My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2004. At that time she also had blood clots in both lungs. She was hospitalized and put on heparin. She was scheduled for a mastectomy. They stopped the heparin. Within a few hours, her condition worsened. She was 'out of it'. We thought she was near death. We asked the doctors to resume the heparin. Within one hour she showed improvement. Within 4-6 hours she was eating and sitting up. The doctors said that resuming the heparin was not the reason for her improvement. This past week, her coumadin was stopped for four days. On the fifth day, {the day she was to resume the coumadin}. She was unresponsive. She was extremely sleepy. We called the hospice nurse and she said that this was the beginning of the end. We explained to the nurse the situation with the heparin in May 2004. We asked her if we could crush the coumadin and get mom to take it. The nurse said yes. Within five hours, my mother 'woke up' and even got out of bed. My question is this. Can stopping coumadin, or any blood thinner cause these symptoms? The doctors don't think so, but we have witnessed this twice. I appreciate your help.
Thank you
meggismom