Danger in indulging?

[Randy & Robyn]

I am not on Coumadin...yet. I have an upcoming avr and may very well be in the future. My question is this:

If you have your inr stabilized and eat a fairly consistent diet, woud there be much risk in having one meal that is extraordinarily rich in vitamin k on special occasions? For example, I have a penchant for chicken livers. I don't have them very often but when I do I tend to pig out. Would this lower the inr precariously? Would you need a dosage boost to bring it back up or would it stabilize on its own after the vitamin k is metabolized?

Randy

 

[Ross]

Not in a one time thing. It may lower it just a tad, but if you kept going and made what was consisent now become inconsistent, expect big drops! This is exactly why most of us like to keep our INR at the top of our range. I can go 2.5 to 3.5, but prefer to keep it closer to 3.5 so that I can pig out like you suggest and not have to worrry about it.

 

[catwoman]

Randy:
I agree with Ross.
Last night I fixed a huge Greek salad for dinner. Ate 2 big platefuls. (I usually have 2 medium-sized salads a day.)

One thing to remember:
Organ meat has more cholesterol than other meats.
I don't care for the stuff anyway, so it was another excuse not to enjoy the fried chicken livers my mom loves.

 

[Randy & Robyn]

That makes me feel better. I eat fairly consistently and healthy right now. Just once in awhile I get a craving, usually for something not so healthy, like fried chicken livers or a big mac. Usually only once or twice a month.

I think my biggest problem would be vacation. Different restaurants with varied cuisine, different activity levels each day. That would be very hard for me to maintain consistency.

 

[Ross]

Vacation is always out of range for us. You just have to adjust as you go. Different areas of the country have different amounts of minerals in the foods, plus we all like to indulge in our free time.

 

[csutherland]

Looking back on our fear of lifestyle changes with coumadin, it's almost laughable now. After a few small speedbumps early on, Jerry has been very stable in the 2.5-3.5 range. With Spring in the air, he's been having more leaf lettuce, watercress, etc. His normal dosage is 7.5 each day except 5.0 on Wed & Sat. Due to the increase in greens, I've raised it to 7.5 on Sat as well, just to be on the safe side. We'll see what happens next week when he goes for his monthly check. I'm betting it'll be fine.