Warfarin is rat poison

I take Warfarin, the most widely prescribed anticoagulant in North America.  Did you know it was first used as a pesticide to kill rats and mice?  Yes, that's right.  A medicine that is preventing deadly clots was not even designed for this purpose.  You can read Warfarin's history here.

It's been almost 17 months since the PE diagnosis but I'm not out of the woods yet.  I have been taking blood thinners or anticoagulants since November 28, 2008.  I added a counter to the blog to put that time into perspective.  The time has flown by.  514 days.  That's a lot of pills.

Since that fateful November 2008 day, I have taken, on average, 1.5 pills each day.  My pills are 5mg of Warfarin Sodium.  They are peach colored and have a horrible taste.  Of course, you are supposed to swallow them but sometimes after cutting one in half with my trusty pill cutter some of the powder lands on my tongue.

Back of the Napkin Calculations

So far I have taken 769.5 pills and a little more than 1 gram of Warfarin.  This is enough to kill approximately 1,000 rats.  Although rats have developed an immunity to the regular Warfarin, there's a Super Warfarin specifically used to control the rodent population.

With all this pill popping, I won't have anything to look forward to when I'm in my golden years.  I already have a turquoise days-of-the-week pill box and a pill cutter. What more could a 28-year-old want?