Hi Christine,
I know nothing above lovenox, but I looked up its name, Enoxaparin,
and did a search of the group. The post below was from an MD (message
33842). He would be worth contacting I htink - particularly since he
is in our group and has some ideas for alternatives to this drug.
Admittedly he is talking about strokes, but seems to understand this
medication.
I have included the post here (apologies for length - didnt want to
trim too much)
Please pass my best wishes to Mary and your family,
Peter
-----------------
Avoid Massive Strokes Naturally
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon recently
suffered a catastrophic stroke. He remains in
a coma as I write. This wasn?t Sharon?s first
stroke. He suffered a very minor stroke just
a few weeks prior to this one.
You may think that the second stroke was caused
by the first. But in fact, the two strokes were
very different and had different causes. The
tragedy is Sharon could have avoided both
strokes.
The first stroke was an ischemic stroke. It was
caused when a clot left his heart and lodged in
his brain. Immediately following that stroke,
doctors put Sharon on a blood thinner. And that?s
what caused a major bleed in Sharon?s brain - a
deadly hemorrhagic stroke.
According to the Associated Press, "Experts agree
that while the blood thinner, an anticoagulant
called enoxaparin, did not cause the blood vessel
in Sharon?s head to burst, the bleeding would
probably not have been so severe if he had not
been taking the medication."
Still, doctors defend the practice of using blood
thinners to treat stroke patients. "The doctors
were responding to that first stroke properly
with the use of blood thinners," said Dr. Keith
Siller, medical director of the Comprehensive
Stroke Care Center at New York University. "That
comes with a price. The price is the increased
risk of brain hemorrhage, which is what happened
in this case."
What does that mean for the millions of American
on blood thinners for atrial fibrillation? Are
they destined to suffer massive strokes like
Ariel Sharon when they?re placed on thinners?
It?s a very real possibility. While this study
on one person proves nothing, it should send
alarm bells. Hemorrhagic stroke in the brain
is usually far more crippling than an ischemic
stroke. The bleed displaces and compresses tissue,
even far from where the bleeding occurs. And in
the very limited space of your rigid skull, there?s
just no room for compression.
Blood thinners do more than increase your risk of
hemorrhagic stroke. They bring other nasty side
effects, too. They stop vitamin K action. Vitamin
K makes clotting factors in your liver. It?s also
critical in laying down calcium in your bones.
It?s a largely unknown critical factor in keeping
calcium out of your arteries as well. So blood
thinners are a prescription for osteoporosis. I
know many people who developed this scourge after
their doctors put them on the drug.
The truth is most people with atrial fibrillation
never develop clots. They have a clotting system
that?s operating normally. Those who do develop
clots have other non-heart risks for thick blood.
These include deficiencies in nutrients that have
been proven to help regulate the body?s clotting
mechanisms.
I?ve repeatedly told you of many of these alterna-
tives to blood thinners. But it can be a hard sell,
due to the pervasive influence of conventional
doctors. I?ve recommended these nutrients to my
patient with atrial fibrillation for years. And
I have never seen a clotting event in any of them.
So what are these nutrients? They include omega-3
fatty acids, vitamin E, bioflavonoids (such as ginkgo),
and natural clotting modulators in their diet (such
as garlic). And there?s an even better nutrient for
regulating your clotting system - nattokinase. This
nutrient is made from fermented soy. And it normalizes,
or optimizes, your blood?s clotting system.
These nutrients don?t cause bleeding problems because
they restore your clotting system to what it should be.
If you have atrial fibrillation, you don?t have to
suffer the same fate as Ariel Sharon. Before you
embark on risky blood thinners, ask your alternative
physician for a program to optimize your clotting
system. Doing so should ensure that you?re more
protected from both types of stroke than you would
be with blood thinners.
Should I ever get atrial fibrillation, I would avoid
the risky drugs and follow the nutrient program I just
told you about. I wish Ariel Sharon and his doctors
had this information. It could have prevented both of
the strokes he suffered.
Yours for medical freedom,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD
