FAQs

Some side effects of anticoagulants are bleeding and bruising – so be careful with blood trauma and hitting your head, knee, etc. If you have hemorrhoids, you might bleed more.

Similar to a home device to prick your finger to measure glucose, home monitoring for warfarin consists of a small device used to measure your INR with a finger stick as opposed to going to the lab and having blood drawn from a vein in your arm.

International Normalized Ratio (INR) is the specific blood test used to measure the time it takes for blood to form a blood clot. This is called a prothrombin time test, or protime (PT). The PT is reported as the International Normalized Ratio (INR). The INR is a calculation based on results of a PT test and is used to monitor individuals who are being treated with the anticoagulation medication warfarin. INR tests are used instead of the PT because the INR is corrected for the strength of your blood clotting tissue. INR is also used to standardize the method used across all labs to lead to the most accurate results.

• If a person’s INR is too low, blood clots may not be prevented
• If a person’s INR is too high, they may experience uncontrolled or dangerous bleeding.

A balanced, healthy diet is always recommended, of course, but you can eat what you normally enjoy if you do so consistently. It is okay, and encouraged, to make the change to a healthier diet if you work with your healthcare provider to monitor your INR and make sure that you are becoming consistent with your diet. Some of the healthiest foods that you can eat, including foods like broccoli and spinach, are high in vitamin K. You might read or be told that you need to be aware of your vitamin K intake, because vitamin K can interfere with how warfarin works or that it will make it less effective. It’s always very important to understand how different things, like food, might affect how your medication works. However, if you eat these very healthy foods that are rich in vitamin K consistently – in the same amounts over time with no sudden changes – you can enjoy the wonderful nutritional benefits they provide as part of a healthy diet. You should talk with your healthcare provider before making any changes in what you eat. Most doctors would rather change your dose of anticoagulant than your diet.

Changes in perception of hot and cold are highly individual, but the thickness or viscosity of our blood has nothing to do with how we experience the temperature, therefore an association does not seem definitive.

Yes, It’s a known side effect of all anticoagulants but mainly with warfarin. To fix this, you would usually switch to another class of anticoagulant if the hair loss does not improve. Occasionally Coenzyme Q can help if the hair loss is warfarin related.

Vitamin E is a mild anticoagulant, and doses more than 400 units should be avoided.

Share your medical history with your doctor or medical team, make sure they know what anticoagulant you are on and that there is a plan in place to help prevent blood clots when you are in the hospital and when you return home. You need to see your doctor at least two weeks before surgery. Depending upon whether the surgery is major, or minor will determine the strategy for managing your anticoagulants. If the surgery is minor the doctor may not stop your anticoagulation at all. If the surgery is major, you will have to be removed temporarily. If a blood clot was 3+ months ago, generally anticoagulants will be stopped (most are 48 hours in advance) and can be started again after the surgery. Some patients are okay being off their anticoagulant and some are not. Most of the time a plan for surgery is made by assessing a patient’s risk factors. Check out NBCA’s pre-surgery checklist for hip and knee replacement patients. Learn more about managing anticoagulants before, during, and after medical procedures. General guidelines have been made that everyone is put on a low dose of anticoagulants for 2 weeks after a knee replacement, one month after a hip replacement, and variable times after hip fractures. Blood clot risk increases with anything that involved trauma or orthopedics.

Anticoagulants can be stopped without any change in dose. Their effect lasts only for a few days.

Patients can get tired of taking any medicine. This is a decision you should talk to your doctor about, because stopping your anticoagulant increases your risk of stroke and developing another blood clot.