Coumadin Question

My mother was just diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), and Atrial fibrillation, and has been perscribed Coumadin as well as aspirin, (amongst other things) but I was reading about Coumadin in another post and one of the things you advised was that the patient not be taking aspirin while on the blood thinner, and that Coumadin is often "overprescribed".  Do you believe that my mother should get another opinion, even considering her diagnosis, or is this the best alternative for a patient with these conditions?

[caregiver222]

First of all, Coumadin administration is the "standard of care" in the United States for certain conditions. A physician wopuld be in danger of losing his license to prescribe an alternative. That being said, Coumadin is not the safest drug on the planet, and there are many, many alternatives. My personal opinion is that Coumadin is often inappropriate and invariably the side affects cause problems far out weighing any good this drug does.That being said, to oppose Coumadin treatment will likely have your physician treat you like and idiot and assureyou Coumadin is"safe". Coumadin is not safe. It is rat poison. Do a MEDLINE search to review studies comparing and contrasting the mortality associated with various treatment modalities.My own opinion is that Coumadin is a dangerous drug and almost always unnecessary. That is not to say that some drug intervention is not needed, but there are alternatives.

[honey1982]

i agree maybe your mother needs to get a second opioin or suggest taking plavix for her heart condition. i also have chf and was proscribed toporal for my hyperthyroidism which is cause my chf. well goodluck it is alwasy better to get a second opioion. i had been to many doctor and specialist before i was diagnosed everyone keep sayingf there isnt anything wrong with me. byut finally alsmost at the end to where i could have died i was diagnosed.