Please don't stop the warfarin. Please talk with your doctor about this. If you were put on warfarin for DVT it is very dangerous to stop it without the doctor telling you to. If you are still early on it could be the swelling from the pooled blood that is making you weigh more.

When you have a clot warfarin keeps you from forming new clots which can travel to your lungs as a pulmonary embolism and can kill you. Please please talk with your doctor before taking such a drastic step.

I know I have dvt and pe. I can't take this warfarin. It puts a ton of weight on me! And I can't think and I get very tired. It's no good. Pray for me!

Absolutely - talk to your doctor. More importantly than stopping the therapy that could be keeping you alive, you may be experiencing an unusual reaction or suffering a completely unrelated condition.

I could not find any reliable resource that indicated weight gain as a side effect. Among the listed side effects on my medication fact sheet that came with my discharge papers from the hosptial include nausea, vomiting, upset stomach. That experience over a long period of time causes most of us to lose weight.

Tough it out until you can talk to your doctor.

The first month or so I was on Coumadin I looked as though I had gained weight, specifically in my tummy area. I was just bloated like crazzzzy, but not like the normal bloating I was used to. I was like, noooooooooo! Not sure how much the scale went up cuz my scale at the time was broke tho... But, it eventually subsided. I just had a baby in January but since I've been on Coumadin (Marchish) I've lost 20 lbs, in fact, I am back to my pre-baby weight. I work out lightly and eat pretty well, although I have my moments... Like my doc said, you could always switch back to Lovenox shots, but that comes with the crazy bruises, so, I guess it would be up to you! :) Good luck...

I can't accept the weight gain. I think warfarin messes up the gastrointestinal fuctioning and somehow slows it down and increases the carb retention and absorbtion. You'll never get that from anyone not the drug co a dr noone but too many people are gaining weird fat and too much weight. I think it's seriously something wrong with this med. Sure I don't want to have strokes, clots, be paralized, etc. But what can I do? Ok not gonna get morbidly obese.

I have tried to diet a couple of times and can't seem to lose a pound! I am currently 10 lbs over wieght since being on coumadin. I hate it! I know its probly keeping me alive, but I hate how it makes me feel and what the neg side effects do to me. Hate it!

Hi stinky I know the warfarin is terrible side effects. The gastrointestinal effects are horrendous. It blows out your kidneys liver brain function, joint function, lung/voice function, etc. It's really an obscene med with that many serious side effects to your organs plus the weight gain/bloating. Short term 3-6,8 months it's doable. Lifelong it's a horrible med. I almost died twice just on it 3 mos, hit my head on garage door almost bled to death. Cut my finger cut don't heal properly, it is infected and god knows if it'll heal. Bleeding risk is so real. So I know of so many platelet thinning natural things such as policosanol, gingko, arginine, Ginger, garlic, coq10, tumeruc, omega3, lumbrokinase, natto, green tea, etc. But, noone has done any serious double blind studies so we don't know plus the anticoagulant nutrients are nowhere near as powerful as warfarin so I guess it's a choice do you want to live and slwly screw up the rest of your body or do you want to tanks a big chance on unproven therapies? I know of a doctor in irvine I my see her. She has experience with some alternatives. Remember, there are two functions of our therapy. Number 1 us the anticoagulant and number 2 is the antiplatelet stickiness. They're two important things. Noone I know except for whittiker wellness in Newport beach and dr Connely in irvine are holistic in their approach. Only thing I get from my dr is either take the warfarin, or the injection arikstra daily (it's a cheaper lovenox)! It's frustrating but I'm not giving up for better meds better alternatives!

I spoke candidly with my physician about the weight gain on warfarin.....I recognize my endurance with working out since my DVT and lower leg valve damage (which inhibits me to a greater degree) is not what it used to be, but I have used weight management systems religiously xobined with exercise and lost 5 lbs. period over 20 months....My doctor's response was (holding up two hands like weights on a scale)...."It's your choice....Death OR weight gain...you have no option. Yes, I am a lifer (I've been diagnosed with a syndrome)....and am worried since an update to my state medical insurance policy requires folks to stop smoking AND lose weight if cosidered overweight (which I am now).....I may be dropped from the plan! (an dI've been covered for 27 years.....

Ha...crazy me. I have been on Coumadin for 2 mts for a 2cm dvt in my common iliac vein. I am watching all my friends go play while I wattle away the days in slow motin. Sure I have gained weight, but mostly because I can not bicycle over 100 mi a week and dance my little...Now Fat body into exhaustion. But, I have to admit I got depressed and went to the store and bought junk junk junk and ate ate ate until I feel like I have gained 200 lbs. So sick now and very concerned and just can not see the light at the end where I will be skinny again and back on my cute little bike passing all those hot young cyclists who think they finally will have a chance to pass me once I get back in the game. Docrtor says it will be months -- my guess untill Apr next year before I will get tested to see if the large dvt is still invading my vein. Until then I will set new achievable goals to lose weight and maintain a healthy body. My boo hoo days have to be over and I know I have to kick myself into reality.

