David Clotterfield and Clara Clearvessel are both on warfarin and as we follow their saga we'll discover their beliefs about anticoagulation through the various comments they make about their lives. At the end of each scene, you'll get a chance to test your knowledge; Are their comments true or false? Last time, we met Clara Clearvessel and learnt some of her beliefs. … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2016
“Am I being silly doctor?” – 5 life-threatening concerns
When you’re on anticoagulants, you may have concerns that you’re not quite sure if you should be bothering your doctor with. My patients often bring up these concerns towards the end of a visit and start by saying, “Am I being silly doctor?” I feel that even though my work as a haematologist can be very busy, answering a patient’s questions is a core part of my job, so I’d … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – Santa’s Reindeer Ride Risk
What does Santa do to prevent a DVT? The Northern Hemisphere gets to break up winter with Christmas, but In New Zealand, the winter months of June, July, August and September can seem to drag on. Many New Zealanders have taken to celebrating a mid-winter Christmas around this time. Sparkly decorations and traditional Christmas food work much better now, with our cold dark … [Read more...]
Exercise during flights – airline’s advice
In Paul's post about Dos and Don'ts of travel after clots, he recommended exercise during flights. As we traveled on lots of different airlines over the past three weeks, I thought I'd see what advice each of them gave about exercise. I couldn't find any advice given by three of the airlines we used, Jetstar, Air New Zealand and Easyjet. This is the advice I found from the … [Read more...]
Dos and Don’ts of travel – What Paul did
Just before we left for Copenhagen for the European Haematology congress, Paul wrote about the dos and don’ts of travel after clots. Paul has had multiple pulmonary emboli, including one that occurred on a flight, so flying is a particular concern of mine. Now we’re safely back in New Zealand, fighting jetlag, I thought you might be interested to discover which of his own … [Read more...]
The twelfth of never? How long do I need anticoagulants?
How long you need anticoagulants depends on the balance of risks between having a blood clot and bleeding and these will be different for each individual. Your specialist will decide the length of time anticoagulants are needed in your particular case. This is just a guide. But it includes song titles. And the links to the songs on YouTube. We’re kind that … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – Harry Potter and the venomous snake
We’ve arrived in the UK now. We flew into Luton airport so we could visit the nearby Warner Brothers Studio tour of the studios where Harry Potter was filmed. I’ve even found a tenuous link between the Harry Potter Tour and coagulation. And that is snakes! On the tour we met the Basilisk, the serpent of Slytherin, which Harry Potter killed in the book “the Chamber of … [Read more...]
Happy 100th Birthday Heparin!
It is one hundred years since the discovery of the blood thinning drug heparin, which is still used today. Jay McClean, who was a medical student at the time, presented a paper at the Society of the Normal and Pathological Physiology at the University of Pensylvania reporting his discovery of an anticoagulant extracted from liver, hence the name Heparin (Hepa meaning … [Read more...]
Live from European Haematology Conference – update on blood clots
I have just attended an interesting talk about superficial vein thrombosis at the European Haematology Association meeting in Copenhagen. First a bit about the meeting. 10,000 delegates; doctors, nurse and scientists Held each year in a different city in Europe Over 250 sessions covering all aspects of haematology from basic science to the latest clinical … [Read more...]
Frivolous Friday – Why don’t Polar bears get blood clots?
This week Angela and I are staying in Rovaniemi in North Finland on the Arctic Circle. Our hotel is beautiful with an arctic theme. Our bathroom has a large picture of a Polar bear in the shower and a small polar bear lying on our bed. Today we visited the Arktikum Museum which focuses on the ecology of the arctic, and I learnt some interesting things about the Polar … [Read more...]
