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Prescribed Warferin Following An Accident With Broken Hip. Have Swelling And Discolouration Of The Lower Limbs And Feet. What To Do?
Question: I HAVE BEEN PRESCRIBED WARFERIN FOLLOWING AN ACCIDENT IN WHICH I BROKE MY HIP AND HAD A TOTAL HIP . REPLACEMENT WHILST IN RECOVERY, I APPARENTLY WENT INTO ATRIAL FIBRILATION-HAVing had no previous symptoms. The medical team were keen for me to start warfarin. My INR has been quite erratic. I have had an echo sound of the heart and a 24 hour moniter ECg. am awaiting the results. I feel fine except for swelling and discolouration of the lower limbs and feet. This is really stressing me and is so uncomfortable - I feel as if the skin is going to burst. My GP prescribed diuretics but they did not have any effect. He has now prescribed elastic stockings . I had my operation in mid January of 2013, and started warfarin then. until then I had only got swollen ankles when flying, This seems to be a different kind of odema as the legs and ankles are very hard. The cardiologist suggested a different kind of blood thinner which is more expensive than warfarin.
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Pedal edema (swelling involving the lower limbs) can be very uncomfortable.
Edema can occur due to accumulation of fluid from heart, kidney or liver disease , as well as any issues involving the venous or lymphatic circulation of the lower limbs.
Swelling can also occur as a side effect of some medication.
The heart tests that you had done would determine if the swelling is related to the heart. In most persons where it is heart related there are other symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath.
Any condition affecting the kidneys and liver can result in swelling. The kidneys because there is reduced clearance of fluid from the body and the liver because they are involved in making some proteins in the body. The lack of the proteins cause fluid to move out of the cells into the surrounding space causing swelling.
If the venous or lymphatic circulation is impaired then swelling is a possibility. In venous disease , there may be dilated veins (varicose veins) seen.
In addition to assessing your heart, your doctors may suggest blood tests to check the liver and the kidneys and possibly imaging tests if they believe that the swelling is related to the venous or lymphatic circulation.
IN terms of the warfarin, it is the most commonly used anticoagulant but does require frequent INR monitoring and it restricts the foods that can be used.
There are newer anti coagulants that do not require any monitoring and there are few or no food restrictions.
The name is xarelto,, this is the trade name (name sold under), the actual drug is rivaroxaban.
It is more expensive than warfarin but if you include the price of the repeated INRs then it may even out some what.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Pedal edema (swelling involving the lower limbs) can be very uncomfortable.
Edema can occur due to accumulation of fluid from heart, kidney or liver disease , as well as any issues involving the venous or lymphatic circulation of the lower limbs.
Swelling can also occur as a side effect of some medication.
The heart tests that you had done would determine if the swelling is related to the heart. In most persons where it is heart related there are other symptoms such as chest pain and shortness of breath.
Any condition affecting the kidneys and liver can result in swelling. The kidneys because there is reduced clearance of fluid from the body and the liver because they are involved in making some proteins in the body. The lack of the proteins cause fluid to move out of the cells into the surrounding space causing swelling.
If the venous or lymphatic circulation is impaired then swelling is a possibility. In venous disease , there may be dilated veins (varicose veins) seen.
In addition to assessing your heart, your doctors may suggest blood tests to check the liver and the kidneys and possibly imaging tests if they believe that the swelling is related to the venous or lymphatic circulation.
IN terms of the warfarin, it is the most commonly used anticoagulant but does require frequent INR monitoring and it restricts the foods that can be used.
There are newer anti coagulants that do not require any monitoring and there are few or no food restrictions.
The name is xarelto,, this is the trade name (name sold under), the actual drug is rivaroxaban.
It is more expensive than warfarin but if you include the price of the repeated INRs then it may even out some what.
I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions
Note: For further queries related to coronary artery disease and prevention, click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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