Cyborg in training

[johnmarkos]

Also, I'm gradually ramping up my vitamin K intake, increasing it by 25 micrograms/day every time I self-test. I'm currently at 175 micrograms/day, and I intend to get back to eating big kale salads before too long.

With regard to regular vitamin K intake, my wife gave me an idea, passed along from her father -- I bought a box of pre-washed baby spinach, and it's super easy to just weigh out the correct "dose," subtracting any other vitamin K I've consumed during the day. 36 grams of spinach equals 175 micrograms of vitamin K.

 

[Protimenow]

This goes back to the issue of consistency. IT shouldn't matter whether you get your vitiman K from a supplement or from diet, or both. As long as your Vitamin K intake is consistent, you can adjust your warfarin dose to accommodate to the particular levels of Vitamin K in your system.

 

[pellicle]

With regard to regular vitamin K intake, my wife gave me an idea, passed along from her father -- I bought a box of pre-washed baby spinach, and it's super easy to just weigh out the correct "dose," subtracting any other vitamin K I've consumed during the day. 36 grams of spinach equals 175 micrograms of vitamin K.

why don't you try an experiment ... a month of not giving a ratsarse about weighing out foods but just eating what you normally do, and then a month of continuing your hobby ... then compare the track of your INR over that month. Repeat for a few months in cycles and see if you find anything consistent ... then you'll know.

Its what I did some years back (although I never ever worried about weighing things) and did stuff like no greens at all for a month (oats, dairy, meat and potatoes only) then high green vegetable bias ... several repeated experiments failed to show any correlation.

 

[LondonAndy]

I realise people may respond differently both to medication and to changes in diet, but just to say: I have never sought to maintain a consistent diet, and if my INR changes a little I just adjust the Warfarin dose to suit it. For example, in the summer months I eat more salads, with their leafy green bits, so my INR might go down a bit. Weekly testing means I spot this trend and either do a temporary 1mg increase in my daily Warfarin dose, either daily or every other day, or if the change in INR continues I will make it the dose change a regular thing.

 

[vitdoc]

I’m a physician. I started with warfarin in 1983. No home testing then . I detested needle sticks. I was relatively young doing all sorts of sports. Bicycling,basketball, snow skiing. I probably tested every six months or so.
I noted issues when I had hemorrhoid bleeding and adjusted my dose.
Today I home monitor probably every few weeks since I am rarely out of range. I eat whatever. If however I was bouncing all over with the INR values l probably would be more careful. So I think what one does with diet and dose depends a bit on whether one is stable or not. If I suddenly turned Vegan and markedly altered my diet I would watch things carefully. So I agree with Pellicle about not getting too wrapped up in some odd eating scheme. My goal has always been to be as normal as possible and not perseverate about my medical issues. Having 3 open hearts , 4 pacemakers,
8 stents for issues with the right coronary kinking after aortic surgery, 3 ablations lastly a mitral clip 4 years ago . I still bike 100 miles a week still work and rarely think about this stuff. Everyday I see people far worse off than me. I did just buy a years worth of warfarin in case the world goes to hell given the morons currently in charge in this country.

 

[Protimenow]

I've been stocking up, too, but for a somewhat different reason.

First - because I have some prescriptions for 180 of some doses, and they were written as 2 or 3 per day by a former doctor, and second, because I am now on an HMO and I'm not sure how willing my PCP will be to write new prescriptions without having me do the entirely unnecessary visits to an anticoagulation cliniic.

I think that I probably have enough of most doses (and can make almost any dose using what I've got) to last through next year's presidential inauguration day - January 20.

If the world goes to hell, I'll have enough Warfarin for a while. (I will probably continue to get refills once the supply is 'out' (according to the bottle), and will have enough for a while, even if my PCP isn't so happy about wasting time and resources getting unnecessary clinic testing).

Also - FWIW - I've noticed that when I have Romaine Lettuce for a few days, my INR DOES drop. In some cases, I can see a drop within 12 hours. I haven't repeated this in order to validate it - perhaps it was just a fluke.

 

[johnmarkos]

Unfortunately, I had an episode of AFib early morning on Sunday, July 26. It resolved on its own by 7am. My cardiologist thinks, and I agree, that it was probably caused by reducing my dose of Carvedilol from 6.25mg twice a day to 3.125mg twice a day. We went back to the 6.25mg twice a day dosage. But to be on the safe side, I’ve decided to quit drinking alcohol again — I’d had one drink (1.5oz/43ml peated Irish whiskey) just before going to bed that night when I had AFib. My cardiologist says I wasn’t drinking to excess when I had the episode, so it’s up to my judgement whether I drink or not.

Other than that, I’m still continuing to run, work, be Dad to two teenagers, etc. My INR has been running low, so we keep increasing my Warfarin dosage. I’m up to 50mg/week now — started at 35mg/week in January.

 

[johnmarkos]

But to be on the safe side, I’ve decided to quit drinking alcohol again . . .

I’m not going cold turkey. If someone opened up a really nice bottle of wine, I’d still have, say, a third of a glass. But I’ll avoid drinking enough alcohol to feel it’s effects.

 

[Foxtail118]

I’m not going cold turkey. If someone opened up a really nice bottle of wine, I’d still have, say, a third of a glass. But I’ll avoid drinking enough alcohol to feel it’s effects.

I’m not going cold turkey. If someone opened up a really nice bottle of wine, I’d still have, say, a third of a glass. But I’ll avoid drinking enough alcohol to feel it’s effects.
[/QUOTE

I had a 10 hour episode of A Fib the day I was scheduled to leave the hospital after MVR surgery. Don’t ever want another one - think I will continue cold turkey - been 27 days without so far

 

[Protimenow]

Is this a 32 ounce glass that you're having 1/3 of?

 

[johnmarkos]

Is this a 32 ounce glass that you're having 1/3 of?

Ha ha — probably not just after the AFib. We’ll see how I feel in six months or a year.

 

[Suckyvalvegurl]

Glad you are doing well now.

 

[ATHENS1964]

Good recovery the best is ahead .

 

[johnmarkos]

Today’s the one year anniversary of my valve replacement. I’m feeling good! Still running, biking, doing online exercise classes, etc.

 

[Freebird]

Today’s the one year anniversary of my valve replacement. I’m feeling good! Still running, biking, doing online exercise classes, etc.

Congratulations! I remember following your recovery. I finally had my surgery in August. You helped me through some of my pre-surgery anxiety. Thank you for sharing your story, John.

 

[johnmarkos]

Congratulations! I remember following your recovery. I finally had my surgery in August. You helped me through some of my pre-surgery anxiety. Thank you for sharing your story, John.

You’re welcome, and congratulations on your surgery!

 

[pellicle]

Today’s the one year anniversary of my valve replacement. I’m feeling good! Still running, biking, doing online exercise classes, etc.

great ... welcome to the recovery club

 

[tom in MO]

Congratulations!

 

[Jmprosser.lab]

This was a great thing to follow throughout. Congrats on your recovery and you made having a mechanical valve seem not as intimidating as many think it is!

 

[cp172]

Great read. Thanks for sharing your journey.