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?
Before reading this episode, you may like to catch up with the previous scenes
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4
Scene 5 – the library
David was visiting Clara at the library. He’d just started experiencing nausea and was now beginning to feel very unwell.
Clara looked at him with alarm, “David, you’re very pale and sweaty. Would you like me to give you a lift home?”
David was about to thank her, when suddenly he was hit by crushing central chest pain and felt dizzy.
“David, you really don’t look well.”
“It feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest” he tried weakly to joke.
“Nausea, sweating, chest pain, I think it’s a heart attack” Clara said, “I’m going to call an ambulance.”
“So now my warfarin has given me a heart attack!” he replied feebly, secretly glad Clara was taking control.
He gave her his phone, “Could you call my son Dan for me please?”
Your turn
What do you think of these statements? True or false?
Click on the statement to reveal the answer
TRUE
After reading last week’s posts on heart attack, hopefully everyone got this right! It’s nothing to do with warfarin, but important enough to include anyway!
FALSE
Heart attacks are not a recognised side-effect of warfarin. If anything, warfarin has a protective effect. However, David is on warfarin because he has atrial fibrillation, which can be linked to heart issues, especially heart changes from high blood pressure. The same heart issues that led to atrial fibrillation may also have led to an increased risk of heart attack.
Warfarin might cause some side effects but I’m glad that heart attack isn’t among them!