Dried beans?

[CountryJC]

Hello, this is my first post here. It's been three months since I had my mitral valve replaced. About one month ago I had a crazy two week dip in my INR. My doctor tweaked my dosage and I was cruising along fine in the 2.2 range. That is, until this week when I plummeted down to 1.6. My doctor upped my dosage and had me re-test yesterday. 1.7 :frown2:. I've been trying to figure out what I've done differently in the past week and a half. The only thing I can think of is that I had red beans and rice for lunch five days last week and I've had lima beans and rice for three days this week. Most of the vitamin K information that I have read says that dried beans are not high in vitamin K, yet I've seen a couple of sites that say that dried beans are high. So the question is: Does anyone know for sure whether or not dried kidney and lima beans are high in vitamin K? It amazes me the information discrepancies one can find on the ol' information superhighway!

 

[newmitral]

Hello CountryJC

I think it probably depends on the exact type of beans used in the recipe.

The only source of nutritional information, including vitamin-K content, on the internet that I would trust is the USDA Nutritional Data Laboratory information.
They have a searchable database online, as well as downloadable pdf reports for Vitamin-k content of foods. Start at:
http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/food-composition/usda-nutrient-data-laboratory

Some types of beans have enough vitamin-k content to impact INR if you eat enough of them. The trick is to eat a consistent amount from week to week and get the warfarin dose adjusted to your diet.

 

[tom in MO]

I've only been on warfarin for 6 months, but had a drastic drop in my INR as well, around July. My dose increased by 30% a week and has stayed. I could not place the change in my need for warfarin to any change in food or activity that would have been systematic enough for a permanent change. My experience is not unique, thus I don't believe the vitiman K/warfarin interaction is a system that is characterized sufficiently to know what inputs are important, why, how and by how much. My current feeling is to take the ups with the downs and do home monitoring at least every two weeks and not try to sweat the fine details.

 

[Protimenow]

I agree with Newmitral -- as long as your diet is consistent, and you adjust your dosage so that it's in range with the diet that you're on, you should be okay.
I'm guessing that dried lima beans may have a lot more K than dried red beans -- but perhaps your liver is working harder to metabolize the starches in the beans and this extra work means that it also metabolizes the warfarin more quickly. Who knows? I have no idea.

A few months ago, I wouldn't have thought much about an INR of 1.4 or 1.7 -- as long as you get back into range pretty quickly and don't stay low for a week or more. Of course, your risk of clots may also be higher if you're not very long post-op. If it were me, I'd be much more comfortable if I was back in range (or even, gulp, bridged for a day or two until I was in range).

Again - the key is consistency. Once your diet, activities and dosage are in sync, you should be okay.

Another thing in some threads was that generic warfarin isn't always equivalent from one manufacturer to another. Changing to a higher dose from a different manufacturer may not have much effect if the new drug is 20% less effective. If you use generic warfarin, if possible try to get warfarin that comes from the same manufacturer each time.

Having a meter helps give you a snapshot of your current INR. I suggest that you test weekly (I do). I also suggest that you don't overreact if your INR is almost in range - but if it's LOW or HIGH, you may consider retesting or verifying the value with a blood draw. (Also -- if you're self managing your dosing, be pretty conservative about changes in dosing. Because warfarin is so slow acting, it's hard to tell the effect of a change in dose until days later).

 

[dick0236]

Have you changed to Taro brand warfarin from another brand warfarin recently? Several of us on the forum have had problems with Taro causing a significant drop in INR. I have had few problems with various foods that are higher in vit K. I guess that if I binged on a hi vit K food, it could cause problems, but I think I would have to consume a lot to meaninful affect INR. However, I try not to eat hi vit K vegs several days in a row.

 

[lance]

Because you haven't been on warfarin for very long, the best advice is to eat a balanced diet and dose that diet. Try to eat some salad every day. I take a 100 mcg capsule daily of Vit. K.
When the subject of vitamin K containing foods comes up ask how much would have to be eaten to cause a change in INR. More importantly whatever causes your liver to process a greater volume of blood (increased exercise) will remove warfarin from the bloodstream lowering the test result.
You're probably becoming more active now as you recover.
There's a lot of valuable information in the "stickies" at the top of the page.

 

[Freddie]

Been watching this thread since it first went up, and personally (beside what lance has said) I'd be more concern of my doctor telling me that a 2.2 was good with a mitral valve replacement. Thought the normal was a range between 2.5 - 3.5.
But as lance has said, your probably more active which is causing the increase.

Do you have a mechanical valve?