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Guest
Henry Bussey, one of the better known pharmacists in anticoagulation, said that he has tried a technique with some of his patients who cannot get their INRs in line. I have also heard this from Kathy Hassel, MD, a hematologist at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
He has them try vitamin K from a health food store. The only strength he mentioned was 100 mcg (micrograms). The people take one of these every day. You have to make weekly upward adjustments to the warfarin dose until the INR stabilizes.
The theory behind this is that people who take in little vitamin K are prone to wild fluctuations when they take in even a little bit. Think about turning on a three way light bulb. From dark to the first level is a huge change (no vitamin K to some vitamin K). But the change from the first level to trhe second level does not produce as dramatic a change even though the absolute wattage change is the same (Some vitamin K to a little more vitamin K).
It is worth thinking about but you have to be careful because the warfarin dose will need to go up.
He has them try vitamin K from a health food store. The only strength he mentioned was 100 mcg (micrograms). The people take one of these every day. You have to make weekly upward adjustments to the warfarin dose until the INR stabilizes.
The theory behind this is that people who take in little vitamin K are prone to wild fluctuations when they take in even a little bit. Think about turning on a three way light bulb. From dark to the first level is a huge change (no vitamin K to some vitamin K). But the change from the first level to trhe second level does not produce as dramatic a change even though the absolute wattage change is the same (Some vitamin K to a little more vitamin K).
It is worth thinking about but you have to be careful because the warfarin dose will need to go up.
