What are the consequences of heparin after a hemorrhagic stroke?

Question

My mother had a hemorrhagic stroke.  About a week later I discovered that an injection they were giving her in her abdomen was heparin, and when I told them her stroke was hemorrhagic, they stopped administering it.  I know they had been giving her an abdominal shot for at least a few days  before that.

She's not improving nearly as fast as the doctors were expecting.  There's still blood in her brain 5 weeks after the stroke.  Is that normal?  We're not getting consistent answers.  I realize stroke recoveries have a lot of variable but...could the heparin have compromised her recovery?  Is there anything we can do?

nochocolate · Accepted Answer

Of course it compromised her recovery.

Apples · Answer

Most strokes are caused by clots, which is why they administer a blood thinner like heparin. A hemorrhagic stroke is where a blood vessel breaks and isn't caused by a clot. It sounds like a pretty big eff up on the part of the hospital staff, and would definitely cause a bad recovery.

I'm studying to be a midwife, so I understand some basics about this kind of thing but I'm definitely not an expert. I would think that essentially the blood thinner would have prevented her body from being able to properly clot to fix the broken vessel. This could potentially have endangered her life while it was still being administered, but now that they've stopped her body should be able to normalise and then heal. It will just take her longer to get better.

I really hope your mother gets better soon and makes a full recovery. I would also look into following this up with the hospital to find out how such a monumental screw up could have happened.

Priestess Maighread Birdsong · Answer

I do not know about this particular situation but I can tell you what happened to me. 
When I was younger I had a Laparoscopy. I had an aching in my left leg the next day and they gave me heprian. I then began to hemorrhage inside of my stomach cavity and nearly died! I awoke some time later in the intensive care unit they were giving my morphine and had me sign papers while under its influence saying I would not prosecute this malpractice. That was a county Hospital so When I got well enough to walk I got the heck out of there and never wanted to go back. However I had to because of uncontrollable vomiting due to a morphine addiction. After I stopped throwing up and felt a bit better I left that darn place never to return. 
Heparin can be a helpful drug to diminish blood clots but if there is any woulds it only serves to make the patient to bleed faster by thinning out the blood. So I would get an outside opinion on your mother's condition. Bright Blessings and GOOD LUCK! ~M~

What are the consequences of heparin after a hemorrhagic stroke?

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