Memory Loss and anti coagulants

[della_anne]

Someone on an anti coagulant had said that anti coagulants can cause memory loss. I have never heard this before, is this true? Sometimes I forget things, but I don't think it has anything to do with the medication I am taking....

Danielle

 

[MarkU]

From everything I've read, anti-coagulants, and specifically Coumadin, have not been linked to memory loss. In fact there is some thought that it might actually help fight memory loss by preventing mini-strokes.
Cardiac bypass and the trauma of cardiac surgery are definitely culprits for causing memory loss, but supposedly the effects reverse themselves over time.
I'm getting more forgetful, but I think it's probably more related to age.

...er, what were we talking about?


Mark

 

[Randy & Robyn]

It's not anticoagulation-related, but I do suffer from an insidious condition known as Selective Memory Loss. I have bouts at the most inopportune times...like when it's time to do the dishes or take the trash out.

My wife will find me wandering aimlessly around the garage or even dozing in the hammock with no recollection of how I got there.

It's a curse, but I've learned to live with it.

Randy

 

[Bina]

Interesting question......since OHS I can't remember how to turn on the vaccum cleaner, I can't remember how to start the lawn mower, I barely know what day it is, I really don't remember having the OHS at all.....
Sorry, what was the question again

 

[ClickerTicker]

Although I'm certainly no expert, I've never heard anything about the old rat poison causing memory loss. If anything, I'd guess it should have similar effects on the brain as Ginkgo Biloba which is thought to "improve blood flow".

There are, however, thoughts that statins may cause memory loss - http://www.spacedoc.net/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Cholesterol-Con-Malcolm-Kendrick/dp/1844543609/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/026-3641721-1256400?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184879592&sr=8-1 - and I'm guessing that a number of valvers may be taking the stuff.

 

[Cooker]

Never heard of that I do have some trouble but who know what the cause is??? Could be age, selective hearing , surgery ie. pump head. But it seem to be better than 6 months before so maybe I will be ok.....

Now, if I can just remember where I put my sandwich

Tom

 

[tobagotwo]

Overprescriptions of cholesterol-reducing drugs (statins) have been linked with memory loss. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of.

Best wishes,

 

[dtread]

Hair Loss?

Hair Loss?

Don't know about memory loss from rat poison, but I read on warfarin.com that some folks experience hair loss after several months on it. Anybody experience hair loss?

 

[hensylee]

I went to this site: http://www.spacedoc.net/ as suggested by Clicker and it's scary, especially the Lipitor which I took for years until I simply refused it and was left with permanent muscle damage. But now I wonder if Zetia is safe?

 

[Rich]

That is a very interesting site Ann, it sure has my wife thinking as well.
Are you getting any muscle pain from the Zetia ? It seems to be bothering my wife. Wouldn't it be nice just to throw away all pills ?
How did we ever survive before all these meds ?
Rich

 

[catwoman]

Don't know about memory loss from rat poison, but I read on warfarin.com that some folks experience hair loss after several months on it. Anybody experience hair loss?

Did those folks start taking warfarin after surgery, or was warfarin initiated without surgery? If the warfarin was Rxed immediately post-p, the hair loss could be related to surgery.

I lost some hair right after my MVR. However, I also lost hair when I had major jaw surgery at age 17 (no warfarin involved), foot surgery at age 29 (no warfarin involved) and hysterectomy (total) at age 34 (again, no warfarin involved).
I lost a patch of hair the size of a quarter to half-dollar on the top of my head after the jaw surgery. The surgery, which was done at Baylor hospital in Dallas, took 4-5 hours because I was a patient at Baylor's dental school and the head of the oral surgery department was filming my case every step of the way to use it in teaching students (oral surgery & orthodontia). I'm sure the extra time on anesthesia and the stress of surgery caused the hair loss.
I had very thick, shoulder-length hair then, but it wasn't thick enough to hide that bare patch. (It was along the natural part in my hair.) When the hair started growing back, it looked like a rooster's comb! My senior portrait was dreadful!
I haven't had hair loss like that with any subsequent surgery, major or minor.

Because warfarin is Rxed for heart conditions that are more common to older people, my guess is those patients would be more apt to experience hair loss anyway, regardless if they were on warfarin or not.

 

[hensylee]

That is a very interesting site Ann, it sure has my wife thinking as well.
Are you getting any muscle pain from the Zetia ? It seems to be bothering my wife. Wouldn't it be nice just to throw away all pills ?
How did we ever survive before all these meds ?
Rich

I was hoping you'd see this and comment. I have had no problems (that I know of) from Zetia. I have been on it for a couple years now. The article stated mixing it with a statin (zytorin? or vytorin?) was the one the astrnaut dr found the most problems with! Maybe they should never mix a statin with anything.

I have been notified by the med ins (Part D) co that I will reach the doughnut hole way before the year ends. I have figured it will cost me more to be in the 'plan' that not to be in it at all. The costliest med I take is Zetia.

 

[Susan BAV]

Don't know about memory loss from rat poison, but I read on warfarin.com that some folks experience hair loss after several months on it. Anybody experience hair loss?

I was on Coumadin for three months post-AVR and I lost vast amounts of hair. It seems to have all grown back now but I was really getting worried at all the hair I was losing during the first few months post-op. I'm not sure what might have caused it, either the meds or the surgery, I don't know. But I've had other surgeries, before and since AVR, and never lost as much hair as then. Could have been the Coumadin.