I want to know if the drug Coumadin, has side effects?

Answer 1

My partner takes 4-5mg each day and has done so for 4 years. The worst side effect she suffers is the inability to regulate her body heat. She freezes in winter and can't cool down in summer.

The second worst side effect is that if she's in direct sunlight longer than 15 minutes her skin kind of blisters because her blood boils and bursts through her skin.

Other side effects include:
- if her International Normalised Ratio (INR) levels exceed 3 she can bleed internally without much trauma and she'll have spontaneous nosebleeds. With nosebleeds you need an immediate hit of vitamin K to reduce INR or else you can have major internal bleeding problems.
- if her INR falls below 2 she's at a great risk of clots in her heart, brain & lungs.
- when she get sick, her body takes longer to recover and quite often it's hard to even move out of bed - even a cold hits her like a rock.

It has successfully prevented any fatal pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in lungs is why she started taking it) but at 25 years old she's youngest of her haemotologist's and lung specialist's patients by about 40 years. Unfortunately in young patients the full extent of side effects is not known and therefore not documented so they keep a pretty close eye on her.

I can say that you should avoid aspirin and ibuprofen medicines. You can't take many antibotics, really only cephalexin, e-myacin or rulide - but pick your pharmicists brain on any other interactions with medicines. Keep a uniform intake of vitamin k (like in green veges) and maintain coumadin levels to combat it (vit K thickens your blood). Don't take it during pregnancy. Clexane is good until around 8 months then change to Heparin, whose clotting effects last only 8 hrs. However clexane and heparin cause early osteoperosis, which coumadin as far as we know, doesn't

please note that the RN is not a haemotologist nor a GP, and yes blood cannot *boil*, however that was the most layman description they could offer for the unique condition where her skin blisters due to the blood's sensitivity of heat.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Yes. Hemorrhage, symptoms of hemorrhage include headache, paralysis, pain in joints, stomach or chest, difficulty breathing, or swallowing. Swelling, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sore mouth, jaundice, dermatitis, urticaria, alopecia, necrosis of the skin, red orange urine. now that you are terrified know this manufacturers have to list every known side effect even if it presents in a small percent of patients due to legal problems. The most usual side effects are bleeding gums, after brushing teeth, and bruising. Patients on coumadin are to have lab work done at regular intervals to check the PT levels. From my experience as a nurse coumadin dosages are changed regularly as results of the labs change. This drug is an anticoagulant and slows clotting time and is given to post stroke or post heart attack patients. It is a very help full drug for these conditions but patients should never increase or decrease the dosage without doctors orders. As dangerous side effects could occur. Lots of medications both prescription and over the counter can increase or decrease coumadins actions in the body so always consult your doctor before taking any other medications. This drug has been beneficial in millions of patients and is safe as long as taken as directed. I read another answer and you should know that your blood cannot boil!

Answer 3

I have been on Coumadin since May of this year . I have noticed side effects .I also found out it is nothing more than arsenic.(rat poison) The side effects I have noticed are hair loss ,bruising ,hemmoragh.It affects a womans menstruation also the first month i took it , I bled a bed pan full of blood . I know it was ths because I quit it and everything went back to normal. My dr says sometimes we have to deal with the side effects to conquer conditions that are more severe . I dont like it but If I wanna live I have to take it ,I had a stroke,due to a blood clot going to my brain and was having severe headaches , but now that I am on 8mg on 3 days and 7mg on 4 days ,My side effects have reduced .I hope this helps if not here is a useful link .
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682277.html

Answer 4

Yes, it is a blood thinner. Here is a list of side effects/contraindications for Coumadin :

http://www.drugs.com/Coumadin/index.html

http://www.healthcentral.com/druglibrary/408/coumadin-overdosage_contraindications.html

Answer 5

it has many side efects but the most common one coumadin inactivates Factor 2-5-7-9 this reaction prevents blood clothing

Answer 6

ALL drugs have side effects! See link for info.

PS the other name for it is Warfarin!

Answer 7

try cps manual
but why take it