> It really depends on why you need anticoagulants to begin with.

Of course. I have atrial fibrillation and it is more or less standard medication for that in the UK (along with god knows how much other stuff). My (late) Dad had the same problems as me, and he was never confident he had taken the right amount of warfarin. But if you have heart valves, stents or whatever, or indeed anything, please don't take this as medical advice - IANAD.