Coumadin therapy ending

[RUSS H.]

     I was told today I could come off my Coumadin starting tomorrow which is 3 weeks post-op.  Has anyone come off this soon?  Or is this soon?  I'm 52 yrs old.  My levels were checked all along and I was fine.  Someone told me he had a friend who came off Coumadin too soon and developed blood clots.  Now I'm wondering if it is too soon.  I do take 81mg aspirin daily anyway.  There was no order to go on a heavier dose of aspirin (325mg) instead of the Coumadin. 

     I do tend to be active, moving around all day.  I suppose that helps.    Let me know,thanks, Russ

[JohnS]

Russ,
I was taking 350 mg asprin for blood thinning.  I was off at 4 weeks.
JohnS

[Mudpro]

I was told during a joint replacement class at Union memorial Hospital in Baltimore that everyone except my doctor's patients would come off coumadin after two weeks.  Dr. Broucher's patients would stay on a full 4 weeks.  In home nursing care has been taking blood samples from me on Mon - Wed - Fri's and dosage has been adjusted down slightly.  Beginning next week after in-home care ends (wk 3) I'll need to go get my levels tested from a lab.

But even at the same hospital, and same ortho department, there seems to be a difference between doctor's decision on how long to continue the blood thinning medication.

[dvander]

I was on Lovenox for just 7 days at home (came home from hospital day after surgery) and then 325 mg aspirin for 45 days.  I am at 5 weeks post-op now. No problem w/clots, but sure did hourly ankle stretches to keep legs moving as they recommended.

Dwight V

[Barbara]

Lovenox x 17 days post op for me. Its interesting how different Dr's preferences are. I agree that the most important thing is to keep doing ankle pumps and moving around.

Barbara

[obxpelican]

Dr. Gross is like 10 days Arixtra self injections (we Gross hippies are tough)--- no TEDS, just aspirin for a month or so afterwards.

I continued to take aspirin because my mother in-law told me her doctor told her that taking a low dose aspirin every day can help your body so that it does not reject your hardware. 

The way I figure, what is it going to hurt?

I am always amazed how each doctor does things so differently, some doctors do not allow a lot of weight bearing post-op, some allow 100%.  Some doctors only allow driving after 4-6 weeks, some as little as 3 days post-op.   

Pat did tell me once in a chat that US doctors are way more conservative than overseas doctors.   I think Pat was allowed to run laps 2 days post op and allowed to do a iron woman marathon 7 days post-op--- ok I exaggerated somewhat. 


Chuck