Are you coming off a week earlier than scheduled or a month earlier than scheduled?

Everyone is concerned about the prospects of coming off warfarin. It's a completely normal feeling. I don't think there's anything specific you can do other than stay hydrated and active and just remain aware of any PE symptoms. Whether you come of a few weeks early or right on scheduled, you'd feel nervous either way. It's just something you adapt to and with time, you start feeling less and less nervous.

As far as concerns with your colonoscopy and upper GI, there is not much too it, and since you won't be on warfarin, there's nothing bleeding related to worry about. I've had many colonoscopies and endoscopies over the years, some before I started taking warfarin and several after I started warfarin. I was always taken off warfarin for these procedures. But otherwise, the procedures are a peace of cake.

PIECE of cake.. not peace of cake, ha ha!

Thanks rmb.

I'm coming off Coumadins a few days earlier than scheduled: 4 days.

I will take it all in stride and stay positive. And, at least, now I know what the symptoms of PE are, and can be on the look-out for them

My only concern (and this is just for me) would be staying hydrated after the procedure. I get super-sick after any kind of anesthesia and can't keep anything down for a couple days after. Even with my endoscopy I was sick for 2 days, but that was long before my PEs. As long as you don't react badly like I do, you should be fine.

That's a good point, Jenner: I also react pretty bad to anesthesia. Will be sure to keep hydrated. Thankfully, even when I'm sick, I can keep water down.

Then let the nurse in the GI lab know you have an issue with anesthesia. They usually offer you liquids and if you want, crackers after the procedure anyway, but this way, they'll keep an eye on you if you need it. It's such a light anesthesia. Most people do ok on it but I know some people have some issues with it.

Can I just say something... sometimes when you psyche yourself out about what you think is going to happen to you, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

Good point about letting the nurse know ahead of time, thought, strangely enough, it's not immediately after a procedure I react, it's several hours later, when I get a general feeling of being completely out of it. Not the upset stomach, but just not feeling good. Wonder what's worse: the pain of the procedure or the anesthesia? I even react after being frozen at the dentist's!

I do not worry any more than I have to, but I do like getting as much information as I can: that way, I'm not going in blind.

About going off Coumadin, is there anything at all I should avoid? Vitamin K rich foods, for example?

When I went off warfarin, my doctor said it was ok to start eating foods with vitamin K right away, but advised that I not do something as drastic as eating a whole bag of spinach or broccoli. In a week, it won't matter what you eat, since the warfarin will be out of your system anyway so vitamin K won't be an issue. Personally, I added the vitamin K foods back in slowly just for my own comfort. I talked myself into thinking that if I still had a little warfarin in my system for the first few days, I would be able to handle the emotional aspect of being of warfarin better. Pretty silly, I know, but when I stopped, I was willing to do anything to help reduce my anxiety!

I had a colonoscopy while I was still on Coumadin- no polyps or problems so staying on Coumadin wasn't a issue. I have to say I got a lot of flak from my INR nurse, and other support staff about remaining on the Coumadin, and the Dr who performed the procedure had a sit down talk with me so I would understand he wouldn't be cutting out or taking samples of anything he found. I'm glad I stayed on medication because the whole prep was very dehydrating. I drank a lot, but still was dried out. After the procedure, I drank water and ate a low fat vegan meal, felt recovered enough to go shopping, and then home- no side effects other than a little cramping a day later. I agree with you that it is scary to be off Coumadin for fear of a reoccurrence. Especially when no causes have been found. Best wishes for a speedy recovery :)

Danielle, when you get home, make sure you eat and drink. That should help. There were times I've been so hungry after a colonoscooy that I've actually gone out for lunch right after to eat a big meal because I was so so so famished. Not saying go pig out, but eating may help you. And then after that, I always slept for a good 3-4 hours. So if you need to sleep, sleep. Just baby yourself a bit after the procedure. Take a bath, get your jammies on and think of it as a spa day.

The down side to staying on warfarin while having a colonoscopy is that if they do find a polyp or need to biopsy something, they won't do it, and then you have to go through the entire procedure all over again, while off warfarin. I'd rather be off the stuff, go in once for the scope and be done with it. If you were on warfarin long term, they'd take you off warfarin for 5 days prior to the procedure, and bridge with lovenox until the night before the procedure. It's totally manageable. I've had 6 colonoscopies in the last 3 years and to have to do one more than necessary simply because I wanted to stay on warfarin ... ugh no thanks.