Warfarin causes dementia?

[wondo]

warfarin causes:

• hair loss
• erectile dysfunction
• wrinkles
• feeling the cold
• feeling hot
• greying of hair
• ...

now sadly the reality is that warfarin is one of the longest prescribed drugs in modern medicine and is the target of every pharma who wants to kill off a 1c per pill drug to replace it with a $10per pill drug.

Somehow despite all that motivation they just can't find the evidence.

Can you provide citations for any of this? As far as I can tell, these are all symptoms of getting older, which would definitely coincide with needing a valve surgery. I have not been able to find anything relating warfarin to pretty much anything you listed above.

 

[Superman]

Can you provide citations for any of this? As far as I can tell, these are all symptoms of getting older, which would definitely coincide with needing a valve surgery. I have not been able to find anything relating warfarin to pretty much anything you listed above.

Citations? I got anecdotal evidence of at least three of those. I ain’t saying which ones though

 

[wondo]

Citations? I got anecdotal evidence of at least three of those. I ain’t saying which ones though

But can you see how anecdotal evidence could confuse the cause of say, hair loss? Just because you happen to started taking warfarin at the same time your hair started falling out, doesn't make them necessarily related to one another. This highlights the importance of controlled clinical trials for this sort of thing, and again, there doesn't seem to be any real evidence confirming the symptoms listed above.

There is so much misinformation out there these days, and it's everyone's responsibility to make sure that you are repeating credible facts. Especially with such a sensitive topic like valve replacement. Just because someone told you something once, or twice even, doesn't necessarily make it true and something that should be repeated to others.

 

[pellicle]

Can you provide citations for any of this? As far as I can tell, these are all symptoms of getting older, which would definitely coincide with needing a valve surgery. I have not been able to find anything relating warfarin to pretty much anything you listed above.

no because its a joke; irony .. its a list of the things the various posters here over the years have expressed concern with; which as I follow up saying despite years of usage nobody can substantiate any of that.

Indeed the biggest problem is not warfarin its getting older (some people seem however to still imagine they are 25 but merely look 50, or 60 or ...

 

[Zoltania]

Write on the chalkboard one hundred times: "Correlation does not imply causation."

Randall Munroe of xkcd said it well: Correlation

 

[Superman]

And the loss of ones sense of humor too!

no because its a joke; irony .. its a list of the things the various posters here over the years have expressed concern with; which as I follow up saying despite years of usage nobody can substantiate any of that.

Indeed the biggest problem is not warfarin its getting older (some people seem however to still imagine they are 25 but merely look 50, or 60 or ...

Jokes are no fun when you have to ‘splain ‘em.

 

[wondo]

no because its a joke; irony .. its a list of the things the various posters here over the years have expressed concern with; which as I follow up saying despite years of usage nobody can substantiate any of that.

Indeed the biggest problem is not warfarin its getting older (some people seem however to still imagine they are 25 but merely look 50, or 60 or ...

I see, thanks for taking the time to explain that. I recently got thrust into the middle of all of this, and navigating the mountain of information/misinformation has been hard. I've been a little defensive lately.

 

[dick0236]

........ I recently got thrust into the middle of all of this, and navigating the mountain of information/misinformation has been hard..

Welcome wondo. Navigating thru the maze of information/misinformation can be difficult. I believe that you will find the info posted on this site to be very useful in reducing the fear of this surgery and living life afterwards.

 

[pellicle]

Hi

I recently got thrust into the middle of all of this, and navigating the mountain of

it can be a lot. So some time back I put this blog post together which I feel is a good summary

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2014/09/managing-my-inr.html
this subsequent post works through an example:

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2015/10/managing-my-inr-example.html
feel free to reach out if you have any questions or just wanted to discuss the whole shebang.

 

[pellicle]

And the loss of ones sense of humor too!

Jokes are no fun when you have to ‘splain ‘em.

the internet can be a difficult place, and I can say (especially with the real darth of new blood for quite a while here) that I've started writing as if the readers here know me and my ways. Its sort of like I feel I know some of you too ;-)

 

[Superman]

I see, thanks for taking the time to explain that. I recently got thrust into the middle of all of this, and navigating the mountain of information/misinformation has been hard. I've been a little defensive lately.

Apologies. Not the friendliest welcome on my part. Some of us have been at this a long time and can be a little jaded.

 

[carolinemc]

I had an artificial aortic valve installed in 2007 at Brigham & Women's in Boston. Now that I'm getting a little older, it seems that I've become a little more forgetful. Yesterday just for the hell of it I googled "warfarin" and "dementia" and it seems recent research indicates that long-term warfarin use can cause dementia if (an important "if") your INR is either too high or too low. Anybody heard anything about this? I've had a busload of doctors over the years and not one has ever mentioned that possibility.

