Necessity for Warfarin

[lex1517]

Wanted to put this in the expert side but couldn't so I'll put it here. This is about my mother. She has no history of A-Fib but had her very first Chemical Stress Test last year at age 87. She went into A-Fib which frightened her. She said she didn't want that to ever happen again. That was the only A-Fib she's ever experienced and otherwise has no heart problems.Her Internist immediately put her on Warfarin. She averages 3mg daily. Since she has been on it she has dizzy spells and has fallen twice, recently cracked her femur and had to have it pinned. She's somewhat OCD and because of a bout with diverticulitis 20 yrs ago she eats nothing with seeds including, corn, tomatoes, nuts, poppy seeds no matter what statistics say. Now with the warfarin, she also eats nothing green. She tends to go overboard!!! So she's getting basically no vegetables in her diet because of this. My question is, with this lone episode of A-Fib, does she really need to be on Warfarin in the first place?

[Jerry_NJ]

I can't advise against medical advice, but admit warfarin sound a bit harsh...still at 87 it may be more critical than at 60, say.  The main concern about AFib is blood clots and stroke, and that's what the warfarin is about.

I don't know about the side-effects you note, I don't associate any of them with warfarin, which I take at 5 mg a day.

One can eat greens, it is just necessary to be consistent so the correct dose of warfarin can be set.

I'd ask the doctor if you mother can get by with taking just an aspirin, just in case the rare AFib bout should occur.  Here I assume she can take aspirin, some people can't.

Good luck