My NEW doctor is a "Breath Of Fresh Air"..

[Christina]

Hi to all,

As many of you know by now, I was having a terrible time finding a nice doctor to assist me with my Coumadin dosages, as I don't want to be totally on my own with this. I also wanted someone that had decent "bedside" manners, and not some arrogant, egotistical jerk like I had before.
Well, I believe I have found him today. He's an Internist, and he knows his stuff. Also easy to talk to, which is very important to me. Have to feel comfortable!
I was nervous as heck, and my blood pressure was way up this time. Normally I have very low blood pressure. The only time I can remember being high was when I had to go in for Pre-op. At that time I thought I was going to hyperventilate, that's how nervous I was. Sweat was dripping off my face.
This afternoon I felt quite flustered and warm.
Anyway, he's all for the "Protime Microcoagulation System", and he's going to let me test at home. If no problems occur he wants to see me every three months. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He believes I should stay within 2.5 and 4.
I asked him if I could come in sometime and demonstrate the unit, and show them how it is done. He told me that would be fine, and I only have to call and let them know when I am coming. I thought I was dreaming. This was too easy!
They are still doing the veinous draws at his office, but maybe I can do some fast talking and who knows!!!
Anyway, the machine works like a charm! Did a check this evening and my INR was 2.8. I have been on my own since I fired the last doctor 3 weeks ago. Have kept the Coumadin steady and been doing "GREAT"!
Just wanted all of you to know that when you keep looking for the right person, you might just find him/her. I did!

Christina
Aortic Stenosis
AVR 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's mechanical
Coumadin

 

[Kevin M]

This is great news. I was wondering about your situation earlier today because you mentioned that you had an appointment this week sometime.

It's far nicer to work with someone with a decent attitude, isn't it?
Glad to hear you found someone supportive to help you.
Kev

 

[Hank]

Allright Christina!!

Allright Christina!!

Nice work woman!!

Glad to see that you found a decent doc. And more than that, it's nice to see a doc that doesn't stress out about an INR above 3.5!! I try to keep mine between 3.0 and 4.0. My doc seems to feel the same way and she's an internist also. I think it's better when they haven't had so many years to get arrogant.

Anyway - I'm happy for you and feel better about your situation.

We Arizona folks should get together sometime...

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Great news Christina. Makes sleeping at night a lot easier. My former hematologist had a tight leash on me. His nurses messed around with me so much that I was all over the place. Finally did what you did and adjusted myself. He was a wonderful doctor and very highly respected...but was one of those over cautious types. He absolutely would not prescribe the Coaguchek for me. Went to my cardiologist for that. Though, the cardio is not the one to talk to regarding regulation....nor is his nurse so I am pretty much on my own and have been fine for the past 7 months with an occasional lab check. My internist does not trust home testing at all so is very quick to draw an INR when I see him. Maybe he will get the hint one of these days too.

Anyway, good luck to you. Sounds like things are turning around.

 

[hensylee]

Good news Christina - One small leap for man, one giant leap for woman. Congratulations that you can do it yourself.

Got a call about my bro's INR yesterday - he's at 4.1 and they keep changing his dosages, which confuses him (he has other prblms causing his confusion) so they tell me and I tell him, then he calls to see if it's right!! It's been a couple mos now and every two weeks I hope they tell me all is ok - not so, so far. Guess you just keep on keepin on.

 

[Christina]

Hi...

When I came home today from my usual Tuesday walk at the mall with my heart buddy "AzPam" (she'still lurking, but is a member of VR.com) I received a call from my new doctor. I just about fell off my chair that he personally took the time to call, and gave me the results of my INR test that was performed at his office yesterday. It was 2.5, so a bit low he said. The Protime machine results were 2.8, so not too far off, but we both agreed that I should bump the Coumadin up to 19mg a day. I was at 19 every other day. He would like me to check again in 3-4 days.
What a pleasant surprise!

And yes Hank.. us AZ folks ought to get together. Be willing to come to Casa Grande or all the way to Mesa.. No biggie!
You have the BBQ, and I'll bring the desert... How's that?

Christina
Aortic Stenosis
AVR 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's mechanical
Coumadin

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Great news again. Your on a roll!

Christina it still floors me that you take 19mg a day. Can you share your diet with us? It must be very very high in K.

Just curious....

 

[Christina]

Hi Gina..

I'll gladly do that. It is very simple and might sound boring to some people.

This is what I really ate yesterday and today.

8/13/01

Breakfast.
Whey Protein drink, made with 8 oz. water, 1 scoop protein powder, 4 frozen strawberries, 2 pkg. splenda, 1 tbs. real cream.
Lots of water throughout the morning.

