Skip to main content

Table 4 Quotations: Impact of warfarin regime

From: Patients' perspectives on taking warfarin: qualitative study in family practice

A. Minor impact

Coumadin, it's just a matter of taking the pills each day and coming for a blood test and adjusting the dose. That's all. No other impact, as far as I'm concerned. (P13)

I had the test [INR] done before I went to Europe. I arranged it so that two days before we flew to Europe, I had it tested, and it was 2.3, I think... The nurse said: "You might keep it this same way, and enjoy." And as soon as I got back, I came in and had it checked. (P15)

It's inconvenient having to come in every week, but on the other hand, I understand. (P20)

B. Moderate impact

I will only drink one glass of wine a day. I like a glass of wine. They say just go easy on the single malt, and stuff like that...There wasn't any special [instructions regarding diet]. We like good food, and we eat a good, balanced diet. I like seafood, and I love fish, and I like the odd steak. I try to stay off butter. I'm taking Becel® just now, which I don't really like, but I try to stay off the butter and cooking with all the white sauce, and butter sauce, and stuff like that. (P10)

I come here every 4 or 5 weeks to have the bloodwork done for Coumadin. Whenever I have this done, the nurse calls me that afternoon and says, "Stay on with the same milligrams" or "Change to that and that." But I feel fine [with this routine]... The only disadvantage of the Coumadin is the bruising and bleeding on just the slightest touch... but if that's the worst that happens, I'm not worrying about it. (P11)

I'm extremely careful with my alcohol intake, although as I said before, I'm not an everyday drinker. Other than that, the only other thing is I started noticing I have experienced some hair loss. (P8)

C. Major impact

Three years ago, I had two very serious stomach bleeds and I do not know, to this day, whether I should attribute it to Coumadin. Once I spent a couple of days in intensive care and then three months later, again a couple more days, this time in critical care. (P11)

It isn't worth it to risk a stroke by going off the Coumadin to have the hernia fixed. So Coumadin has played a major part in my life, because this hernia is a daily fact I have to live with... The fact that I'm taking Coumadin means that if I want to be operated on, I have to be careful... They [the Hernia Clinic] don't take guys like me that require a bit of time and skill and more facilities than they have. But what do guys like me do? (P14)

The thing is, the last 558 times I've taken it, which is right here [referring to the records he keeps], I went through this last night, and I found only three miscues the entire time I've been taking it. That works out to 0.005 percent. It's a very, very low percentage of goofing taking it. I've never forgotten. For at least two of these incidents, I took it at 10:00 or 10:45, instead of at 6:00. That's four hours late. I consider that a goof. Another time I took it in the morning instead of at night, which is a goof. (P14)