A Coeliac’s Questions About Warfarin
My cardiologist, reckons that if I can keep to the Warfarin regime, then I won’t have another stroke and his advice is also reflected by other doctors.
I also asked my stroke doctor about the new drugs coming in, more out of curiosity than anything else, and it seemed he was not in favour of them, because we’re still uncertain about the long-term effects of the new drugs.
Of late though, I’ve been feeling wretched a lot of the time, with what is best described as flu-like symptoms and a very itchy skin, a rash and bad dandruff in my beard, just like I used to have before I went gluten-free. My toenails are bad and brittle although my fingernails have improved since Christmas.
I had put it all down to North London’s version of man-flu and the general cold and bad weather. Athough on some trips out of London, like the one to Barnsley, I seemed to feel better.
So I looked up the Mayo Clinic’s web site on Warfarin side effects. I’m not a great one for some health web sites, but this one is generally fairly reliable.
But it did seem that some of my problems could be down to the Warfarin. On the other hand they may not be.
But I think I might make one or two modifications to my lifestyle and go and see my doctor and my dentist, as some of my pain may be down to a tooth, I broke thirty years ago. It hadn’t given me much trouble until the stroke.
One modification I have made is to make the house cooler. This seems to have improved the flu-like symptoms, but my feet are now colder. And I’ve never ever worn slippers and won’t start now!
So it’ll be interesting to see how things work out.
One question though, is what is the best time to take Warfarin? I ask this as I normally take it about six in the evening and the itch seemed to get bad after I took it yesterday.
The Anonymous Widower 
There are actually a few possibilities – firstly and most importanly, if this is new since you moved, and improves when you turn the heating down, get the carbon monoxide levels checked out by your gas provider, this happened to my mother, and it was linked to a tiny tiny leak in the gas supply raising the CO levels a little.
Secondly, could it be a change in the water between Suffolk and London if you are feeling itchy? Or an increase in air pollution?
Comment by liz | February 17, 2011 |
I get these symptoms mainly from Diary.
Comment by Paul | February 17, 2011 |
Husband on warfarin many years… he says there was some reason that he was recommended to take warfarin c 6pm with evening meal. He suffers greatly from cold partly also due to thyroid probs but also side effect of warfarin I believe. Oh slippers and bedsox, why not? As celiac, my nail condition disimproved but am not back on oats so hope it helps.
Comment by Anne | February 17, 2011 |