What you had in addition to a venous clot was a PE, which is dangerous. What damage, if any, was done to your pulmonary vessels may or may not be evaluated as of yet. Even in the best cases, it may take several months or more than a year before remaining clots become chronic fibrinous scars coated with endothelium. Meanwhile, the risk of re-clotting is ever greater, though with any prior clot it never goes back down to the risk level of the general population. There are many predispositions to clotting, not all of them hereditary, and many of which cannot be tested effectively until off Warfarin. Generally, when the drug is prescribed for a certain number of months or years, that is an interval until re-evaluation and not necessarily to cessation.

Basically, an understanding doctor would consider the wishes of the patient in making the decision to continue of cease Warfarin, while the inherent risks are considered as well. If you do get to try an early departure, or even an on-time departure from the drug, it is solely upon you to watch out for any return of symptoms.

Actually weight changes are known to be caused by warfarin, some people lose weight but I too gain weight on it. Just talk about the issue with your doctor, and I think that a reasonable doctor will give you a good idea of whether you'd be okay to come off early or whether there are really good reasons to finish the planned treatment. When I first got clots I was supposed to be on coumadin for 1 year, but I had similar problems regulating my INR no matter how consistent I kept my diet, so I was always stressed out about that, plus I had excessive menstrual bleeding, plus weight gain which was probably in part due to the extreme fatigue that I felt. Taking all of those things into consideration, my doctor decided that the right thing to do would be to allow me to come off early, and I was off at 9 months. I did feel better once off, I had more energy and I lost some weight, though not as much as I had gained over the course of the 9 months on the medication. Unfortunately I had another clotting episode a year later and am back on the medication and my weight has steadily climbed again these past 6 months, which I absolutely can't stand, but I do everything I know how to do and still it slowly climbs, so I can empathize with your problem. At the end of the day, you're the one who decides whether you take the medicine or not, just make sure that you're making a properly well-informed decision and talk really frankly about it all with your doctor. He should be able to help you make the right decision for you.

Thanks ladies for your replies. They were both well thought out and very considerate. I just got a report that my INR today is 2.2 so that is good. I may try to force myself to stay on one more month. That would make five months. I am going to talk to the pharmacist in charge of my coumadin clinic and I'm going to ask him about ending the medication early. The last time I spoke with him he said I could probably go off of it in April anyway.
Thanks again.