Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
I am scheduled for a colonoscopy next week. My doctor(s) have both agreed to 4 days off of Warfarin and I am to bridge with Lovenox for those 4 days and the day of the procedure as long as there is no problems with the procedure itself. The next day I am back on my Warfarin. I need to confirm when to have my INR tested after this. Now it's been a little difficult to schedule because the first time I was sick with a virus and the second time my INR numbers were too crazy yo risk messing with not being on Warfarin. At this point (and Tuesday will tell if the numbers are okay to proceed) I have been stable for a while. So Thursday of this week I stop taking my Warfarin and start the Lovenox. I only did this once or twice before and it's been a while. So even though I am going to my doctors office for the nurse to show me again I am actually worried about this. I am worried I will not do it the right way. I am also leary of the shot itself which should not be an issue because I get allergy shots. But this is just very scarey for me for some reason. Anyone been through this and can help ease my mind a little - it's not the test I am worried about as I have one before (and well before my PE's and a Leiden Factor V diagnosis) it's just being off of Warfarin and doing the Lovenox.
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Look at what my best friend did with my picture!
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We all have 24 hours in a day. How we spend these hours is important. Watching a little bit of a video about how sitting affects us made me aware of how much sitting and laying down I do. Gonna have to work on that.Your turn. Tell me another truth.
I was just in the hospital for four days week before last after a CT scan showed PE in my left lung, along with some fluid. I was on heparin via IV and coumadin orally. The night before I left the hospital and the day of, I got "moved" over to the Lovenox shots and taken off the IV. I did not have any problems giving myself the injections twice a day. My nurse showed me how and it really was no worse than a tiny sting (and that was only sometimes)
She prepared me for some bruising, but I was a bit taken back by the couple of lumps I formed where I gave myself the shots. My Dr. saw and felt them and assured me they were OK and nothing to worry about. They are going down and almost gone. I got to stop the injections after only 4 days, but I go for my second INR test tomorrow and we'll see. Hoping my levels stay good w/ just the coumadin pills.
Take care,
K
I am confused about something. Will you continue Lovenox after surgery until your INR levels build back up? Doesn't coumadin take a few days to reach a theraputic level when you restart it? I haven't dealt with this myself, seems I remember reading that here more than once.
I had shoulder surgery last summer. The surgeon didn't understand that Lovenox is not like coumadin, and wanted me to stop several days before surgery. I spoke to my hemotologist to be sure, and he just had me not give myself a shot the morning of the surgery, as Lovenox has a life of 12 hours. I resumed shots that evening, at my regularly scheduled time. No problems at all.
http://fvleiden.org/ask/83.html
R/
Tom