Diabetes and Warfarin?

[NotSoSweet2]

Went for my regular anticoagulant blood test last week and once again my INR levels had dropped from 3.5 to 1.2. I am aware that certain foods especially anything with vitamin K stops the warfarin medication working so well and they have now bumped up the dosage and I have to go back next week again but in the meantime has anyone else had problems with this. I explained that I need to eat eggs, green veg, etc etc as part of my diabetic diet routine at my last visit and they upped the dosage but still it continues to drop, can anyone offer any pear ls of wisdom? Thank You!

 

[zand]

Yes, I find that when I eat a healthier diet, I need a higher dose of warfarin. If I eat well for a period of 2 or 3 months my dose of warfarin needs to be 7 mgs. If I eat junk for that amount of time it can go down to 3 mgs . I have been taking warfarin continuously for 2 years ( and for a separate spell of a year a few years back). I am probably a bit 'naughty' in that I have learnt how to manipulate my INR to suit me. My target INR is 2.5, with an acceptable range of 2.0-3.0. If I have 3 portions of curly kale in a week my INR usually drops from 2.5 to 2.0. This knowledge came in very handy when I needed to have a tooth extracted a few weeks ago. I had asked my dentist if the fact that I was taking warfarin was a problem and he said that if my INR was above 4.0 he couldn't extract it, and from his point of view the lower it was , the better it was for him. So 2.0 it was.

My advice to you would be to get your diet how you want it to be and let them bump up the dosage to suit your diet. If you then lapse on the diet you may need to get your INR checked to make sure your blood isn't too thin. Be aware too that taking drugs like ibuprofen can raise INR and cough/throat sweets like Strepsils can lower it.

 

[NotSoSweet2]

Yes, I find that when I eat a healthier diet, I need a higher dose of warfarin. If I eat well for a period of 2 or 3 months my dose of warfarin needs to be 7 mgs. If I eat junk for that amount of time it can go down to 3 mgs . I have been taking warfarin continuously for 2 years ( and for a separate spell of a year a few years back). I am probably a bit 'naughty' in that I have learnt how to manipulate my INR to suit me. My target INR is 2.5, with an acceptable range of 2.0-3.0. If I have 3 portions of curly kale in a week my INR usually drops from 2.5 to 2.0. This knowledge came in very handy when I needed to have a tooth extracted a few weeks ago. I had asked my dentist if the fact that I was taking warfarin was a problem and he said that if my INR was above 4.0 he couldn't extract it, and from his point of view the lower it was , the better it was for him. So 2.0 it was.

My advice to you would be to get your diet how you want it to be and let them bump up the dosage to suit your diet. If you then lapse on the diet you may need to get your INR checked to make sure your blood isn't too thin. Be aware too that taking drugs like ibuprofen can raise INR and cough/throat sweets like Strepsils can lower it.

Thank you Zand, yes that is what I found too, the healthy the diet the lower the INR results, so they have bumped it up a bit but not enough I think, its just a pain that it was stable for a long period of time and now I have to get my bloods done every two weeks again. My target INR is 2.5. I did have a word with my diabetic dietician and she confirmed that I am eating all the right food and wants me to ask the hospital to up the warfarin dosage, its just trial and error at the moment.

 

[zand]

Yes it is trial and error. Generally my INR is OK now, but it has done weird things like shooting up to 5.5 when I was ill with a chest infection and dropping to 1.2 when I was sure I hadn't forgotten any doses.

 

[NotSoSweet2]

Yes it has gone up again now to 3.1 which is not too bad but it was stable for about 6 months and now its all over the place, its just a pain keep going back and forth to the hospital every two weeks (inbetween all the other checks) now until they get it right.