coumodin use`

[TURK114]

Recently, my father in law had a stroke. He s been on coumodin for about 12 yrs for his heart rythm or irregular heart beat. Over the past winter he had trouble swallowing, {IE food seemed to get stuck in his esophagus}. I took him to hospital where he visited a stomach and throat specialist.He was scheduled for a camera test down his throat, and was told he d have to cease taking coumodin 5 days in advance b/4 the scan which he did stop taking. while looking through old papers which I found in his home, I came across an old paper which he was given when he first started taking coumodin/warfarin which stated. [ if you should miss a dose of coumodin don t double up, and if you miss 2 doses, immediately contact your doctor. Reguardless, a stomach doctor told him to miss 5 doses. My question is shouldn t my father in law have been given something else over the 5 days which he had to miss his coumodin dose????  He had the stroke about 2 weeks after missing the coumodin, and I was told that his coumodin was out of wack, possibly causing a blood clot. A nurse at the hospital asked me if he was given a needle for blood thinning up to the day of the operation on his throat. Is there a substitute when you are off your coumodin for 5 days???

thanks....

[RNRita]

Also, a PT and INR blood test could have been done previously for consideration as to how long he REALLY needed to be off of the drug.

[RNRita]

Hi.  Your father is on coumadin for a-fib, I suspect.  I work as a nurse in a surgical center and before certain surgeries the patient must stop coumadin for a specific amount of time.  However, he should ALWAYS clear this with his cardiologist because coumadin is imperative to preventing blood clots in people with a-fib.  Once we had a woman who only stopped hers for two days (at the advice of her doctor-son) and the surgeon did the surgery anyway without excessive bleeding.  So, yes, it is possible that he got the clot from being off coumadin.  The do NOT give you heparin shots to take home, though, so I am not sure why someone asked if he had his blood thinning shot on the day of surgery.