Headaches

[missygirl0130]

What do you take when you get a headache since we're already on blood thinners?

[Lure2]

A very good answer from APsnotFab!

Next month when you see your Specialist take it up with him or she as a symptom and your use of Xarelto. Perhaps you will be better on Warfarin.

Kerstin

[missygirl0130 in reply to Lure2]

I think warfarin may be better so I can be allowed to check my own INR, especially since some folks say they feel better with a higher INR. My last INR was done a year ago and it was 2.0. At first I didn't want to be on warfarin due to having to get INR checked 3-4 times a week, but if I can do it myself, that would be great.

[Hughes-Comrade]

If it’s really bad, a prescription in the USA called sumatriptan.

[missygirl0130 in reply to Hughes-Comrade]

Been on that before and it doesn't work. I will ask if I can take Execedrine migraine, it usually helps.

[missygirl0130]

Topiramate makes me extremely loopy, so much so I can't drive and everyone asks if I'm high. I like Execedrine migraine, I will discuss with my specialist next month.

[missygirl0130]

Thanks for the responses

[WendyWoo50]

I feel for u. I have had a headache to some degree everyday of my life since I was 11 years old. Some days it's hardly there but other days it can make me feel suicidal they r so bad.

When my INR is below 4 my headache is terrible. I've just had a pacemaker fitted so had to come off warfarin for 6 days and went back on it the night of the op. A week post op my INR is currently 2.0. Im taking 18mg warfarin, 2 x clexane injections and 75mg Aspirin but it's not going up and my heads terrible.

I dream of being headache free. But I'm Lupus Anticoagulant positive and my INR will not stabilise no matter what I do. In the two weeks Pre op I ranged from 1.9 / 11.2 one minute I'm prescribed vit K then the next I'm injecting Clexane.

Any help - any relief would be fantastic

Good luck 💋

[Davideccroft]

I find most times I get headaches when I’m dehydrated and drinking a lot more water is the best.

The next for me is if my IRN is too low and I self test at home and if needed I modify vitamin k intake a little.

This resolves or at makes manageable most headaches I get.

I find ibruprofen causes more issues than help for me as it affects my irn.

I try paracetamol if irn is normal and water or more sleep doesn’t help.

[Lure2 in reply to Davideccroft]

Hi Davideccroft,

I wonder what INR your Specialist has put you on to feel ok? I need an INR of 4.0 and I selftest and the CoaguChek XS showed quite a higher number than the vein-test at the hospital-lab!

I am Lupus Anticoagulant (one of the antibodies I am positive to) and thus we can have difficulties when selftesting. Therefor we have to do a lot of doubletests within 4 hours time (both in the finger with the machine and in the vein at the lab) to know if there is a great difference between the two readings. I hope you have done those doubletests several times otherwise your fingerprick-value can show a false number. Not all of us have those difficulties but if you are one of us it is very important that you know about this difference. If I had INR 5 in the finger I could have 3.8 in the vein at the hospital. The vein-result is the one we rely on.

Kerstin

[Davideccroft in reply to Lure2]

Hi Keestin - my doctor (in U.K.) has me in 2.6 to 3 for inr. I start to get bad headaches below about 2.8 so I keep it to the top end of the range normally. I have the same coagucheck machine that my local surgery uses and they almost always get exactly the same results as me and from headache status I can also normally guess it accurately. I only measure in the fingers. Maybe once a year or so on average my haematologist gets a vein sample to cross check that. They all seem to be the same. I’ve been fairly stable accept when on rare occasions I’m on antibiotics since 2006 when I started on warfarin. Luckily my little yellow record book is fairly boring reading. But I do think about everything I eat and drink - being a chemist probably helps with the diet as I’m always trying to count mg of vitamin k as I eat. And I avoid alcohol (mostly) and a few other drinks and food stuffs that made me erratic at the start. Luckily not much I actively miss and if I do have alcohol it’s a small amount but to make up normally expensive. Rgds, David

[Lure2 in reply to Davideccroft]

Well if you have done the doubletests (but they should allow you to do it more than once a year I think) and you are perhaps not Lupus Anticoagulant you can probably rely on your machine.

You have a too low INR. It should be at least at an INR of 3.5. Try that regime for some time and see how you feel as to your APS-symptoms!

[MaryF Administrator]

Hi there, I am on two Aspirin a day and if I still get a headache, I tend to take paracetamol, if that does not work, I just have to sit it out really. MaryF