On Coumadin-forgot my Vitamin K food yesterday--Can I eat more today??

[loretta1106]

Yikes, for the first time I totally did not eat anything with Vitamin K yesterday except for grapes. Should eat more than usual today or just go back on track for the rest of the week.

[Lure2]

Hi Loretta, I did not know that grapes contained vit K. I eat broccoli and/or brysselsprouts. You can eat a little more of it if you like today. Do your INR go up and down a lot in a short time or is it rather stable?

Best wishes to you from Kerstin in Stockhom .

[loretta1106 in reply to Lure2]

Hi Kerstin: One cup of grapes have about 1/4 of my daily allowance of vit K= 25 mcg (in usa it's 100 mcgs for my daily allowance. My inr has been stable for the past few weeks and I'm getting it tested on Tuesday. I have learned to blanch broccoli and freeze it in baggies so that I have plenty on hand but I have a veggie dinner last night but just realized I had a cup of carrots which then is another 25 mcg so I had only about 50% of my daily allowance. The MD said if my INR is good this week, I don't have to go back for a month which is usual once stable in the usa--no home monitoring here.

Best wishes to you also. It's a beautiful Labor Day Weekend here in the US.

[GinaD]

It takes the body around 72 hours for vitamin K to go from mouth to blood. So, while we are indeed standing on a balance beam balancing the effects of diet and meds, the effects of changes play out in slow motion and also defuse over time. In other words, the inhibitory power of K on platelet production will not be a sudden on or off thing.

So yes, in my subjective experience, eating a bit more K on a day after for one reason or another one ate less, will even things out.

Gina

[loretta1106 in reply to GinaD]

Thank so much Gina. Wow, I learn so much here. I don't know what I'd do without this forum.

[Lure2]

But I must say that for me K-vitamin rich vegatbles like broccoli or brusselspouts take less than 72 hours to change my INR (to blood-effect) . I think that is individual. Mostly it takes less than 24 hours.

I have been rather ill with fever and cough the last week and perhaps because of that my INR have changed wildly. I selftest as you know .

Yesterday morning I took a test with my machine and had 4.6. I eat at once 8 brusselsprouts and for dinner even also some broccoli. This morning when i tested I had 3.6. I eat just now the normal amount of broccoli as I always do. The INR had changed within 24 hours as it always do with vit.K.

I have noticed when I have too high INR that when I eat K-vit rich vegetables (those STRONG ones like broccoli or brysselsprouts that contain much K-vit) it takes less than 24 hours to lower my INR.

BUT if I like THIS WEEK have too low INR (I had less than 2-5 this wednesday) and I know by experiance that I am very sensitive on warfarin tablets I took 1/2 tablet EXTRA on wednesday (checked also with my hospital nurse). NO vitamin K-rich vegetables during these two days. it will take to Saturday morning before rhe INR has increased. So Saturday morning i had 4.6. Today 3.6.

This was unusual. I had 2.4 on Wednesday (never had that since I started warfarin in 2011 ) and 2.8 on Thursday, Friday 3.0 and Saturday 4.6. I had increased 1/2 extra (normallly I take 2 tablets of 2.5 mg) and eat no K-vitamin food

For me it takes much longer to get the INR up with warfarin than to get it down with K-vit vegs. That is me. We are all different. BUT I think I am not alone.

Kerstin

[purple in reply to Lure2]

I am fairly new to Warfarin and my level has been ok. (not self testing though) I didn't know it was so important to be watching my diet so closely, so have just got on with it, eating the foods I normally have, avoiding overdosing on foods with lots of vit K. What do you think?

[Lure2 in reply to purple]

Hallo Purple, How long have you been on warfarin and what it your therapeutic range?How often do you cheque the INR?

We are all different! I have for example the antibody Lupus Anticoagulant and 3 more antibodies and in high values. Last week I had fever and had very changing values in one week. Today it is normal again. People without APS have the same stable INR most of the time.

If you feel well on your values and they are steady and the clinic is satisfied. That is good! Well done.

Best wishes from Kerstin in Stockholm

[loretta1106 in reply to purple]

Honestly, I'm only on Warfarin since March and I'm definitely no expert. I'd say if your level has been ok, you're doing well. Keep doing what you've been doing and talk to your doctor if you have any doubts or questions.

[loretta1106 in reply to Lure2]

Hi Kerstin

It also takes me a long time to get my INR up.

[Lure2 in reply to loretta1106]

Good luck tomorrow!

Kerstin

[loretta1106 in reply to Lure2]

Thank you Kerstin.