Featured books

Featured Websites

.: Reader Views Kids

Provides book reviews, by kids, for kids

.: Inside Scoop Live

Provides live author interviews for podcast

.: Authors Access

Provides interviews with experts in the publishing industry

.: Midwest Book Review

Provides post-publication reviews

.: Reader Views

Provides book reviews and author publicity

.: LR Communication Design

Provides professional website design and development

.: Blogging Authors

Provides a place where writers and readers meet

.: Review The Book

Provides 5 books reviews on 10 different sites

.: Best Sellers World

Provides book reviews and author features

.: Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Provides book reviews and author features

reviews

The Coumadin (Warfarin) Help Book: Anticoagulation Therapy to Prevent and Manage Strokes, Heart Attacks, and Other Vascular Conditions

Diana M. Schneider
DiaMedica (2008)
ISBN 9780979356421
Reviewed by Mary Durfor for RebeccasReads (3/09)

The author of “The Coumadin (Warfarin) Help Book” wrote this book because she was placed on Coumadin drug therapy following a diagnosis of a cardiac problem that required surgical intervention.  She subsequently suffered a small stroke, and thus was placed on permanent Coumadin therapy to keep her blood from excessive clotting.

The book is divided into three sections.  Section I discusses the basics about what anticoagulant medication is, why it is so important to control blood clotting, and what common medical conditions may cause blood clotting.  Section II is the main core of the book, and it gives excellent guidance about the effect changes in diet, and medications have on Coumadin drug therapy and explains what the INR (International Normalized Ratio) level is, how it is measured, and what it means to your blood and to you.  This section also reviews other conditions and how they affect managing your anticoagulant. Section III covers general health concerns, gives some guidelines for managing overall health, and discusses managing anticoagulant therapy outside the home.  Resources are listed.

Since strokes are the third largest cause of death annually in the country, and bleeding from a hemorrhagic stroke is a dangerous consequence of too much anticoagulant and a high INR.  Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the country, and a blood clot is the most common cause.  Clots in people who are on anticoagulant therapy are caused when the INR is too low. Venous thromboembolism (VTE) occur about 2 million times a year in the United States.  Both pulmonary embolisms (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) are types of VTE.  Usually, following any type of VTE, you are placed on anticoagulant therapy for at least 6 months, up to for the rest of your lifetime.  These drugs need careful management, but they are life-saving which makes them very liberating.  

One of the points that the author discusses is the relationship of food to a person’s INR, which tells you if you have too much or too little anticoagulant.  Vegetables are the food group of most concern.  Generally, the greener the veggie, the more vitamin K is probably in it.  Vitamin K reverses the effect of the anticoagulant, so it will affect the INR.  Too many dark green veggies, without close monitoring of the INR, could cause you to clot.  If your health practitioner adjusts for a certain number of servings of dark green veggies, you really must eat them or you run the risk of bleeding.  But, with open communication with the health care workers either at your out-patient anticoagulant monitoring “clinic” which tests your blood at regular intervals, weekly, or more or less often, and adjusts your anticoagulant dosage at each visit, if needed, or by using a home monitoring machine and keeping in close contact with the designated health care professional, your therapy can be very safely and effectively regulated. 

This excellent book is a MUST for all people who are living with anticoagulant therapy and for their caregivers.  It is a clear roadmap to follow to keep on the safe road to effective long-term anticoagulant therapy.

.: Blog
.: Publisher's website