warfarin

I was watching Mysteries At the Museum last nigh with my kids and the origin of warren was on. Never knew it started out when the clover that cows ate became moldy and they died. Then in the 40's it was manufactured as a rat poison. That's when i said, and yup, I take that every day. My oldest was a little surprised and said, you take rat poison? Basically. They found out that it 'thinned' blood when a soldier tried to committed suicide by ingesting it and didn't die but they found out why.

5 Comments

Be careful Shell

by IAN MC - 2015-06-27 01:06:35

Don't let your pet rat anywhere near your warfarin tablets , and equally important cut down on the mouldy clover part of your diet

It is all to do with dosage as you know , massive doses of warfarin , or of any blood-thinner , will kill a rat. It causes hemorragic stroke i.e. bleeding in the rat's brain. If you decided to swallow a month's supply of warfarin ( or any other blood thinner ) in one go your fate would be the same but at normal doses you are fine.

Someone once told me that a single aspirin tablet could kill a horse; i must look that up to see if it's true !

I worked in research in the pharmaceutical industry and one of my favourite definitions of a drug was " any chemical compound which, when injected into a rat, produces a published paper "

Keep taking the tablets !

Ian

Ian

by Shell - 2015-06-27 03:06:28

My son would actually love a pet rat. (and I wouldn't mind either. Use to have pet mice) Think I can do without the clover,

I've been taking warfarin for years and prob will the rest of my life so I did know what it was originally used for, just they didn't. (and didn't know about the cows) I'm just happy that after my last INR test I can wait 4 weeks. Lately I've been going weekly.

stopping

by Shell - 2015-07-01 04:07:26

I've been on blood thinners a couple different times and both times it was for blood clots. The first time I had a stroke in 1994 and I was on them for about 6 months and then the doctor let me get off them and just take an aspirin a day. About 10 years ago they found another clot so my cardiologist put me back on it. I asked if I'd ever be able to get off it and he said probably not because that one was found near my heart. This was before I received my 1st pacemaker.

Anticoagulants

by 0300hours - 2015-07-01 08:07:51

My daughter is a cardiac nurse. Her hospital requires frequent continuing education sessions. She attended one on atrial fibrillation by a cardiologist-researcher who said that all rate control therapies improve quality of life for AF patients, but only properly dosed anti coagulation has proven to prolong life. Her take-away message was that ablation and rate/rhythm control meds are great, but don't stop taking anticoagulants.

I disagree with your daughter slightly

by IAN MC - 2015-07-01 11:07:49

If ablation cures a heart arrythmia and normal sinus rhythm is restored, there is absolutely no point in carrying on taking anticoagulants !

I still remember those magic words from my cardiologist after a successful ablation " You can stop taking warfarin now " so I haven't need take it for 4 years.

If atrial flutter or fibrillation were to return I would go back on warfarin but why risk its side effects if there is no need for it ?

Ian

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