I've no experience of this LauraLu, but I'd schedule for this week rather than wait till next Tuesday. A week's a long time to be wondering. Beccy X

Ick.

I've yet to have a full blown nose bleed from warfarin although prior to being on warfarin, I get them from time to time due to the dryness in the air, either from the heat being on 8 months out of the year, or my husand's need to constantly have the AC on during the summer. Also, when I'm taking a lot of allergy meds because that dries out the nose pretty good too. Sometimes, I blow my nose and I'll have bloody snot, or snotty blood, not sure.

Five minutes doesn't seem that long for a nose bleed especially while on warfarin. But if it were me, I'd be dying to know what my INR was now. Get it checked out this week.

Boy, listen to me bossin' you around.

Hi Laura Lu. I agree with the others. Go get your INR checked. You will feel better rather than worrying. Too much anxiety with this stuff as it is. I'm new to all this, starting week 6 and have not had any nose bleeds yet either. Take care

I was told that if you get to 20 minutes of uncontroled bleeding (not just the nose, but anywhere)
go straight to the Hospital
and tell them that you have been bleeding for so long and that you are on ANTICOGULANTS.


With all of my cuts and nicks, I never made it to 20 minutes, once was it close to that, then, after the bleeding has stopped and you see the miniscule nick you have, which bled and bled, you do realise what they mean by
"we bleed more then regular folks since we are on anticoags"

You're absolutely right, beccyt, richard & boss-lady. I've made my INR appt for 9:30 am tomorrow.
I can hardly wait.
I guess I was just so relieved that it stopped bleeding and I didn't have to haul my butt into the ER.
20 minutes seems about right Dero, and I'll use that for future reference, but dang, I hope this isn't going to be a regular occurence.

My guess is that your INR is high. That's my guess...And I could also be wrong...

Keep us posted. I'd like to know what your INR is??? I've not had nose bleeds - but it would've freaked me out too. Even for 5 minutes. I'm anxious now, because I'm on my 4th week after being diagnosed and I'm going 10 days before getting blood work because my INR was 3.3. I am anxious to see if it came down some or too low now since he changed my meds dosage. Good grief - we live to know what our INR is. Is there something actually out there that you can check your own INR?? Probably expensive.

Anyway - let us know how it goes.

You should call your doctor because your blood might be to thin.

Eight weeks post DX her but haven't had a nosebleed yet trust me when I say I would have lost my mind!! It would have scared the pants off of me.

I think you did the right thing by making an earlier appt for a check. I am so glad with my dr office I can just go in and ask them to check it, no appt. needed and it takes all of 5 minutes!!

Laura,after having two dvts and pe,s i am now on Warfarin for life,in the uk we are monitored for our INR checks between 1 and 2 months,the best thing i have done since my troubles was to buy a coagucheck meter,i now do my own tests on average once every two weeks and ring my own results in to the clinic,they will then dose me accordingly,this is a horrible illness but it can be controlled,hope this is of some use

Because in 1952 when Warfarin was named a "BLOOD THINNER" everybody thinks that blood thinners actually make their blood thinner.


WRONG!!!!!!!
Do you drive on your driveway or park on parkways? Those are two other examples of the mentality of the 50s...

Your blood will always have the same viscosity, will never be thinner if you take blood thinners nor thicker if you don't.

The proper term that should be used for "blood thinners" is anticoagulants,the action it does on your blood is it makes it less sticky (less sticky does not cause clots) as cloters, if we don't take anticoagulants the blood will stick and creat a clot or more...


That,s what happens when the folks in Wisconsin back in the early days of warfarin called it a blood thinner and they actually thought it was thinning the blood, but now that we are smarter and know better, is it time to start calling a n apple an apple?

ANTICAGULANTS.

Now you know the story...:)

Here is a link that will explain you HOW warfarin came to be an anticoagulant...
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/warfarin/history.html

ANTICOAGULANT

Hi LauraLu,
My sister is not on warfarin and has FVL. She can't donate blood because she clots at the needle. Still, she manages to have really bad nose bleeds and if she bleeds for more than 15 minutes she tends to pass out due to blood loss. It all depends on how fast you bleed, but if you think you are losing too much blood it would be safest to call an ambulance/get someone to drive you to the hospital.

I did a first aid at work course and the big thing they drilled into us was that if someone presented with a nosebleed and was on anticoagulants we should always call an ambulance.

On a practical level, if it was me I wouldn't call an ambulance right away ;-) I have never had a nosebleed before so I'd probably hope that it stops within 5 minutes or so and if not ask someone to take me to the hospital. If it stops on the way there - phew - turn the car around. If not, you're in the right place.