A word about Warfarin / Coumadin

Hey its Josh, I have had several questions about "blood thinners" lately and thought I would dedicate a post to some of these questions. Coumadin is taken to prevent blood from clotting within the vessels. If and when these clots form, everything down stream from the clot starves. If the heart is downstream we call it a heart attack, when the brain is down stream its a stroke.

So why don't people take their medication? Well no one wants to take a pill, its like admitting your sick or have a problem. And then... there is the history of this medication. It was originally used as a rat poison. The logic I sometimes hear is "If they use it to poison rats, how can it possibly help me?" Lets all remember that the "dose makes the poison". To much table salt or even water can cause death too. So this brings up the other reason people don't like to take this medication, the monitoring. This medication MUST be monitored. Many people see their doctor every couple weeks to have a simple blood test and their dose adjusted. This is done to keep the drug in a "therapeutic level" not a toxic or ineffective level.


Some patients try to go on and off their medication. I believe they think they can just use it when they need it. Sadly no one can tell when they are going to have a stroke or a heart attack or a pulmonary embolism. Coumadin takes about three days to start working, and within those three days it can temporarily increase the clotting risk. In addition this medication does not dissolve clots, it only prevents them. In other words once you have a problem it is to late.

I guess it comes down to this, taking this medication is not convenient BUT it is effective. That has been proven time and time again.