Table 4.

Consumer reactions to being on warfarin

On initial reactions …
Shock, horror. Yes … when you hear of friends who go onto warfarin … blood testing that is needed to control the warfarin properly … that was my first reaction, oh dear oh dear there is another medical procedure which we are forced to follow. It is not like taking a Panadol™ … certainly you learn to live with it.
My reaction was that I couldn’t eat broccoli and the things I loved, spinach and all those things.
I didn’t have any other sort of reaction. I just accepted it as I had the pacemaker and they told me I was going to be wonderful, which was very true … didn’t worry me at all.
I was pleased because this was part of the recovery for me … I have never had any worries about taking it.

On current attitudes toward warfarin ….
I’m just not worried about it. Things are going along smoothly and it goes up and down a bit but it doesn’t seem to be affecting me, it doesn’t interfere with my life at all.
Happy to take it … if that can avoid the chances of strokes and things … little inconvenience to take it … As far as going to pathology on a regular basis, in the early stage it was a big nuisance but you get to know all the girls down at the pathology and … (laughter) it was an enjoyable visit every time… I walk around with a smile on my face.
I didn’t care less, it is just another tablet to take. The only thing that annoys me a bit … warfarin doesn’t stop the fibrillation as far as I am concerned.
I didn’t take it for six weeks …[then] I had a stroke … I’ve been on it ever since. I wouldn’t have a clue if the INR [blood test result] was up or down … doesn’t worry me … just change the dosage.

Concerns about day-to-day issues …
It is all this nonsense, in the garden. Doctor says wear long sleeved shirt and I get too hot to wear a long sleeved shirt so I just cope with the black spots that come up and the bleeding … I just put the hose on it and just go ahead.
I often wonder if you did have a fall and the ambulance came and you were bleeding what extra measures the ambulance would take … obviously if you are on [warfarin] the bleeding will be a bit harder to stop.
I get a little bit upset when I ring the doctor and … [the blood] is a bit thick at the moment … now what am I not eating, or eating or drinking and not drinking that could better the situation … it would be help if I could get some info.
They just say that there may be a reaction to antibiotics, you know just watch out for it, but it is very hard to watch out for something when you don’t know whether it is going to cause this or that or the other thing.