If you have atrial fibrillation, your health care provider may recommend that you take warfarin. Warfarin may increase the risk of bleeding. Careful regular monitoring of blood levels and proper dosage should keep this risk in check. Your health care provider will tell you where to go for monitoring. When properly administered, warfarin prevents 20 strokes for every major bleeding complication caused by the medicine.
Most bleeding incidents are preventable and treatable.
Certain drugs can interfere with proper anticoagulation. Talk to your physician or pharmacist for more complete information. The carotid arteries run through the neck and supply blood to the brain. When the walls of the carotid arteries are narrowed by fatty deposits known as plaque, small clots in the blood can cut off blood supply to the brain and cause a stroke. A surgical procedure known as a carotid endarterectomy clears arteries of plaque.