High sensitivity symptoms and conditions

I'm a 47yo female & sorry for putting this as a reply to another post - new here:

Gosh.. glad I found this place - have been taking Warfarin for AF for about 2 weeks now and have been slowly sliding down hill. Thing is you just never know when to contact a doctor hey.

My symptoms, bloating, weight gain already, light headed, blurred vision, have had numbness & tingling in right arm and leg, and now I'm slowly getting colder and colder, and have a high sensitivity to light. Just started my monthly cycle and it's literally flooding, and I have an awful pain in the left hand side of my neck - it's sharp and unbearable at times. Some days when I'm driving home from work I feel I should pull over, not sure what my body is going to do to me next. I lack concentration, am crabby most of the time (and was picked up on that today at work) - and very emotional.

I don't like this at all - at what point do I mention any of this without seeming like a whinger?
I have a physical job, which has been reduced to 'light duties' due to the risks at the moment, which I'm grateful for. Today I bumped my thumb only slightly and it swelled up in a bloody lump - the blood has disappeared but the swelling is still there together with 'loose' skin where the originally larger swelling was. Everything seems just so weird.. I don't feel like ME any more - I want ME back :((

I am a 48 year old female with a-fib. I am not overweight...just started falling apart since now I am menopausal. I've been on Warfarin for 6 weeks. My INR has hardly moved. I'm now on 8 mg and have my INR test on Monday. I started at a 0.9. Now I'm at 1.20 and have been there for three weeks in spite of upping the warfarin. I've not changed my diet except to exclude greens and green tea when I began the therapy. Everything else is consistent.
I just started exercising again a week ago. Something I haven't done in five years since I lost my sister. I bought a Total Gym and enjoy it. It has helped me get some energy back, has helped alleviate some of the mental fog, and has lowered the incidence of anxiety attacks. (I've been getting anxiety lately...since the mental fog and memory lapses...that bothers me since I love to read and write and the mental fog seems to be taking the joy out of it now.) The reason I decided to start strength training again is because of the joint pain I have been experiencing lately. I didn't have it before warfarin. I do now. Only one joint, though. The strength training does help, but every once in awhile, that sharp pain comes back to visit. It's just a little less now.
I plan to tell the doctor that I have begun strength training again. Not just because it's good for me and my heart, but it seems to help with the side effects of menopause and warfarin...without adding another drug like an antidepressant.
Warfarin...I believe is a life saving drug. BUT, I have to do my part too.

BTW, if I didn't have triple thick hair, I would complain about hair loss. Right now, it's a non issue for me. Just saves money at the hair dresser.

“The first heart disease indicator to be recommended by the American Heart Association in twenty years entails only a surprisingly simple, inexpensive blood test. This high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) test takes the traditional cardiac check-up a step further, pinpointing those people who are at a much higher risk than others for heart disease, America’s leading cause of death. From hs-CRP results, doctors gain crucial insight into inflammation of the blood vessels around the heart, a factor not considered until now for patients at risk… People who have suffered a heart attack or stroke and those with at least one risk factor, such as family history, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking or diabetes, should be tested. While the American Heart Association and Centers for Disease Control just recently recommended hs-CRP testing as an option for those already at risk, The Cleveland Clinic has used the hs-CRP test routinely for at-risk patients for several years. Hs-CRP is a great test for people with one or two risk factors who wonder if they are really in jeopardy of a heart attack or a stroke (Greater than 3.0 mg/L High Risk for CVD). It’s probably less useful for people without any risk factors.” See entire article: http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/news/hot/crp.aspx
Hopefully, your physician/cardiologist will do a C-Reactive Protein (CRP) test, and based on the results of the CRP, consider a low dose statin (5mg Lipitor –split tablet in half or 10mg Zocor), instead of a high dose. See article by Dr. Cohen, Associate Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine and of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego: “Overall, the risk of death was the same with high-dose and lower-dose Lipitor. In other words, high-dose Lipitor offered no advantage in the study's most important category: preventing deaths.” See, www.medicationsense.com (HIGH-DOSE LIPITOR FOR HEART ATTACKS: HOW EFFECTIVE, HOW SAFE?)
Also see, the recent article (Feb. 2008), by Board Certified Cardiologist, Dr. Peter Langsjoen, M.D., FAAC, which details the trouble with statins and the requirement to supplement with 300mg to 600 mg of CoQ10 daily: *******/magazine/mag2008/feb2008_Alleviating-Congestive-Heart-Failure-With-Coenzyme-Q10_01.htm, as well as, CITIZEN PETITION TO CHANGE THE LABELING FOR ALL STATIN DRUGS (MEVACOR, LESCOL, PRAVACHOL, ZOCOR, LIPITOR, AND ADVICOR) RECOMMENDING USE OF 100-200mg PER DAY OF SUPPLEMENTAL CO-ENZYME Q10 TO REDUCE THE RISK OF STATIN-INDUCED MYOPATHIES (INCLUDING CARDIOMYOPATHY AND CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE). *****/OHRMS/DOCKETS/dailys/02/May02/052902/02p-0244-cp00001-01-vol1.pdf.
In closing, I hope your physician/cardiologist will consider recommending CoQ10 in addition, should he/she make the decision to prescribe the above (Low Dose Statins to reduce inflammation of the blood vessel wall/endothelium). See, the following medical research/article: ******/cgi/content/abstract/57/1/1

I began a low dosage of Maxide on 21 Feb 2006; i.e., 1/2 tablet three times/week for high blood pressure. I have a high sensitivity to any drugs (including Tylenol) or adverse reactions to them so I have never taken medications of any kind except an occasion antibiotic and fortunately I have been healthy. I just turned 61 yrs old and I still think the high blood pressure is due to my husband (LOL). My first two doses of Maxide put me in bed. I was dizzy, nauseous, my legs (toes, calves and thighs) and arms tingled and my knees were so weak I could barely stand. My heart rate soared and my back felt like my kidneys had hardened to stone consistency so that if I looked at my back in the mirror, they would be sticking out of my back. I also felt I was listing to the left, I was shaky and I was very cold. I felt really bad. Fortunately I did not have any rash. The symptoms started both days exactly 1/2 hour after taking the half tablet and subsided exactly 12 hours later. The benefit was that the following day, I felt better than I had since I can't remember when and I had tons of energy (which is new to me) except I still had a sore back.

By the second dose, in addition to the above side effects, my head felt disconnected, my neck hur and the left side of my throat and my left ear felt numb; the nausea had increased. I kept a diary of time and symptoms and faxed them to my doctor but I had taken the third dose by the time she phoned me. The second dose I took a couple hours after coffee in case the drug was interacting with caffiene. No difference.

In the meantime I had picked up some bananas at the store just because they looked good and I had eaten one not long after taking my third dose. My symptoms nearly all disappeared almost immediately. I did not connect the two until reading posts on here, so thank you for that. However, please be careful about potassium intake because an overdose can be lethal quickly.

Good luck to everyone and may you each feel better soon.