Sorry for initiating yet another alcohol thread. I know there are already many and I have looked through them all, but i'm still left with a question or two.
Quick background: I'm going in for a valve replacement and aortic root graft in a few weeks. I'm 41. It's not 100% decided yet, but the standard seems to be mechanical. I'm becoming OK with all that entails, though my wife is still fearful i'll bleed out after my first paper cut and won't be able to do anything fun, (skiing, biking, drinking, etc.).
As I understand it, there seems to be 3 problems with warfarin and alcohol. 1. It can affect INR levels 2. You can become sloppy making it more likely for you to have an injury that causes bleeding. 3. It can cause a GI bleeding event that can be hard to predict, but when it happens you're in big trouble
Did I miss any other concerns??
I'll be home testing INR, so i'm not that worried about that aspect. I can start easy and test often and if things go out of range, then i'll know I have to scale back.
The becoming sloppy part is a concern, but I don't generally get to that point. I also don't mix drinking with other risky activity (skiing, softball, jet skiing, etc.) and I don't really get into bar fights these days (I usually drink at my home or a friends home)... I know you never know what can happen, but i'm usually pretty safe in that regard.
The question I have is about the GI bleeding.. I've searched the web for info and couldn't find exact answers, so I figure i'd ask here, hopefully someone knows...
Is the problem more that bleeding starts slows and progresses to a dangerous point over time and you just don't know it or do you really just burn a hole in you stomach in a single night of drinking and bleed out from there?
Could a home stool test such as EZ Detect that is supposed to detect tiny amounts of blood in the stool be a way to try to detect a problem before it becomes a big problem? Maybe testing once a month or at some fairly frequent interval...
My drinking habits: I consider myself a moderate drinker, but I know that is relative. According to medical standards, i'm actually a binge drinker, though I'm not doing keg stands or funneling, but whatever
I'm 6 feet, 185lbs, male. Generally I drink on two nights a week. One of the nights I drink maybe 6-8 12oz beers(probably 4ish percent alcohol, but it varies). On the other night I drink 1/2 of a 750ml bottle of wine AND 2-3 beers. On both nights it is generally over the course of 4 or 5 hours. I generally feel quite buzzed, but not falling down by any stretch.
Perhaps 2 or 3 times a year (usually around a holiday party or something) I may drink even more that that. Perhaps 10 beers and a few shots, though it is over a longer period of time. I can definitely see cutting this back, probably skipping the shots altogether and maybe scaling back a beer or two.
So in the end my main question was regarding the GI bleeding above and whether there was any other concerns i'm missing.
I know to people who don't drink it may seem foolish to even think about drinking more than 1 or 2, but it is a way to socialize for me and my friends. I can certainly try to cut back if that's what I have to do. But if possible, living life as close to I normally would pre-op would make everything much easier psychologically.
PS. Thanks to everyone who contributes here. I've read tons and tons over that past few weeks and all the information, stories, experiences etc. are so helpful to others in coming to terms with what is about to happen and relieving a little anxiety (though it's still wearing on me quite a lot, I kinda just want to get it overwith)...
Quick background: I'm going in for a valve replacement and aortic root graft in a few weeks. I'm 41. It's not 100% decided yet, but the standard seems to be mechanical. I'm becoming OK with all that entails, though my wife is still fearful i'll bleed out after my first paper cut and won't be able to do anything fun, (skiing, biking, drinking, etc.).
As I understand it, there seems to be 3 problems with warfarin and alcohol. 1. It can affect INR levels 2. You can become sloppy making it more likely for you to have an injury that causes bleeding. 3. It can cause a GI bleeding event that can be hard to predict, but when it happens you're in big trouble
Did I miss any other concerns??
I'll be home testing INR, so i'm not that worried about that aspect. I can start easy and test often and if things go out of range, then i'll know I have to scale back.
The becoming sloppy part is a concern, but I don't generally get to that point. I also don't mix drinking with other risky activity (skiing, softball, jet skiing, etc.) and I don't really get into bar fights these days (I usually drink at my home or a friends home)... I know you never know what can happen, but i'm usually pretty safe in that regard.
The question I have is about the GI bleeding.. I've searched the web for info and couldn't find exact answers, so I figure i'd ask here, hopefully someone knows...
Is the problem more that bleeding starts slows and progresses to a dangerous point over time and you just don't know it or do you really just burn a hole in you stomach in a single night of drinking and bleed out from there?
Could a home stool test such as EZ Detect that is supposed to detect tiny amounts of blood in the stool be a way to try to detect a problem before it becomes a big problem? Maybe testing once a month or at some fairly frequent interval...
My drinking habits: I consider myself a moderate drinker, but I know that is relative. According to medical standards, i'm actually a binge drinker, though I'm not doing keg stands or funneling, but whatever
I'm 6 feet, 185lbs, male. Generally I drink on two nights a week. One of the nights I drink maybe 6-8 12oz beers(probably 4ish percent alcohol, but it varies). On the other night I drink 1/2 of a 750ml bottle of wine AND 2-3 beers. On both nights it is generally over the course of 4 or 5 hours. I generally feel quite buzzed, but not falling down by any stretch.
Perhaps 2 or 3 times a year (usually around a holiday party or something) I may drink even more that that. Perhaps 10 beers and a few shots, though it is over a longer period of time. I can definitely see cutting this back, probably skipping the shots altogether and maybe scaling back a beer or two.
So in the end my main question was regarding the GI bleeding above and whether there was any other concerns i'm missing.
I know to people who don't drink it may seem foolish to even think about drinking more than 1 or 2, but it is a way to socialize for me and my friends. I can certainly try to cut back if that's what I have to do. But if possible, living life as close to I normally would pre-op would make everything much easier psychologically.
PS. Thanks to everyone who contributes here. I've read tons and tons over that past few weeks and all the information, stories, experiences etc. are so helpful to others in coming to terms with what is about to happen and relieving a little anxiety (though it's still wearing on me quite a lot, I kinda just want to get it overwith)...
