAMES ANYONE just in case.......
That should be relatively easy to come by even in an emergency.

 

[Gnusgal]

Um, doesn't Rat Poison have little shards of glass in it or something? To make the rats bleed to death (since we all know that just having the blood "thinned" does not make us bleed). I could be totally wrong, of course, but I don't think that's such a good idea, personally. I'll stick with my stash.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I haven't read all the posts, so this might have already been suggested. Mosquitoes inject small amounts of an anticoagulant before they steal your blood, so if we could find enough mosquitoes, we might all be okay!

 

[Isis]

I haven't read all the posts, so this might have already been suggested. Mosquitoes inject small amounts of an anticoagulant before they steal your blood, so if we could find enough mosquitoes, we might all be okay!

I've got just the place for massive amounts of mosquitoes; my guest bedroom. In the event of a national shortage of coumadin everybody is invited to stay over as my "guests". Just keep the bedroom door shut, I don't want the damn things in my room.