Warfarin increase to 9mg - daily

[Tezzer1]

My mother's warfarin has been increased to 7.5mg & 9mg daily (alternate days in dosage). She is concerned that the dosage has increased. Would you recommend vitamin k? - Does this supplement vitamin help to decrease the dosage or just help keep things steady/consistent? Thanks

[Hidden]

Hi,

I wouldn't be too alarmed about the increase.

What advice have your INR Nurse/Clinic offered, is she out of therapeutic range. What sort of food does she eat. Y'know the one thing warfarin adores is consistency in diet. What have you in mind by thinking of vitamin K supplement ?

Bear in mind we are all different and respond in different ways and bear in mind I am not a healthcare professional I would leave well alone. What frequency of INR testing are we talking about here?

Sorry can't be more help.

John

[BobD Volunteer]

INR depends on diet and how a person metabolises warfarin. The dose is not important as only the INR matters. I know people on 16Mg a day!

Taking Vit K lowers INR but taking it regularly can stabilise INR even at a higher warfarin doseage. Any percentage dietary changes in Vit K intake are proportionately less if you take it as a supplement every day. .

All that said if I were you I would do nothing and see how things balance out.

[Vonnieruth]

I would ask her GP about supplement They can be as bad as they can be good You have to take in account your mums average vit K intake also

Her dosage may be dropped next time her bloods are done It could be simply something she has eaten or taken that has altered her readings this time

[san_ray70 in reply to Vonnieruth]

Every time my husband has had to take antibiotics he is put on a higher dose, he has to go for tests more often. At the minute he goes every 3 months, since he was diagnosed 3 years ago he has not had any problems. He is 67 now and I hope we both live a lot longer.

[MarkS]

Vit K (particularly K2) would help stabilise her INR. However it would also increase slightly the amount of warfarin she requires.

The amount is not really relevant, it varies hugely between people. I'm on 8.5mg p.d. Alternating 7.5 and 9 p.d. seems like a recipe for failure to me. Why not just make it 8 or 8.5mg every day?

Warfarin is great if you want to be in charge of your anticoagulation (and not vice versa), but that does mean fully understanding the link between INR, food and warfarin dose.

[Barb1]

The easiest and worry free route would be to change to another anti coagulant that doesn't need regular testing. Why don't you ask her GP about that?

[Tezzer1]

Many thanks to all who replied to my comment. I'll recommend to my mother to consult with her GP. My mother currently has frequent blood tests conducted by the the hospital and they then provide the dosage. There may be a conflict here but my mother's GP should provide an explanation re INR etc. Thanks all