Hey lyncycle and concord, maybe doc is right but there are more ways to clear clots. First off your body clears it all by itself and it becomes part of your vein. The only thing warfarin does is lessen chances for new clots to form. Existing clots and hypercoagulability can be assisted by meds as well as with nutrients that have antiplatelet antistickiness potential such as policosonal which may be as or more effective than aspirin, garlic, Ginger,quereitin, curcumin, omgea 3s, garlic,gingko, colic acid, grape seed extract, green tea, natto, lumbrokinase, nettle,niacin, tomatoes, vitamin C and vitamin E(gammaE). Of course it's your life. The meds have a cascade of side effects that likely negatively affect your build up of calcium in veins, arteries and valves including leg vein valves, etc. The liver, kidneys, brain, etc. Doctors don't know this. Even acetemph can kill your liver - watch dr Oz. Weigh options for yourself. There aren't studies done that would convince drs on natural substances effectiveness. Keep taking your meds but don't dismiss possibility of other helpful nutrients.

I am a lifer on warfarin. I had initially put on some weight, lost a lot of weight while in the hospital over the course of several months and then gained some at home but I also was depressed and not eating healthy foods. I had back surgery right before the DVT and I had a lot of healing to do so my activity was decreased. Finally I have been focused on eating healthy, have started working out again. I know when my swelling is really bad I do retain more fluid and the scale will reflect that. But here is the good news, I have lost 10.5 pounds in the past month! I am on alternating doses of 7.5 and 10 mgs of warfarin so I take a fairly high dose. I would never risk my life by going off the warfarin although I would never tell anyone what to do with their medication regime. I try to minimize my risks by having a home testing monitor so that I can be in range. I have found that by staying under 1300 calories a day and by limiting carbs and fats and sugar/white flour products that I I can lose weight with exercise. If I do not eat three meals or more (small portions) per day, my metabolism does not operate in a healthy way. As a former eating disordered person, I fight the urge to see the possibility of weight gain as something that would make me feel like going of the warfarin. I used to view gaining weight as the most horrible thing that could happen to me to the point that I was obsessive and compulsive about not eating. That was a long time ago but even so, it is hard to deal with a medication that might cause weight gain but I think I have it in better perspective now. I want to live more than I am afraid of gaining weight or dealing with the other side effects. I feel like maybe someday there will be better medications. I view herbal remedies with caution as they can be just as dangerous as other medications and there is far less evidence based research on some of them. I almost lost my daughter to some herbal supplements that she had been tokd were healthy to take, she literally almost died so I am way of everything that does into my body, be it a prescribed substance or and herbal substance. Just my two cents and I wish everyone well and that they find what works for them and that they are safe while doing so,

Well said Cegee.

Hey, David..you are right. My HUGE clot finally cleared (knee to upper abdomen) but due to my syndrome, I am at great risk for the clots to re-occur. I had to have three surgeries to get the blood flow going at all which left the lower part of the clot..knee to thigh to respond to the meds....I was so close to death and am very interested in any kind of natural interventions (I hate meds), but it scares the jaheebees out of me to take the risk....call me a chicken!

Concord truth is there is nothing that slows down clotting except warfarin, arikstra or similar injectibles. Either you block vit K or block action of thrombin with new oral drugs dabigatran (not here yet). That's it concord. You've got to slow clotting time. Now concurrently with your drs approval you can unsticky platelets. See blood is made up 45 to 55% red blood cells, some plasma, protein, foam cells, cholesterol, etc. You've got to do 2 things to keep alive. Me too ok including myself. Slow clotting time and make the blood constituents more slippery! That's it. Actually all plder people could benefit from thinning the blood. That's why everyone is chigging down omega 3 fish oil by the gallon! This is my theory for doing #3 and #4. 1 and 2 are clotting and sticky. #3 is dissolving clots #4 is thinning blood. Doctors leave out2 3 4 pieces. Read what I wrote earlier to dissolve clots thinning blood, Edta, garlic, omega3, nattokinase, etc. long term I think it helps. Warfarin does nothing for #2,3,4 Nothing. Remember K or thrombin, that's it to modify these to increase clotting time. That's all you're doing! Do you get it? I'm sorry you got recurrent clots. We are all scarred about this. Let's hope progress is made for more effective therapies.

I forgot to exlain concord, the reason we clot besides aging blood, genes, hyperclotting test results whatever, bottom line our arteries and vein have 3 layers 2 are critical in this discussion. Stay with me concord, this will make sense. There's the epithillium (sp?) which lines the veins. This layer gets ridgey forming uneven surfaces, accumulating nasty foam cells, proteins,cholesterol deposits, and red blood cells+ platelets. These things hang on to various parts of the inner lining of your vein. Even in a healthy person, it just happens over years of use the veins inner lining becomes stuck to by all these substances firmin plaques and in our case clots that block the flow of blood. Just by taking warfarin it does nothing for our clot. The insults deformities, injuries to the epithellium continues unabated thereby concord we keep getting clots. Unless we clear out the original reasons for our clots we are really all doomed! But have no fear concord! David's to the rescue. Not really I'm just guessing so don't listen to me! In addition the inner lining of our veins is made up of the intima. When all that clogging crap penetrates to this inner layer you really have major clots that are stubbornly fixed in place. Get it? We have all kindof self arranged/sculpted, the inner lining of our veins and arteries. It is these catch areas that keep grabbing our cells, plasma, etc causing more clots to form and reform. We are far too stupid to stop this endless fatal cascade at this point in our history, but let's be hopeful. Just realize you and me have the insults and injuries inside of our veins already. I do personally blind faith believe in a lot of folk medicine herbs whatever you want to call it. But I know it's not a cure. So well I wish you well.