How do you higher your INR?

[dragonlover1971]

Can anyone help me please? I need to know how to higher my INR please.

My range should be 2.5 - 3.5 and this week's result has gone down 2.0. last week it was 2.1.

[Hidden]

Hi dragonlover1971. You must be very worried about a blood clot prospect; I hope we can help. The simple answer may be to take a higher warfarin dose but more information is needed first. What dose are you on ?, how long have you been on that dose and has it resulted in INR 2.5 to 3.5 in the past? Have you had any recent major lifestyle and diet changes, or other ailments? Have you recently started taking other medication? It would be good to know a little more to offer advice but in any event you certainly should seek medical advice from your GP or whoever is your clinical partner in anticoagulation so tell them. At 2.0 you are only just therapeutic and wouldn't want it to drop lower. All the best.

[Halifaxed]

Hello. I can't improve PBirt's advice but I'll share my experience. I was responding to the Warfarin and my INR reached 2.8 but suddenly dropped to 1.3. I found that walking 5 minutes slowly, 5 at a pace that made me breathless and another 5 to cool down contributed to turning my INR back in the right direction. I have since extended the middle 5-minutes breathless walk by 5 minutes a week and am now up to 25 minutes brisk walking. However, I also looked up lists of foods containing Vitamin K and found that my diet, which I had changed to include more vegetables, contained a lot of high Vitamin K. So, I stopped eating spinach and took other green vegetables in moderation and I think this also helped the Warfarin to raise my INR. However, your GP or anticoagulation nurse are the only ones you should trust to set your Warfarin dosage because it's potentially harmful. I also take my Warfarin at the same time every day and then go for my walk.

Ed

[dragonlover1971 in reply to Halifaxed]

many thanks Ed. I'm still trying to get used to this condition. I used to work full time but work will only let me work part time from now on! I get tired out especially my legs after walking 5 mins to my garage etc.... Hospital consultant didnt tell me anything about condition when i was discharged afew weeks ago.

[Halifaxed in reply to dragonlover1971]

Hello again. I've just read Peter's second reply. Take his advice. He's a very knowledgeable person and very kind as he shares his knowledge with everyone in this community. Don't worry. At my anticoagulation clinic, I met people whose blood just clots and have been on Warfarin for five years or more. I was the same as you when I started walking, breathless, overtaken by people twice my age, so I promised myself I would have a red hot affair with a lady I know if I got weight down and fit enough. You know, the promise of sex can be a great motivator. Now that I'm fit and strong, I don't fancy her any longer but that kept me going. After all, if I'd been motivated to get healthy, I wouldn't have become so unhealthy in the first place. No, the promise of sex - even if you decide later not to do it - is a much more powerful motivator. But don't take my word for it ...

[Hidden in reply to Halifaxed]

Halifaxed, my dear friend. Thank you very much for your kind and complimentary comments. Please remember however that I am just a patient like the rest of the community, I have no medical training and can only write from my experience and what I learn from others. I may have been taking Warfarin for 15 years but I do mean it strongly when I advise others, like dragonlover1971 to also refer back to their GP. Keep writing, your support is so important to an increasing number.

[dragonlover1971]

Dear PBirt, Dosage has increased on 19/08/13 now to 9mg's and 3 days at 9 and a half mgs! It was a slightly lower dose last week. but while i was in hospital inr went up to 3. but i was on ten mgs. I been trying to eat more veg and fruit then result went down to 2.1! I am scared incase something may happen to me.......

[Hidden in reply to dragonlover1971]

Dear dragonlover1971. Don't be scared it can be sorted. Two things you have said get my attention. 1. You are eating more veg. This can drop your INR depending which veg and what you stopped eating to make room for veg. 2. In hospital you were taking a bit higher warfarin dosage. If in hospital you were hitting the INR of 3.0 then why not go back to 10mg per day and back to your original diet?

I would do both those things but if you are less familiar with Warfarin and unsure then you should certainly get back to your GP and get his advice too.

10 mg per day of Warfarin is not massive and I know many folk taking that or even more to achieve INR 2.5 - 3.5. It is important to get a steady dose which gets a stable INR and only then start experimenting with varying your diet. Hang in there and don't panic, you'll get the hang of it.

Peter

[Tipper]

You need also to be aware that any change in warfarin dose takes 2/3 days to have the desired effect due to the slow metabolism of warfarin by the body.

If I find my INR is towards my upper or lower limits I decrease/increase the next dose only by up to 3mg to get it back in line and then revert straight back to my normal 9mg dose. I self-test and manage my own doseage so I can usually predict my INR when I test. A decrease in dosage of 3mg works well if I've had a couple of sherries!

[rosyG]

I am new to wafarin but am now self testing and stable. I was unstable at first but then worked out rough equivalents of green vegetables and carrots- also stopped kale and spinach as they are so high in vitamin K. I have looked up fit K content of all foods I eat. You need Vit K in normal amounts but should make sure you have roughly the same amounts each day. Hope this helps!