Warfarin is just guessed at cause if you are cardiac patient and taking it, it becomes the easy target. There are other reasons for what you are going through, mostly if you are older like 50 plus, it is normal. If there is a family history of dementia, you might want to get evaluated, but get the meds you are on checked first. For some meds will mess up the other meds and cause forgetfulness. Hope you are doing better in this. Many reasons and causes and reasons to get meds and the body checked out.

 

[carolinemc]

At 72, Medicare will pay for you to home test. Two beers should not effect your INR, it may be something else (e.g. no vitamin K foods in your diet that week, too long between tests.) Having an INR of 6.2, but not letting you home test is unusual. Maybe he would let you if you had someone you live with help out with the testing. You might want to think of finding a younger cardiologist as well, older doctors can suffer from cognitive difficulties too

Don't forget that cognitive difficulties can be caused by living past 60, the age at which you become medically "elderly." Everyone who lives suffers from cognitive problems as they get older. It's normal and not a "disorder".

For Medicare to pay, don't you need to be signed up for the meds thing. I am still new to Medicare and will be getting some help this year. Not qualified yet for Medicaid. Although we just got our expansion of Medicaid in Missouri.

 

[carolinemc]

Perfect.
Myself I was sampling two whiskies tonight
View attachment 887404

Lovely stuff



Hard to be sure that was the cause.

Sorry to hear you've been stripped of the right to self test.

Best wishes

Mine is Black Label Jack Daniels and Root beer, yes infant steps for me. LOL!

 

[carolinemc]

I don’t see a mechanism how warfarin could create dementia itself. Poor INR control leads to increased stroke risk. Multiple small strokes can create vascular dementia. However, in the situation of good INR control, I suspect that warfarin may have some modest benefit by preventing clots forming in the arteries leading to or in the brain. Can’t say that I have noticed a journal article addressing this question.

There are many causes for dementia, too many meds that counteract each other, illness like Diabetes, of which I have also, and family genes. Always be proactive and keep researching. We are all in this together.

 

[carolinemc]

I’ve also experienced weight gain, weight loss, and unexpected children over the last 30 years on Warfarin! Scary stuff! And I’m still a couple years away from 50. The horror!

Feeling hot like hot flashes, that would have been me going through the change or diabetes fighting me, or the heatwaves. LOL!

 

[carolinemc]

warfarin causes:

• hair loss
• erectile dysfunction
• wrinkles
• feeling the cold
• feeling hot
• greying of hair
• ...

now sadly the reality is that warfarin is one of the longest prescribed drugs in modern medicine and is the target of every pharma who wants to kill off a 1c per pill drug to replace it with a $10per pill drug.

Somehow despite all that motivation they just can't find the evidence.

I have been going through the change for 5 years and no night sweats. Hair loss is also caused by my metformin for diabetes, cold happens in the winter, feeling hot when I go into a certain store that keeps the air off.

 

[carolinemc]

I started off quite intrigued by the question, because most recently of course there has been more news about the benefits of being on Warfarin as a possibly protective medication if you are unfortunate enough to get Covid-19. Indeed I was starting to wonder if a low level dose of Warfarin would be sensible for all older people to take anyway to help reduce the risk of strokes. However, I then thought "what would I do if this is correct?" Am I going to stop taking Warfarin? Am I going to switch to an alternative? Well, for mechanical valves there currently is no alternative, and so the answer to both questions is "no", and my takeaway from this is to reinforce the importance of staying in therapeutic range - another reason that I am glad to be able to test my INR weekly with a home meter.

There are plenty of other potential causes of dementia and if this is added to the list I am not sure where in the risk level it would come but I think I need to increase my exercise level and improve my diet!

They are now saying that it may help us with the Virus. I don't and do not want to find out. But also they say the Flu shot might also be a help. Who knows. Covid-19 is a tricky Virus.

 

[carolinemc]

I had an artificial aortic valve installed in 2007 at Brigham & Women's in Boston. Now that I'm getting a little older, it seems that I've become a little more forgetful. Yesterday just for the hell of it I googled "warfarin" and "dementia" and it seems recent research indicates that long-term warfarin use can cause dementia if (an important "if") your INR is either too high or too low. Anybody heard anything about this? I've had a busload of doctors over the years and not one has ever mentioned that possibility.

That is cause you are looking up out of date information. Too many meds can cause dementia, damage to the brain can cause dementia. Diabetes can cause dementia. We have so many other choices to go with. So sad.

 

[Yankeeman2]

Warfarin is just guessed at cause if you are cardiac patient and taking it, it becomes the easy target. There are other reasons for what you are going through, mostly if you are older like 50 plus, it is normal. If there is a family history of dementia, you might want to get evaluated, but get the meds you are on checked first. For some meds will mess up the other meds and cause forgetfulness. Hope you are doing better in this. Many reasons and causes and reasons to get meds and the body checked out.