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flipperclot 
Hi all, Well had my first "minor" bleeding episode that landed me in the ER last night. Yesterday morning at about 9:30 had a tooth surgically removed under sedation. Was told I didn't have to switch out to lovenox or hold my Coumadin -they would place some sort of material to stop bleeding and suture it in place. I was told to expect oozing for the next 4-6 hours, was to put an ice pack on my face every other 1/2 hour, and bite down an a wet gauze pad for the first 30-90 min. Did that, got home, drank a milshaje, and laid down to take a nap -was told not to go to sleep with guaze in my mouth or I might chike on it. Needless to say, I woke up with a mouth full of blood and a huge blood clot dangling from my site -still bleeding arounf the edge. Called the Dr. office. They told me to wipe away the clot hanging down, and bite doen on a teabag for 30 min -the tannic acid may help stop the bleeding, then gauze after that and stay upright until it stopped bleeding. It was now around 3 -I was told the dr. would call me later on at night.
6:30 -no phone call, still bleeding. My INR was 2.4 last evening, 2.3 now. I called the oral surgeon. He said to go to the ER. Called my regular PCP -he said not to take my Coumadin dose, and to check my level tomorrow, and if it was under 2 to do Lovenox, but to continue to hold the Coumadin on Saturday as well. Said I should go to the ER too.
Went to the ER. When I finally got to a bed, the girl says -so you have a tooth ache? I said no, I had a tooth surgically removed and am on anticoagulants and it won'r stop bleeding, so I was told to come here from my doctors. Oh, she says. Not long after a nice ER doc came and looked. He said he would put a coagulating agent, Thrombin, on the site, and also draw some lab work to make sure my monitor was accurate and my hemaglobin wasn't dropping. Another hour later -my INR was 2.2 -monitor OK, hemaglobin -OK at 14-probaly dehydrated from my standpoint , but still OK. Another hour -placed liquid thrombin on a dental sponge and had me bite on it for 10 min. -still bleeding, bite on gauze while a thrombin sponge is ordered from pharmacy. Another hour later, thrombin sponge cut and placed -yeah -no bleeding -for a whole 10 minutes.
Doc came back- it was up to me -I could stay if it made me feel better, or I could go home -as it wasn't life threatening bleeding- just more of an annoyance at this point, my INR was low therapeutic. I asked if I had done the wrong thing by coming in -since I was told to. He said No, that it needed to be checked out, but that he thougth that I could safely manage it at home. So, came homeat about 2:00 am. Still a little bit of bleeding this am, my mouth was full of clots and tasted like iron this morning -my tongue was all blood tinged and nasty. I still taste blood, but can't actually see active bleeding. My INR tonighr is 2.4. I thought it would go down, but I haven't been drinking much, so am probably dehydrated some. So tomorrow I will start my Coumadin again and see what happens.
The oral surgeon called back this morning to check on me. He was surprised they didn't reverse the Coumadin. The ER doc said that the risk of PE was more life threatening than the bleeding I was experienceing -and I agree. I was just surprised that there was all the bleeding with my INR being low normal range. So that's my story and I am sticking to it! No wonder my legs look like someone beat me up all the time. Blessings, Teri
Posted on 01/24/09, 10:01 pm
6:30 -no phone call, still bleeding. My INR was 2.4 last evening, 2.3 now. I called the oral surgeon. He said to go to the ER. Called my regular PCP -he said not to take my Coumadin dose, and to check my level tomorrow, and if it was under 2 to do Lovenox, but to continue to hold the Coumadin on Saturday as well. Said I should go to the ER too.
Went to the ER. When I finally got to a bed, the girl says -so you have a tooth ache? I said no, I had a tooth surgically removed and am on anticoagulants and it won'r stop bleeding, so I was told to come here from my doctors. Oh, she says. Not long after a nice ER doc came and looked. He said he would put a coagulating agent, Thrombin, on the site, and also draw some lab work to make sure my monitor was accurate and my hemaglobin wasn't dropping. Another hour later -my INR was 2.2 -monitor OK, hemaglobin -OK at 14-probaly dehydrated from my standpoint , but still OK. Another hour -placed liquid thrombin on a dental sponge and had me bite on it for 10 min. -still bleeding, bite on gauze while a thrombin sponge is ordered from pharmacy. Another hour later, thrombin sponge cut and placed -yeah -no bleeding -for a whole 10 minutes.
Doc came back- it was up to me -I could stay if it made me feel better, or I could go home -as it wasn't life threatening bleeding- just more of an annoyance at this point, my INR was low therapeutic. I asked if I had done the wrong thing by coming in -since I was told to. He said No, that it needed to be checked out, but that he thougth that I could safely manage it at home. So, came homeat about 2:00 am. Still a little bit of bleeding this am, my mouth was full of clots and tasted like iron this morning -my tongue was all blood tinged and nasty. I still taste blood, but can't actually see active bleeding. My INR tonighr is 2.4. I thought it would go down, but I haven't been drinking much, so am probably dehydrated some. So tomorrow I will start my Coumadin again and see what happens.
The oral surgeon called back this morning to check on me. He was surprised they didn't reverse the Coumadin. The ER doc said that the risk of PE was more life threatening than the bleeding I was experienceing -and I agree. I was just surprised that there was all the bleeding with my INR being low normal range. So that's my story and I am sticking to it! No wonder my legs look like someone beat me up all the time. Blessings, Teri
Posted on 01/24/09, 10:01 pm
