Quirky INR

[greg]

A rather strange, or at least unexpected, change if my INR showed up when it was tested yesterday.
A month ago INR was 2.6. My wife and I had just started a diet.
After a month of eating healthier foods like fruits, veggies, soups made of veggies, salads, lots of green stuff and cutting way back on meats and fats (MacD's fries are out) my INR jumped to 4.3....
For 3 years my INR has been easy to control and has caused no problem to speak of. That is why I haven't got very serious about home testing. I only get it checked, on average, every 5/6 weeks.
Got worried about the new diet and went in early. OOPS, darn thing went in the opposite direction from what I expected.
It's not a big problem and not too far out. I'm just wondering if anyone else has had a simular expierence.
On the bright side......I'm now 18 lbs smaller. Hope I have what it takes to keep it off.
Thanks
Greg

 

[geebee]

It is possible you might have been eating something prior to the diet that was high in Vit. K. It is also possible that what you were eating affected how the coumadin was absorbed by your body.

You are correct in that changing to a diet like you described usually lowers the INR. However, this is certainly a good example of why testing shortly after making life altering adjustments is a good idea.

 

[Blanche]

18 pounds in one month

18 pounds in one month

Greg,
I sure would like to know what you did to lose 18 pounds in a month.

My husband has been on Coumadin for 16 years and I have been on it for less than a year. It is interesting to see that we both eat the same things, but have different INRs because of differences in activty and in medication. There are also factors that we can not isolate. I've had the same dose from the start. His dose varies.

Please don't worry about the 4.3 INR (I would have expected the opposite direction too.) While it is higher that we like, Al gets a INR of 4.3 often. His range, because of special circumstances, is 3.0 to 4.0.

Just think of all of the benefits of a healthy diet and adjust your dose accordingly.

Kind regards,
Blanche

 

[greg]

Blanche,
You're right, 4.3 is nothing to get too excited about. I just found it odd that it went up not down.
18 lbs is because I had plenty to work with and my wife joined weight watchers. I didn't realize at the time, but I joined by default.
Hasn't hurt me a bit either.

greg

 

[catwoman]

Greg:

Your INR went up because you've reduced the amount of fats & oils in your diet, even if you've increased the amount of green things.
Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, and there is vitamin K in oils & fats. Also in egg yolks, butter, etc.

My INR increased when I joined Weight Watchers in June 2004. Even though I was eating more green things & exercising more, my INR went up. The drop in fats & oils is the only explanation my PCP & I could determine.
I relayed the information to my Weight Watchers group leader, in case any other new member was on warfarin.
I adjusted my warfarin dosage a little, then increased it as I ate more and more vegetables and my activity level increased more.

I weighed about 120-130 in high school & college and I'm about 5'7".
As my valve deteriorated, I became more sedate and my weight increased. On 6/23/2003, I weighed 199.
When I joined Weight Watchers I was at 184.5 pounds. I became a lifetime member 12/30/04 and have kept the weight off. I usually weigh about 145-148 pounds now. I still attend meetings & weigh in once a month.