Lunch.
1 BBQ chicken breast, approx. 5-6 oz.
1 toasted bagel w/ mozzerella cheese.
soda, approx. 50 oz. and drank that until it got warm.. LOL!

Dinner

3 oz. cottage cheese
2 corn tortillas with cheese.
water

8/14/01

Breakfast.
2 corn tortillas w/cheese
approx. 1.5 oz. of mozzeralla cheese
3 oz. cottage cheese
1 cup cocoa drink made with 8 oz water unsweetened cocoa, 1 tbs. cream, 3 pkg. splenda

Lunch
3 oz. rotisserie chicken
1 small bowl of salad w/ Ranch dressing
water

Dinner
salmon
bowl of cauliflower with a little real butter and Molly Mcbutter for seasoning.
1 cup cocoa, made the same as above.

I eat pretty much the same thing every day. Chicken, fish, turkey, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese and some beef for protein.
I eat very little carbs, and are mostly vegetables, small salads and whole/frozen fruits.

Weekends we will go out at times and I LOVE chinese foods. Must have been chinese in one of my previous lives! Will chose curry chicken, mongolian chicken, Cashew chicken. I love those hot braised green beans, but will only eat part of it, and take the rest home. This restaurant offers brown rice, so we'll have that instead of the steamed white rice.

For snacks, I snack on whole nuts, cheese, but mostly I am not that hungry at night.

I drink very little, but I'll have a margarita a couple times a year and will have a glass of wine when it is sweet enough.

My vitamins and minerals are as follows.

6000mg vitamin C. 3000 morning, 3000 evening
Total EFS's 2 tabs a day. (3 tabs recommended) 1 morning, 1 evening.
Ingredients: Flax seed oil, Borage seed oil, Fish oils and mixed tocopherols.
Natural vitamin E. D-alphatocopherol 400 IU per day, plus my multi vite has some in it as well.
Glucosamine, 3 tabs, 1 morning, 1 lunch, 1 dinner.
Selenium 200 mcg, 2 tabs a day. 1 morning, 1 evening.
Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D. 400 IU.
1200 mg a day, 600 morning, 600 before bed.
High Potency Multi Vite and mineral. 2 tabs a day. 1 morning, 1 evening.
Immune Plus with Colostrum (Infinity Product) This is to strengthen the immune system so I won't get strep and colds. Have had strep again this past spring.
1 tab at breakfast.

At night before bed I take 1 troche of Natural HRT. This is for menopause, and let me tell you, it makes all the difference in my life! Talk about relief!! The syntetic stuff just doesn't work.

I exercise approx. 5 x per week now. 3x weight training and 2x cardiovascular. If I have the energy after weight training I'll also do another 30-45 minutes of cardio training. Weekends off.

This is it!

PS..I told you my diet is boring!!!...

Hugs!

Christina
Aortic Stenosis
AVR 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St. Jude's mechanical
Coumadin (19 mg a day right now)

 

[LUVMyBirman]

Hi Christina

Your diet is not too boring. You defiantly eat and or supplement a lot better than I.

Did I read you Vit C. daily intake correctly. 6000mg? I know for sure that excessive amounts of C will lower your INR.

Glad it's working for you!

Take care

 

[Mb]

Hi!

Just want to comment on the Multi Vitamin. My husbands Dr. took him off of the daily dose of vitamin, as it contains K. Thought you might want to check on that!!!!

 

[Christina]

Hi Gina..

In answer to your question if I really take 6000mg of Vitamin C a day. Yes, I take the whole 6000. Will even up it when I feel something coming on. My husband takes 8-10.000 a day. We have taken high amounts of C for many years already without ill effects. It is just 1000 mg of Ascorbic Acid per tab with 100mg of dried Rose Hips, and no mention of vitamin K.
I quit taking vitamins right after my surgery on doctors orders and added them back one by one. It really did not make much difference at all in the INR. It did make a difference in the way my knee felt. I had a hard time walking as my knee hurt so badly, but as soon as I added the calcium/magnesium/zink and glucosamine back, the pain in my knee subsided and went away. No problem anymore.
I believe if I would quit taking the EFA's and the E (natural oils will thin the blood more), maybe that would make a difference in the INR.
It doesn't say that the Multi has vitamin K in it, so go figure! For the rest as you can see, I really don't eat a lot of vitamin K foods. I really love all the green stuff and would like to have more, but with already so much Coumadin I am afraid to add more to my diet.
Someone wrote me that some people just metabolize Coumadin faster than others. I might be one of those people, who knows!

Have a great day!

Christina