long weekend of heavy drinking + coumadin = ??

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Duff Man

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Hey guys, if I drank heavily this weekend... like more than I have in several years... should I be concerned or do anything like recheck my INR sooner than the prescribed 4 weeks from now?

Also, what typically happens to a person's INR when they drink? Does it tend to increase or decrease?

Thanks for your help
 
Unless you intend to continue your heavy drinking on a regular basis (daily, every couple of days), why would you want to test any sooner than your usual schedule?
If you didn't increase your intake of non-alcoholic fluids, it will probably be higher than usual if you test in about 3-4 day, due to dehydration that's common with drinking.

I just wouldn't make a point of heavy drinking. Too darned expen$ive -- unless someone else is treating you.
I wanted a margarita @ lunch today, but not at $6.50. Would be cheaper to fix one at home, but I'm too cheap even for that.
 
Haha, I am pretty cheap too, but my best bud got married. I can not afford to drink like that financially or physically. I will not last long if I do... it was an extraordinary weekend. :D

I kinda figured that I should just continue the normal program, but I wanted to see if you folks thought differently. Thank you.
 
I actually have no idea of the effect---but, I would be concerned that the efforts of the liver to strain out the alcohol might have the unintended consequence of simultaneously straining out the warfarin. I assume the body sees both of them as something to be eliminated. This might be worth a little work with google.
 
Duff MAn I have no idea about the meds but the drinking may require you to practice
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....I'm just saying .........
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If you were drinking red wines -- and a LOT of wine -- there may be an issue. (We've covered this in other threads). Drinking hard liquor or mixed drinks probably shouldn't have much significant effect.

The liver deals with alcohol differently from the way it processes warfarin. Unless you've got liver problems, you probably shouldn't worry.

I'm not a big fan of monthly testing - even if you're stable. (And I'm one to talk - in the past, I went MUCH longer than a month between tests).

One of the mantras many here have repeated is that you should be consistent in diet and activity. Drinkig a lot over a great weekend is certainly inconsistent -- if your diet changed during that weekend (lots of salads, perhaps?), your INR may be effected by that change. SO - sum total - if diet changed, activity changed, and you add alcohol to the mix, it MAY be possible that there's some effect on your INR. At least, it might be, in my opinion.


(If you had your own meter and were able to self-test, this whole discussion may have been moot)
 
Duff Man:
Seriously, it's not just an INR to be concerned about with heavy drinking.
As at least one other has pointed out, alcohol -- like warfarin -- is metabolized by the liver. If your liver becomes damaged by drinking, that can affect metabolism of a lot of drugs -- including warfarin.
Two more risks of heavy drinking:
1. gastrointestinal bleeds.
2. falls, leading to subdural hematomas.

It's OK to have 2 or 3 or X drinks on one occasion. You'll be somewhat dehydrated and sleep it off. But as far as doing it routinely ...

I never used to be concerned about subdural hematomas. But now I am. I'm sure I'd be concerned even if I weren't on warfarin, what with the risk of slipping on icy sidewalks going to/from cars, etc. I did a lot of stuff as a kid and younger adult that I would no longer do, now that I know what can happen -- like diving off a wharf at Lake Texoma. Never gave it a thought, and I'm darned glad I never hit anything.
 
Duff, open bar at your best bud's wedding sounds like a blast and you are probably young enough to get away
with it, but I would be checking my INR today or tomorrow if that was me. Most people get somewhat dehydrated
from a boozing bender and that will cause the INR to rise.
How about calling your doc and see if u can get tested sooner rather than later ?
Best wishes.
 
DuffMan........ just let us know you're okay. Got a few of us 'a tiny bit' concerned.

Sorry guys, I'm ok. I feel like checking tomorrow would be prudent. The nurse lady told me to go on the 7th, but I just feel like its time... especially since I've been taking an antibiotic. It's called Cefdinir, and the doc said it isn't supposed to have an effect on INR. Being that Coumadin is a highly protein bound drug, its hard for me to believe any drug or even vitamins don't have an effect on one's inr.


The bar was on me for his bachelor "party", but the wedding night was all you can drink PBR and Labatt Blue / Light.
 
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I gotta say that I go tilt every once in a while. We go for Mexican food and the next thing I know we are doing Margarita shots at the local watering hole after dinner. I take 40mg a week (6mg 5 days, 5 mg 2 days). If I have a big evening of "celebrating" what I have done is cut my next day dose in half. That was the advice I received from the clinic.

What I have learned is to setup my checks on Friday instead of Monday. Im on the straight and narrow Monday through Friday and it seems Monday testing would impact my results depending on what I did that weekend.
 

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