Hello everyone - Having experienced a TIA at the beginning of February and having been admitted to hospital for a couple of days then diagnosed with A-Fib a few weeks later following monitoring with a portable ECG, I discovered and registered on this site and have found the comments both informative and useful. I am still very much a newcomer to the terminology and drug dosages and what they do, hence my delay in introducing myself so please be gentle and bear with me .... I was diagnosed in 2010 with Gallstones and have managed that condition with a low fat diet and weight loss (16.5 stone down to a steady 11.5 stone - with the help of the MyNetDiary App). Reducing Saturated Fat intake and increasing foods such as kale, spinach, broccoli, avocado (all green stuffs) into my diet (plus a drink of fresh lemon juice squeezed into a cup of warm water before breakfast each morning) which seemed to work for me .... UNTIL NOW. Now it looks like a complete rethink of the diet plan to minimise the Vitamin K reactions to the medications. I am currently taking 1.25mg Bisoprolol Fumarate and 15mg Lansoprazole first thing in the morning, 4mg of Warfarin at 6.00pm and 40mg Atorovastatin at bed time. I have ceased the daily fresh lemon juice in the morning just in case it has an adverse effect combined with the Lansoprazole dose. Regarding comments made by member Vonnieruth about Alcohol intake, I have to say that I do have a glass of wine with my evening meal and have done for years, so now stick to a 175ml glass rather than being tempted to have a top up. I have always been one who has avoided tablets of any kind where possible unless the odd course of antibiotics has been prescribed over the years, so all of this is very new to me. It is probable that I have had A-Fib for a few years without realising it, just putting any chest flutter down to an odd stress or panic related attack, I have also experienced the occasional ocular migraine episode when entering buildings supermarkets or garden centres with artificial lighting, and seem to recall seeing a similar comment about this somewhere. That's my potted history which may or may not strike a chord, but I look forward to seeing comments, sharing experiences and supporting members in the future - by the way, I am a 68 year old male ....
AF Learning Curve (all new to me) - Atrial Fibrillati...
AF Learning Curve (all new to me)
Hello AFHenz 
welcome...
I think most of us here are on a 'learning curve' new research is ongoing and we still have much to learn about our condition.
One of the many good things about belonging to AFA is we get to hear of all the latest thinking on AF and there is always someone who has had a similar experience to your own so can understand your situation.
Hi and welcome. Im new here myself but have been made to feel so welcome.I'm also finding my way .
Looks as though we are much in the same boat here Vonnieruth 👍
Hi and welcome .Always nice to have someone in same boat as yourself
Welcome to our world. Please do go to AF Association website and read all you can as knowledge is power.
One thing I would say is do not change your diet to suit warfarin. The actual dose you take is irrelevant as what matters is the resulting INR so with all those green veggies one can say that any slight variation in diet will be percentage wise much less than for some others. OK you may need to take more warfarin but 4mg is a very low dose indeed. I know some people on 18Mg for the same target of 2.5INR !
Welcome to the forum. Feel free to ask any questions and remember there's no such thing as a daft one.
I wonder if you would mind telling me more about your TIA e.g. how did you know you'd had it and how did you feel, looking back did you have any warnings?
Jean
Thank you for the welcome jeanjeannie50 .... Regarding TIA, no warnings at all other than hearing a strange for want of a better explanation "snorting sound" turned out to be the sound of my breathing, looked in mirror and mouth and right side of face had dropped. Tried to speak to my wife but words came out all gobbledygook, that's about it really ....
Hello AFHenz, clearly you have worked hard at improving your lifestyle and reaped the benefits of all your efforts. As has been said, the dosages for warfarin can be planned around your preferred diet rather that it being around the other way. However, it might be worth looking at one of the DOAC’s which have minimal effect on diets, especially useful bearing in mind the amount of healthy green stuff you eat. If you haven’t heard of them, type DOAC’s and separately NOAC’s (exact the same thing) into the search box top left of this page. They are anticoagulants which have become very popular for a variety of different reasons, not least because you don’t need regular INR blood tests. If it is something you would like to consider, there is a lot of information about all the various type of anticoagulant available on the AF Association webpage. Any one here would be happy to share their experiences too....the one I take is Apixaban.....all the best.......
Many thanks for the comments and pointers there Flapjack, I did seriously consider the other options to Warfarin but decided that of all of the choices available, Warfarin for me had the edge purely because of the length of time it has been used and studies that have been done. I agree with the diet advice that has been given and tend to follow the "most things in moderation" approach ....
How fortunate we are that we have choices. I resisted taking any anticoagulant for five years until my family Doctor painted a convincing picture of what my life could become.
I now take Zarelto because it is not affected by diet and I don't require blood tests for it. It also had no side effects like I had when starting to take Bisoprolol a few years back.
I also believe a daily 5Km walk is the best pill we can take.
Sounds like you have a persuasive doctor there Pickone, but I know what you mean about choices (even though they can be difficult). So far I have had no side effects with drugs taken but will note your comments. One thing I have done is make sure I now carry a mobile phone which carries the Find Friends App for my daily walks out in the countryside .... Just in case.
Welcome, great group to join and some really nice poeple with good sound advice in here and I'm Sure you will get loads of Help and advice, with more than ample support I've found.
Thank you Andoiduser, a subject I knew little about but learning fast. Just have to get my head around the acronyms used ....
Hi AFhenz
Congratulations on your weight loss, the only thing you haven't mentioned is exercise? have you got a fitbit or similar? 10,000 steps a day? Walk a daily mile?
I am 73 and live on a slight hill and have within the last year attended the funerals of 6 of my neighbours who all had a very limited inclination to take any exercise apart getting into their cars. Their spirit was willing but ….
I think that regular gentle exercise along the lines of walking or similar, with a decaff coffee shop in the middle has helped me a lot. I am fortunate in that I have friends to walk with and we go out in all weather. I have permanent afib and I think I've got it cornered for the time being. So all the best, fight the good fight, and enjoy life.
Thanks lanc2 for the advice. I appreciate the comments on regular and steady excercise, I don't have a FitBit, only 3 dogs - Need I say more 
If you don't mind my asking, did you have any blood pressure/hypertension problems before your TIA and did your weight loss change/ affect your blood pressure?
Don't mind you asking at all. No BP issues in fact I always thought it may be on the low side as I sometimes used to feel light headed on waking after habitual evening nap (probably not with hindsight as I passed out briefly just before Christmas) Low cholesterol levels too when taken, though I must admit I seldom visited doctor in the past.
Welcome to the forum. As I can see you are keen on informing yourself and learning the in's and out's, you will find this place fascinating and informative. I admit it, I've become addicted.
On today's posts there is a link to a Dr Sanjay Gupta video where he argues that AF was not the cause of your TIA. The phrase commonly used is "the company it keeps". With that view in mind, maybe you should adjust the Warfarin dose to suit your diet, rather than the other way around, as BobD suggested?
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