Coumadin and drinking

[milldoggy]

All,
Just had a series of severe PE(blood clots in the lungs). Been a long hard week. I was over in Spain went I started feeling pain. Waited it out two days till my flight home and as soon as I landed went to the hospital. Finally got released yesterday from the hospital. I now have to take Coumadin for at least 6 months, maybe for life. I have done some reading on drinking and Coumadin and a drink or two seems ok, still not recommended, but I wanted to see if anyone else on the forum was on an anticoagulant. I am staying away from drinking till all my clots clear and my coumadin levels stabilize. If you have any experience, would love to hear it.

Thanks!

 

[burdbrew]

I too had PE. Scary stuff.

I felt like it took me less to catch a buzz. Take it easy, especially at first.

I was always cold.

 

[milldoggy]

I have horrible night sweats.

 

[revolutioned]

I'm in nursing school,and drinking is counter indicated with that med. you should never be afraid to ask your doctor. Good luck on that.

 

[JonM]

Ask your MD, physicians' asst., etc. - not a bunch of anonymous jokers on the internets. (I'm really not trying to be a smartass or anything.)

 

[bigbeergeek]

I had an irregular heartbeat for 6 days last year and was prescribed Coumadin for a month to prevent clotting from blood pooling in my heart. I never took so much as a sip for my entire Coumadin cycle or for a few days afterword. I was tested every so often to ensure my blood was thinned to the levels the doctors wanted. Given how hard it is to keep your blood thinness correct without alcohol (diet has a big effect on the effectiveness of Coumadin), I'd steer clear of booze. You don't want serious medical complications to arise from catching a damn buzz.

 

[Franco]

Coumadin makes the cells responsible for clotting more slippery, and they don't want to stick together, so it reduces the chance for more blood clots.. the problem is, alcohol does the same thing. There are many bad, bad things that happen when your blood is "too thin" like severe bruising, uncontrolled bleeding.. etc.

I had a friend who was on coumadin for a long time after a brain injury. After a few months, he was OK'd for one or two beers a week. Most likely, if you're healthy otherwise and don't develop more clots you'll be off the coumadin after awhile..

The moral of the story is - alcohol does some of the same things as coumadin, so you should've been drunk on the plane as preventative medicine

 

[usfmikeb]

This was mentioned in an earlier post, but the problem with Coumadin is that you need to routinely adjust the dosage because different factors can lead to it either overthinning or underthinning your blood. I used to have to get a PT/INR every week when I was on Coumadin, and they were constantly jockeying my dosage around. I had a conversation with my doctor about it, and they shifted me to Pradaxa, where you don't have to deal with the same issues, to the same degree. Talk to your doctor, be upfront about beign a brewer, and ask him/her if there are other opstions.

 

[milldoggy]

Thanks everyone. I have an apt with my hemotologist on Tuesday and I will discuss the issue. I will let her know I am a brewer.

 

[Franco]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.