Thursday, 24 March 2011

About Warfarin

In the knowledge that I'm going to be on the drug for the rest of my life, its time to research the drug.  Here's my understanding:

Warfarin is often called a blood thinner, which is a ridiculous misnomer.   No matter how much you take, your blood stays exactly the same consistency, looks the same, and largely acts the same.  This concept is very misleading and has caused patients to make incorrect decisions through fear of the drug.

I thought that I would have to be more careful with knives after being on the drug, because if I cut myself i would keep bleeding longer than before.  Mostly nonsense!  I can report that cutting myself heals in more or less the same time as anyone else.

Quite simply, Warfarin inhibits the clotting of the blood.  It does this by slowing the Liver's production of an enzyme that clots the blood.  It's sort of "antodote" is vitamin K.  This means that the drug takes time to work - if you take a dose now, it will be several days before it's done much.

The thing is... the blood actually has more than one technique up its sleeve for repairing damage.  One is called "Platelets".  I think of these as little sticking plasters in the blood.  These only work when shown oxygen - essentially if you cut yourself these little guys patch up the hole.  This differs to the clotting that Warfarin inhibits, which doesn't require outside exposure.

This means that when on Warfarin you are more vulnerable to internal injury, bruising, hematomas, and that kind of thing - much more so than cuts.

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